Best workflow for archiving S-VHS, VHS, MiniDV tapes?

[Memory_Keeper240]

First, I apologize in advance if I use improper terminology and/or my explanations are confusing, I would say I am a beginner level video archiver!

This is a long one, so get your favourite drink ready!

I am hoping that LordSmurf (and any other pro's) can read my post below and provide some guidance and feedback on my efforts to archive video from analog to digital format. Am I using the correct workflow? Is the process I have taken to date proper? Should I go back to the beginning before moving forward?

The following outlines the steps I have taken to archive analog video to digital
I began this process in 2007, as indicated below, however I did not complete it.

In early January 2024 I resumed my archiving efforts to convert video from analog to digital. My original analog mediums/sources are either on S-VHS-C, VHS-C or MiniDV tapes which have a limited lifespan and need to be converted before the medium deteriorates (tapes) and the methods of playback become obsolete.

I have original analog video on 34 VHS-C type tapes that was filmed in either S-VHS-C or VHS-C on my Sharp VL-C77UA Super VHS-C Camcorder which was manufactured in 1988. Tapes were recorded beginning in 1988 and the last were recorded in 2003.

I have original analog video on 17 MiniDV type tapes that was filmed on my JVC GR-D32 Mini DV Digital Cybercam which was manufactured in 2003. I believe these tapes were recorded between 2003 and the early 2010's.

2007 Archiving Efforts
In 2007, this is the equipment I used:

• (2007-02) Samsung DVD-R150 DVD Recorder (S-Video & DV in, S-Video & Component out) – Made in China – Purchased NEW in 2007.
• (1988-02) Sharp VL-C77 S-VHS-C Camcorder (S-Video out) – Made in Japan – Purchased NEW in 1988.

I archived 15 VHS-C tapes (of which 8 where S-VHS-C) onto 19 individual DVDs using my Sharp VL-C77 S-VHS-C Camcorder (S-Video out) and my Samsung DVD-R150 DVD Recorder (S-Video in).

2024 Archiving Efforts
In 2024, when I put together the remaining VHS-C tapes I had which did not indicate they had been archived, there were 19 remaining (of which 2 were S-VHS-C).

In early 2024, I began to setup my archiving setup in my office following the process I had started in 2007 which was to archive from my Sharp S-VHS-C camcorder (which no longer recorded, however was still able to play tapes) with S-Video and the A/V connector to my Samsung DVD recorder model DVD-R150. When I went to test the Sharp camcorder out on Jan 16, 2024, I found that it would no longer play tapes!

The only remaining method at this point to archive the remaining S-VHS-C and VHS-C tapes would be to use the Toshiba DVD/VHS Video Player SD-V320 that I had purchased used in 2023. When I went to test this Toshiba DVD/VHS Video Player, I determined that the DVD drawer would no longer eject/open, however the VCR played tapes successfully.

Fearing that I would lose my opportunity to archive the remaining S-VHS-C, VHS-C and VHS tapes if the VHS part of my Toshiba DVD/VHS player and/or my Samsung DVD recorder would not last long, I visited local thrift stores and searched Facebook Marketplace for local listings.

Given that my intent is to ensure I can archive analog videos to future-proof them for myself and my children in a reasonable manner, these were my resource scopes/guidelines at this point:

• Best quality on a budget of no more than $200 and with existing computer.
• Best mediums for archiving and playing at this point and the future (DVD still very popular with older members of my extended family that I would like to make copies of archives and share with them) & (another digital format that will future proof my archives and can be shared with family & friends via one or more than one of these: USB, SD, Amazon Photos, social media).
• I have some time to do the archiving myself, and I like to learn/try new things.

Given the above, I was able to acquire additional devices in 2024 (for reasonable prices) and the following is a complete list of the units I have to complete the video conversion project and where possible (those with [Have PDF Manual]) I have downloaded user manuals.

