Workflow for lossless VHS preservation for later cleanup?
I find myself with money and VHS tapes I want to digitize but no time. I'm also an electrical engineer and a software engineer and a general nerd so building the rack and running it is going to be a DIY affair. My goal is to preserve the analog signal from the tapes and onto a hard drive that I will deal with later on an as-needed basis.
Generally, I'm trying to figure out which part of the conversion workflow I absolutely need to do while I have the physical tapes. Clearly I need a good S-VHS unit or two and a capture card. But then I wonder:
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Also turn on the audio level meter in VirtualDub and make sure the audio doesn't go too high during capture. After capture, I always load up the audio into Audacity and check for clipping, then if it looks good I normalize the audio and multiplex it back into the video. Quote:
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This is actually an easy question to answer. :)
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VCR > TBC > capture card. Not just any random item, but specific units known to give the quality you needed, such as JVC/Panasonic VCR with line TBC, DataVideo/Cypress type TBC in verified working condition, capture card known to not mess with values. And above all, stay away from eBay, sinkhole of gambling, wasted time, and lying/incompetent sellers. Quote:
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In fact, some tapes are failing at this late date (mostly 70s and early 80s VHS tapes), and one more good play is all that is left. The same, second play, will have massive issues, due to micro-oxide shed. (Not full oxide shed, but tiny flakes that are hard to see, and yet obvious on the video as noise patterning.) So one-and-done should be a goal these days, not playing repeatedly. Quote:
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Not usually. In fact, rarely. Just stay around for the first minute or two, then let it go, you can leave. But best to monitor it every 10 minutes or so. When done, you can dump into VirtualDub, scrub faster than realtime (aka preview at 3x-10x speed). This can take a few minutes per tape, but better than hours of realtime watching. That's how you proof the capture. Be sure to test sample audio, don't just watch video. Quote:
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> the best DataVideo/Cypress frame TBC > the best capture card for the OS ... and from a reputable source, refurb'd units. Again, no messing about with this. :wink2: Time is more valuable than people realize. And time has a financial cost. Saving money here can waste potential money there. Too many people fall prey to negative economics. I want: - faithful quality to the actual source (not degraded quality from bad gear) - time management - heat mitigation And you seem to mostly want the same. Quote:
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This is an amazing, thorough, and thoughtful answer. Thank you!
I'm sure I will have other questions after I sleep on this but two come to mind:
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But in more recent years, various non-economic factors need to be weighed. For example, shipping logistics, tape vs. climate, project timeframe, privacy. So it's a bit more nuanced. Most of the art of the video was decided at the time of shooting. While there's something to be said of experience and knowledge, in terms of video capture/ingest, it mostly applies to troubleshooting, or getting "the best" quality (aka restoration). Cooperative tapes are mostly about having the proper gear, and just running them. A true professional mostly has access to multiple VCRs, TBCs, etc, for uncooperative tapes. Both pro and amateurs should have "set aside" piles, tapes with issues. The DIY non-pro can outsource the problem tapes to the pro. The pro saves those for last in the project. |
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