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  #1  
07-05-2022, 08:47 AM
CaptureDJ CaptureDJ is offline
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Hi.

I’m new here.

Joined because I’m capturing a load of old surf movies from VHS/DVD to digital. Because of one mouldy tape I did some Googling and found out my methods suck and if I really want to preserve these old movies for future generations I should at least attempt to do the best job possible.

In the beginning I picked up an elgato-eyetv-250-plus for free.

So I fished out my family’s old Video-8 home movies and digitised them and shared them around to much enjoyment and embarrassment.

At the same time I’d also been copying my old surf movie collection from DVD to a hard drive using Handbrake on my Mac; with the idea to free up some physical space in my home (I have a lot of surf movies!).

Eventually I ran out DVDs. Then, on holiday, I bought 10 VHS surf movies for €10. I bought them home and they sat there because, as I found out, we no longer had our old VHS player.

Then someone gave a VHS player away free locally. So I picked it up. It’s a https://www.manualslib.com/products/Jvc-Hr-S6965ek-256273.html”]JVC HR S6965EK[/URL] and I used that to copy a few of the tapes.

Then someone else was giving away another capture device. A https://www.roxio.com/en/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/“] Roxio VHS to DVD 3[/URL] and I gave that a go too. And I found that it was a little better than the Elgato.

The Elgato seemed to pixilate a lot, which at first I attributed it to the process and maybe a crappy VHS player that needed the heads clean. While the Roxio didn’t suffer that problem at all. Although the Roxio tended to freeze frames occasionally, which the Elgato never did.

To solve the freeze frame problem I just started the recording again and it ‘usually’ went away. Although on some occasions it wasn’t possible to eradicate. I put this down to the VHS player needing to warm up or the Roxio not liking the signal input.

After I’d copied those VHS tapes and all my DVDs I started making copies for friends to enjoy. Then I found a couple of other people who’d done the same and we shared movies we didn’t have.

So I started amassing a collection of surf films. An archive. I now have close to 2tb of movies on a hard drive. Of which I’ve finally made a duplicate.

Then someone on FB listed a massive catalog of old surf movies on VHS to sell. Lots that I/we didn’t have in our collections. I bought over 40 of them. They sat there in a box waiting to be copied and I added a few more to them.

So last week I started recording a few of them. And then I found a mouldy tape.

Without the power of hindsight. I attempted to play and copy the mouldy tape. 10 minutes into the recording I gave up. The copy was very bad.

So I googled what to do. Clean the tape it said. But it also said never to play a mouldy tape for fear of contamination. Thankfully, as it was the end of the night, it was the last recording I did. So I checked out how to clean tapes and the suggestion was, get a second lesser quality VCR for the sole purpose of cleaning tapes. I then checked the remaining un-copied tapes… lots of mould

Since googling how to clean the mould I’ve realised there’s a lot lot lot more to copying VHS to digital. I figured as I’ve still got 40 odd tapes to copy and if I’m going to clean them, I might as well try to do as good a job as possible.

Now some of the films people have shared with me are of such poor quality that it kinda upset me that these films may one day be lost to history accept for a few pixilated versions of them.

So I started enquiring as to how to achieve best quality for my copies.

And my journey has brought me here.

I am now in possession of:

Lots of old VHS tapes

1x https://www.manualslib.com/products/Jvc-Hr-S6965ek-256273.html”]JVC HR S6965EK Super VHS player[/URL]
1x https://www.manualslib.com/products/Sony-Slv-Se710-4244877.html“Sony SLV SE710 VHS player[/URL]
1x Elgato eyeTV 250 plus
1x Roxio VHS to DVD 3 Plus
1x MacBook using software from respective devices (Elgato & Roxio)

However. I have also acquired relatively cheaply:

https://archive.org/details/manual_BRS611E_SM_JVC/mode/2up”
1x JVC BR-S611E
1x JVC BR-S811E[/URL]

Both of these were sold to me with tapes stuck in them. But they looked capable of much better quality output than my domestic VCR players.

Having watched https://www.manualslib.com/products/Sony-Slv-Se710-4244877.html”MISU’s YouTube video on the exact fault codes[/URL] I was confident I could tackle this problem…I could not.

So now I’m at a cross roads. Do I endeavour to fix the proVHS JVC, go down the path of trying to acquire a TBC and learn mind boggling amounts of things about cables, codecs, field lines, PAL & NTSC, SuperVHS vs VHS, Scart vs S-Video, etc etc

Or do I just clean up the mouldy tapes and stick to my JVC Super VHS:Roxio process method?

I’m leaning towards the later I think, I’m not convinced there’s that much of a quality gain to be had using the ProVHS JVC SR611, and there’s too much to learn to achieve such small gains.

With all that in mind I do have some questions if anyone still reading as the knowledge and time to impart it:

My JVC SuperVHS player doesn’t have an S-Video out. Only scart. But both the Elgato and Roxio accept S-Video in. Should I be looking for an SuperVHS player with S-Video out? Would that already be a dramatic improvement in capture quality?

If I can fix the ProVHS JVC BR-S6/811E and can get the right cables to connect it to RCS/S-Video in. Would it be worth pursuing even without a TBC and still using the Elgato/Roxio? Would the capture quality be noticeable to the causal observer?

Essentially I’m happy with the output I’m getting already using the JVC 6865 SuperVHS:Roxio method, so should I just stick with that (after cleaning the mouldy tapes), or am I missing something that someone other than me would appreciate in the future?