SORTED BY DATE OF MANUFACTURE (NEWEST FIRST):

• (2010) AVerMedia DVD EZMaker 7 - Analog Video to Digital DVD/VCD USB dongle with CyberLink PowerDirector 14 HE software - Purchased NEW in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2009-06) Sony RDR-GX380 DVD Recorder (DV & USB in, HDMI & Component out) – Made in Indonesia – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2007-02) Samsung DVD-R150 DVD Recorder (S-Video & DV in, S-Video & Component out) – Made in China – Purchased NEW in 2007 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2006-11 & 2006-03) Toshiba D-RW2 DVD Recorder [have 2])(TBC, S-Video in, S-Video & Component out) – Made in China – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2004-01) Sanyo DRW-1000 DVD/VHS Recorder [4 HEAD helical scan azimuth system, Hi-Fi STEREO] (Inputs and outputs are listed FOR VHS & DVD, S-Video & DV in, S-Video and Component out) – Made in Korea – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2004-04) JVC HR-XVC23U DVD Player/VHS Recorder [4 Head DA4 (Double Azimuth) head helical scan system, Hi-Fi, w/SQPB], (only DVD output = S-Video & Component out) – Made in in China – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2004) Panasonic SA-HT833V DVD Player/VHS Recorder [4 Head helical scanning system, HiFi, Super Drive w/SQPB], (only DVD output = S-Video & Component out) – Made in Malaysia – Purchased USED in 2024 - [could not locate PDF manual for this specific unit but have PDF Manual for similar model SC-HT830V]
• (2004-03) Toshiba SD-V320 DVD Player/VHS Recorder [4 Head, Hi-Fi, w/SQPB] (only DVD output = S-Video & Component) – Made in Thailand – Purchased USED in 2023 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2004-10) Zenith XBV410 DVD/VHS Recorder [4 Head helical scan azimuth system, Hi-Fi] (only DVD output = S-Video in, S-Video and Component out) – Made in in Indonesia – Purchased USED in 2024 – [could not locate PDF manual for this specific unit but have PDF Manuals for 4 similar models XBR411, XBR413, XBV342, XBV442]
• (2003) JVC GR-D32 MiniDV Camcorder (S-Video out, DV in/out) – Made in Malaysia – Purchased NEW in 2003 – [Have Original Manual]
• (2001) JVC GR-SXM245 S-VHS-C Camcorder (TBC, S-Video out) – Made in Malaysia – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (2001) Samsung VR8656C VHS VCR [4 Head DA4 (Double Azimuth) head helical scan system, HiFi] – Made in Indonesia – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual for similar model VR8160]
• (1999) JVC HR-VP683U VHS VCR [4 Head Pro-Cision 19 Micron DA-4 (Double Azimuth) head helical scan system, Hi-Fi w/SQPB] – Made in Malaysia – Purchased USED in 2024 - [Have PDF Manual]
• (1990) JVC GF-S550 SVHS Camcorder (S-Video out) – Made in Japan – Purchased USED in 2024
• (1988-02) Sharp VL-C77 S-VHS-C Camcorder (S-Video out) – Made in Japan – Purchased NEW in 1988 - [Have original Manual for VL-C73] – Stopped recording in 2003, Stopped working completely in 2024.

2024-01 - Second Archive Process for VHS-C Recorded Media
First, I tested out my newly acquired but USED (1990) JVC GF-S550 SVHS Camcorder connected via S-Video out to my Samsung DVD-R150 DVD recorder. I noted that when playing a S-VHS-C tape (inserted with cartridge) in the JVC GF-S550 SVHS camcorder, that the video output was actually of poorer quality than when playing it on my Toshiba DVD/VHS Video Player SD-V320. I also tested the tape playback on the Panasonic SA-HT833V DVD Player/VHS Recorder and again the video output looked better than the JVC SVHS camcorder. My whole intention of using the JVC SVHS camcorder was to be able to get the best video quality playback for my SVHS and VHS recorded tapes. This is when I was able to acquire the JVC GR-SXM245 S-VHS-C Camcorder.

I continued to archive the remaining 19 VHS-C tapes (of which 2 where S-VHS-C) onto 17 individual DVDs using my recently acquired but USED (2001) JVC GR-SXM245 S-VHS-C Camcorder (S-Video out) and my Samsung DVD-R150 DVD Recorder (S-Video in). In total, between the 2007 and 2024 archive sessions, I have archived 34 VHS-C tapes (of which 10 were S-VHS-C) onto 36 individual DVDs.

The next project is to archive our Wedding video from the year 2000. The video itself was professionally filmed, likely in DV, however as we did not have a S-VHS player, or a DVD player for the newly released DVD format, it was provided to us on VHS. Once that is done, I need to move onto archiving our approximately 15 MiniDV tapes.

2024-01 – Third Archive Process for our Wedding Recorded on VHS Media
I began to archive our wedding video which is on VHS onto DVD. The length of the VHS video was determined to be approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes.

1st attempt – Using the (2004-01) Sanyo DRW-1000 DVD/VHS Recorder, I used the unit’s “Easy Dub” function to copy directly from VHS to DVD – Video Mode - in XP Mode which give approximately 1 hour of recording time per DVD. I manually stopped recording on the DVD at approximately 1 hour as I knew I would need to record the full-length video on 3 DVDs as I was recording in XP mode. Using the Sanyo unit, I named the disc, named the title, then finalized the disc. This took approximately 3 minutes to complete. When I inserted the finalized DVD in my external Philips DVD RW Drive and opened windows explorer, the disc showed as being “0 bytes” and with no Video_TS folder or files. Thinking it may have been my Philips DVD RW Drive, I used my external ASUS DVD RW Drive and got the same results.

Oddly enough, even though the disc showed up in windows explorer as being “0”, I was able to open the video in the VLC media player (however I noticed that the DVD menu was not showing properly [the text on the page up, page down and exit buttons would only show up when hovering over them and all other buttons would go blank?]).

The VLC Media Player was able to play the recorded media and shows the length as being 1:00:37.

I used both VLC and Handbrake to see if I could convert the disc to .mp4, and after a few attempts, I noticed that the .mp4s created did not have any audio.

2nd attempt – I thought about what may have happened and thought that maybe the Sanyo DVD recorder did not finalize the disc properly, so I attempted it again. Using the (2004-01) Sanyo DRW-1000 DVD/VHS Recorder, I used the unit’s “Easy Dub” function to copy directly from VHS to DVD – Video Mode - in XP Mode which give approximately 1 hour of recording time per DVD. This time I did not manually stop the recording on the DVD and let the DVD recorder stop on its own when the disc was full. This occurred at 1:04:20. Using the Sanyo unit, I named the disc, named the title, then finalized the disc. This took approximately 3 minutes to complete. When I inserted the finalized DVD in my Philips DVD RW Drive and opened windows explorer, the disc once again showed as “0”.

3rd attempt – I did some research online and found a program that would help to read and possibly recover the disc. I downloaded IsoBuster 5.3 and proceeded to select the disc. This program actually showed the Video_TS folder of the disc, so I somehow copied everything that was in the folder into the temp folder of my computer, then through windows explorer selected all files and selected “burn to disc”.

After burning, when I went to open the DVD with VLC it gave me an error “VLC is unable to open the MRL”

4th Attempt – At this point I thought about connecting the Sanyo DVD/VHS recorder to my Samsung DVD Recorder to see if it would work. Using the (2004-01) Sanyo DRW-1000 DVD/VHS Recorder, I connected it with the S-Video out (to play the VHS) to my Samsung DVD-R150 DVD Recorder with the S-Video in (to record on DVD). At this point, I only wanted to test if it would work, so I only recorded approximately 10 minutes of video from VHS to DVD – Video Mode - in XP Mode. I stopped the recording on the Samsung DVD recorder. Using the Samsung DVD recording unit, I named the disc, named the title, then finalized the disc. This took approximately 3 minutes to complete. When I inserted the finalized DVD in my Philips DVD RW Drive and opened windows explorer, the disc had the Video_TS folder with the necessary files and I was able to get it to play properly in VLC. Successful process!!