The Elgato captures video@
H264 MPEG4 AVC (part 10)(avc1)
720x540
Frame Rate 25
Planar 4:2:0 YUV

and AUDIO@
MPEG AAC (mp4a)
44100Hz

While the Roxio captures video@
H264 MPEG4 AVC (part 10)(avc1)
720x576
Frame Rate 25
Planar 4:2:0 YUV

and Audio@
MPEG AAC (mp4a)
48000Hz

Is one better that the other? I can’t see anywhere in the respective softwares to change any of these recording settings. It’s basically plug in and press record.

Should I look to purchase a better capture card? And if so can anyone recommend one for a old 2011 MacBook Pro running El Cap?

Going back to DVD copying if I may. I’m using Handbrake on my Mac and selecting the following setting:

Preset: H.264 MKV 1080p30

Now, I this would give me the best quality output as well as being relatively future proof (mkv being quite a new format). Would I be wrong?

I can see my DVD copies have varying resolutions. Is this okay? Should I be choosing a different preset in Handbrake?

Sorry for all the questions. I hope I’ve not offended anyone or broken any rules. Thanks for any input anyone can give. And if anyone out there collects surfing movies feel free to hit me up.

Mahalo!

Edit: I should add I’m in the UK and (I think) the VHS tapes are all PAL.
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  #2  
07-05-2022, 09:51 AM
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lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
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I'll re-read this later today...

But a quick skim shows you're using known-awful capture cards. For example, that Roxio is an Easycap, infamously known as an "Easycrap". Elgato is equally lousy.

Do not process mold yourself, regardless of what Youtube idiots suggest.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
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  #3  
07-05-2022, 10:20 AM
CaptureDJ CaptureDJ is offline
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Hi. And thanks.

I just opened both domestic machines and gave them a quick glance and clean inside. They don’t sell isopropyl over the counter here in UK anymore so I bought some medical wipes soaked with the stuff. But it’s on crepe paper so hopefully I haven’t done any damage.

Looking forward to hearing anything you can offer. No rush. I think I’ll put things on hold again until I’m happy I can do the best I can with what I have or acquire within a reasonable budget and timeframe.

Appreciate any time you can give.
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  #4  
07-05-2022, 10:50 AM
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lordsmurf lordsmurf is online now
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What is the budget?
It needs to be realistic, based on actual gear costs, not based on nothing, not based on the cheapest Chinese crap listed on Amazon.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
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  #5  
07-05-2022, 02:09 PM
CaptureDJ CaptureDJ is offline
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Hi.

Ideally I’d spend as little as possible to achieve the biggest jump in quality. I know that’s not very helpful. But if I can spend £200-400 and achieve much better quality than I have now then I’d consider it. If the next £200-400 only betters that quality by a lesser factor then I’d probably not bother with that.

Another consideration is how much time I can give to learning how to use any specialist equipment.

i guess, going off what I already own, and to achieve a significant jump in quality would you recommend:

A) Servicing the BR-S811E, finding the right cables for it and just plugging that into my Roxio?

B) Finding a SuperVHS player with S-Video out and plugging into the Roxio?

C) Finding a SuperVHS player with S-Video out and adding a TBC and plugging into the Roxio?

D) Keeping my non-S-Video SuperVHS, adding a TBC and keeping the Roxio?

E) Keeping my no-S-Video SVHS, not getting a TBC and only upgrading my capture device?

I guess which of the three components; VCR, TBC, Capture card offers the best jump in quality over what I have already?

I feel like servicing the BR-S811E & adding a TBC & getting a new capture device will run into the £1000s and that’s not really where I want to end up. Unless the quality is so good it’s worth doing (remembering a lot of the tapes are mouldy!), and I could use this set up to recoup my outlay by helping others digitise their old tapes. But then I’m sure I’ll end up chasing different formats like Hi8 etc and I’ll end up with a load of hardware I don’t have space for… the original idea of digitising my DVDs was to make space.

Hope that gives you some idea of where my thoughts are. If you were to ask me how much I wanted to spend I’d probably say <£300. Which I have a feeling you’re going to tell me to forget it!
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  #6  
07-05-2022, 09:44 PM
nicholasserra nicholasserra is offline
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Skipping all the technicals, are you sure these movies aren't already archived? Wonder how many of them are sitting on PassThePopcorn right now.
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  #7  
07-05-2022, 09:55 PM
CaptureDJ CaptureDJ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicholasserra View Post
Skipping all the technicals, are you sure these movies aren't already archived? Wonder how many of them are sitting on PassThePopcorn right now.
Hi. First time I’ve heard of pass the popcorn. Did a search and it seems you need to be invited to share movies. I’d love to know what’s on there, but I’m fairly confident that a lot of the surf movies I have won’t be on there. They’re just too niche. But then maybe there’s more folks like me than I realise.

Thanks for opening my eyes to a new way to share my collection. Now I just need to find someone to invite me I guess!
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  #8  
07-05-2022, 10:15 PM
nicholasserra nicholasserra is offline
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Feel free to post some titles and i'll check. I'm not sure on the PTP invite process these days.
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  #9  
07-05-2022, 10:39 PM
CaptureDJ CaptureDJ is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nicholasserra View Post
Feel free to post some titles and i'll check. I'm not sure on the PTP invite process these days.
Hi. I’ve sent you a PM so as to keep this thread somewhat clean. Thanks
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