I continued to follow the same process used in the 4th attempt above and proceeded to record the wedding video on 3 discs (Disc #s 5, 6 and 7 as detailed below):

The following information was obtained through the Iso IsoBuster 5.3 software about each disc (with Disc #):

1. 2132-01-26 18:07:00 - Sanyo VHS to DVD dub – no files when opening with Windows Explorer however would play on VLC.
2. 2132-01-27 08:53:09 - Sanyo VHS to DVD dub – no files when opening with Windows Explorer however would play on VLC.
3. Accessed 2024-01-27 02:56:34 but created 2132-01-27 08:53:09 am – Using IsoBuster, opened files on disc from attempt 2 above and copied folder and files to temp folder on PC. Proceeded to burn these files to disc using windows but VLC gave error.
4. 2024-01-27 11:17:00 – Using the Sanyo DVD/VHS unit to play VHS and Samsung DVD recorder, recorded 10 minutes to test and finalized. This disc has Video TS folder with files and played properly in VLC.
5. 2024-01-27 13:26:00 - Using the Sanyo DVD/VHS unit to play VHS (s-video out) and Samsung DVD recorder, recorder (s-video in). Manually stopped at approx. 1 hour, named disc, named title (Wedding Part #1) and finalized. DVD recording length is 1:00:30 (3.56 GB) and has Video_TS folders with necessary files and plays properly in VLC.
6. 2024-01-27 15:51:00 - Using the Sanyo DVD/VHS unit to play VHS (s-video out) and Samsung DVD recorder, recorder (s-video in). Manually stopped at approx. 1 hour, named disc, named title (Wedding Part #2) and finalized. DVD recording length is 1:01:55 (3.65 GB) and has Video_TS folders with necessary files and plays properly in VLC.
7. 2024-01-27 15:51:00 - Using the Sanyo DVD/VHS unit to play VHS (s-video out) and Samsung DVD recorder, recorder (s-video in). Manually stopped at approx. 1 hour, named disc, named title (Wedding Part #3) and finalized. DVD recording length is 0:09:23 (953 MB) and has Video_TS folders with necessary files and plays properly in VLC.
8. 2024-01-28 - I wanted to test how I can convert a DVD to Mp4 using Handbrake. Now, in Windows explorer I copied the Video_TS folder from #7 above to a new folder I created on the desktop called “Temp Copy of DVD files for Handbrake”. I opened Handbrake, under source selection I clicked Folder, then navigated to the Video_TS folder. I applied a custom preset in the program and was able to successfully export the file as an .mp4.
9. 2024-01-28 – I brought the mp4 video from #8 above (approx. 9 minutes) into PowerDirector to see what and how it would work. I was able to add a custom menu and burn it to disc. I tried playing the DVD on the DVD player connected to our 55” 4k TV it looked relatively good!!

Source: Video_TS 720x480 (640x480), 29.97 FPS, SDR (8-bit 4 :2 :0, 6-1-6), 1 Audio Tracks, 1 Subtitle Tracks

Here is the Handbrake custom preset I setup:
Format: MP4 with Align A/V Start and Passthru Common Metadata selected
Tracks: H.264 (Intel QSV), 30 FPS CFR, 16 ICQ Constant Quality, AAC (avcodec), Stereo AC3 Passthru, Foreign Audio Scan, Burned Chapter Markers
Filters: Decomb, hqdn3d, LapSharp
Size: 720x480 storage, 630x480 display

My computer specs:
OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8265U CPU @ 1.60GHz
RAM: 8078 MB,
GPU Information: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620

NEXT STEPS and what I would like to be able to do
Ensure that I have all analog converted to DVD and digital format in the best possible way I can given the limitations of the original media format(s) I have, the devices I currently have to complete this process, the fact that I do not have a super spec’d computer or dedicated GPU. Space is not the greatest of my concerns, I have plenty of blank DVDs to write to, adequate HD space to store on my PC & on external hard drives as well as approximately 700 GB of space left in Amazon Photos to store my video (I pay for 1TB).

I would like to be able to determine if:

1. My efforts taken to this point have produced the best quality archive of my analog media given the media sources I have, the devices I have chosen to use to play the media, the devices I have chosen to use to record or capture the media, and the destination mediums I have used for the converted analog video.
2. What is the better workflow to be able to get the best quality archive 1) VHS to DVD, then DVD to MP4 or 2) VHS to MP4 directly (USB dongle).
3. What is the recommended setup and workflow given the media sources I have, and the devices I have in my possession to be able to play the media, to be able to record or capture the media, and the destination mediums of the converted analog video.
4. Should I get at least my Wedding video professionally captured and possibly some of my other precious memories captured on video.
5. If there is a free online AI enhancer that you can recommend to “upscale” (if that’s the proper terminology) my VHS wedding tape, and possibly any of the other VHS-C or VHS tapes I have that have very special memories on them.

One thing that I continue to do is eagerly pursue a fully functional SVHS VCR that I can use to play my wedding video (and other home videos shot by family on VHS) however I have not been able to get one that won’t break my bank account too much! Again, like everyone else, I’d like to see if I can get a Ferrari for the price of a Pinto I’m not sure if it can be done?

I know, it is a lot of detail, and a lot to ask, but LordSmurf (and any other pro's) are you able to provide some feedback on what I’ve done to date, and direction before I continue any further.

Thanks so very much - Memory_Keeper240

[Added additional information]
With regards to our Wedding video from 2000, I presume it was filmed in DV, and at the time I had requested the “RAW” footage, but it was not provided. Unfortunately, I did not know about the future of video and did not foresee that things would eventually go “digital”, my bad!

Although it is now 24 years later, I did try to see if I could reach out to our Wedding Videographer and unfortunately the business is no longer in operation so no luck of ever getting the video footage in original DV or transferred by them to DVD or S-VHS.

The 2001 JVC S-VHS-C Camcorder that I purchased USED in 2024 used does indicate it has Digital Signal Processing, Picture Stabilizer, TBC and CNR, however I turned-off TBC each time as it made the outputted video much darker and, in some cases, added jitter (terminology?). All transfers in 2024 have been done with TBC turned off.
The connections between my Sanyo VCR and my Samsung DVD recorder were made using the S-Video out (Sanyo) and S-Video in (Samsung).

Forgot to mention that the USB dongle I purchased has S-Video and Composite Video and L/R audio inputs to capture from external sources, but likely as a screen capture, and with no TBC or other special features.

Thanks again - Memory_Keeper240

[BmacSWA]

Holy smokes that a LOT!

[lordsmurf]

Welcome.

Replying as I read.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Memory_Keeper240

First, I apologize in advance if I use improper terminology and/or my explanations are confusing, I would say I am a beginner level video archiver!

Not a problem.

Quote:

This is a long one, so get your favourite drink ready!
I am hoping that LordSmurf (and any other pro's) can read my post below and provide some guidance and feedback on my efforts to archive video from analog to digital format. Am I using the correct workflow? Is the process I have taken to date proper? Should I go back to the beginning before moving forward?

I'm here. This is a long post, and I don't have time to address it all at once, but I'll try to come back in chunks. So here's one for now...

Quote:

I began this process in 2007, as indicated below, however I did not complete it.

This is very common when using the wrong tools. Give up, toss the tapes back in the closet/wherever.

We're now decades in, and a lot of posts/requests are now "my dad/grandad tried to do this years ago, and now it's my turn to try" (often sadly because the original gent has passed). Sometimes grandmas/moms/daughters, but not as much. We're seeing more and more of that in the past 5 years now, and I suspect Covid did a lot more damage that people realize.

But even when complete, another common project is going back and redoing projects, because you later realize (or knew all along, if being honest with yourself) that the conversion looked like crap.

Quote:

In early January 2024 I resumed my archiving efforts to convert video from analog to digital. My original analog mediums/sources are either on S-VHS-C, VHS-C or MiniDV tapes which have a limited lifespan and need to be converted before the medium deteriorates (tapes) and the methods of playback become obsolete.

The tapes are never the problem. The playback equipment is the issue. VCRs, TBCs, capture cards, even camcorders, are in a sorry state in the 2020s. Remember, this is all 90s-00s gear, now 20-30 years old. Too much of it was not taken care of, and then we live in a disposable society.

Most consumer analog tape formats have a lifespan of 35-65 years. We're only now in the stage where early 80s tapes are starting to break down in any noticeable measurable way. Things like BASF pre-1986 are pretty bad these days, while the Maxell of the era are still quite fine overall. Ironically, those early tapes frrom the late 70s are still largely fine, apparently better made.

So don't fall for the BS of "YOUR TAPES ARE FADING, BETTER SEND THEM TO US NOW!" (because they're desperate for business, and scaring you is the only way they can get any). Selling fear existed long before Fox News.

Quote:

Samsung DVD-R150 DVD Recorder

Hmmm. Is that one LSI Logic based? I the 120 is offhand, because I have one (bought it for that reason, LSI). I don't believe the 150 is, but check. Not that I'd use it here, and the Samsung units had issues. But still, nifty piece if it's the LSI with 352x480 3-hour. (Samsung had hidden menus to enable 3-hour, IIRC.)

Quote:

When I went to test the Sharp camcorder out on Jan 16, 2024, I found that it would no longer play tapes!

Yep, common. Not for Sharp, or camcorders, just AV gear in general. Sat for too long. Gear ages, used or not. Caps are a common foe these days.

Quote:

The only remaining method at this point to archive the remaining S-VHS-C and VHS-C tapes would be to use the Toshiba DVD/VHS Video Player SD-V320 that I had purchased used in 2023. When I went to test this Toshiba DVD/VHS Video Player, I determined that the DVD drawer would no longer eject/open, however the VCR played tapes successfully.
Fearing that I would lose my opportunity to archive the remaining S-VHS-C, VHS-C and VHS tapes if the VHS part of my Toshiba DVD/VHS player and/or my Samsung DVD recorder would not last long,

Fear makes you do hasty wrong things.
Why DVD in the 2020s? It's sort of like building a phone booth in the 2020s. I adore DVD as a DIY format, you could get so artistic with the menus and cases. But nobody cares now, and nobody has a DVD player but us fossils (I actually have a Blu-ray player still). You may as well put the video on a floppy disk. Everything is streaming now, be it your local home network (DLNA), or using Youtube/Netflix/etc.

Quote:

I visited local thrift stores and searched Facebook Marketplace for local listings.

Ugh, no. You will get garbage that way. Their random gear will almost always be as failed as your own. It will eat your tapes, add mold/etc to your tapes (then you REALLY have problems!), waste time and money, etc. This is not what you do when you care about the tape content.

Quote:

Given that my intent is to ensure I can archive analog videos to future-proof them for myself and my children in a reasonable manner, these were my resource scopes/guidelines at this point:

The goal would be to archive the tapes in it's native form, played as best as possible. That means a lossless capture, using standard workflow of VCR > TBC > capture card.

Your kids and grandkids don't want DVDs, as they no more have a DVD players than they do VHS players (or record players, Walkmans, etc). If they do actually have one, you can bet they will not replace it if/when it fails. Many of those dust-covered items are already failed, they just don't know it yet, as you saw with your Samsung DVD recorder.

Quote:

Best quality on a budget of no more than $200 and with existing computer.

That won't happen. Inflation alone has made a budget of $200 laughable now,. For $200, you can walk away maybe with a junk VCR (image quality is oversharp, wrong colors, color bleeding, etc), a cheap Easycap (Easycrap) USB card, and an ES10/15 as the TBC(ish). Maybe.

A combo DVD recorder is not an option. Never was. The manufacturers lied to you, converting VHS to DVD inside the unit, without having tons of usability and quality issues, is complete BS.

Remember that this isn't a sunk cost. Buy it, use it , resell it. Quality gear holds value, junk is yours forever. You don't buy it, use it, then toss it in a drawer (and that how a lot of gear is found now, estate sales of society's departed, they were gear hoarders, sitting on items of value).

Quote:

Best mediums for archiving and playing at this point and the future (DVD still very popular with older members of my extended family that I would like to make copies of archives and share with them) & (another digital format that will future proof my archives and can be shared with family & friends via one or more than one of these: USB, SD, Amazon Photos, social media).
I have some time to do the archiving myself, and I like to learn/try new things.

This statement actually reinforces lossless captures, as you can then multi-use as needed, to create DVDs (if you must), streaming copies (with deinterlace, etc).

Most older folks have modern alternatives to DVD players. I'm not anti-DVD, but I just don't see the need to do extra work anymore. For starters, it's just not appreciated, and taken for granted. The MPEG encoding, authoring, etc, is extra work, and for a video that is lesser quality. I still do MPEG captures, but at broadcast depths (2x+ DVD-Video max allowed specs).

I've had a few requests in the family to "make DVDs", but I always decline. No. Watch it on your computer, on your phone, etc. More ideal is for them to watch it on their HDTV, using a flash/thumb drive (though noting most "smart" TVs are really dumb), or some sort of box/stick to stream it from local or internet. One request was that "they really need a DVD", so I said I'd need to paid for my time, for the supplies, for the shipping, though with a friends/family rate. They didn't need the DVD after all, the H.264 (MP4, MKV) file via download was suddenly fine. Yep, thought so.

... and that's all for the moment.

[Memory_Keeper240]

Hi LordSmurf,

Thanks so very much for your time in reading my post and responding to it in pieces, it is VERY much appreciated!!

Your initial feedback has "calmed my nerves" regarding my archiving/converting efforts. I thought S-VHS and VHS tapes were reaching the point of not being useful due to their age, but your feedback regarding the mediums having a 35-65 year lifespan puts me at ease (and makes sense as I have not seen any issues YET when playing back tapes except for the odd "distortion" which looks like it may have been created by playback equipment (for instance, when stopping a tape as the content does not fit on one DVD, then rewinding the tape and playing back sometimes it shows as a non-readable section of the VHS tape for a few seconds with blurred video and audio. So, your comment about playback equipment being more of the issue makes complete sense!

I look forward to your next instalment of comments/recommendations. I’ll wait until you’ve finalized responding to my post in the various pieces before any next steps. In the end if I have to go back to square one and do it all over again, it is like you've said in other posts, not a waste, but a good learning experience! Looking forward to your next comments

Thanks, Memory_Keeper240

[traal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Their random gear will almost always be as failed as your own.

That reminds me of a short passage in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question":

Quote:

[A man] was caught in a sudden shower and...ran to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see, because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one.

[qiaodangames]

show us some video snapshots of the files from VHS please

[Memory_Keeper240]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Welcome.

Replying as I read.

Not a problem.

I'm here. This is a long post, and I don't have time to address it all at once, but I'll try to come back in chunks. So here's one for now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

... and that's all for the moment. [

Hi LordSmurf, thanks again for your initial read and feedback, looking forward to the next chunk when you have had a chance to read a bit more. Thanks, Memory_Keeper240

[lordsmurf]

Alright, next quick mini-installment...

... and hopefully no more off-topic. That was moved here.
... and hoping I don't contradict myself anywhere, since I've having to delay respond to a long post over time.

Given the above, I was able to acquire additional devices in 2024 (for reasonable prices) and the following is a complete list of the units I have to complete the video conversion project and where possible (those with [Have PDF Manual]) I have downloaded user manuals.

Looking at that 2024 gear:
- AverMedia anything = no
- Sony DVD recorders = no, noisy encodes, weaker thatn ES10/15 if any have passthrough (almost none do)
- Samsung as mentioned earlier, interesting if LSI, but don't think 150 is LSI
- Toshiba DVD recorders have IRE isses, noting most DVD recorders have some % offset, some unacceptably awful, some acceptably not ideal. I forget offhand which Toshiba models are unacceptable, which as passable.
- Sanyo = no
- JVC non-LSI (any HR- recorder included) = no
- Panasonic VHS VCRs = no
- any DVD/VHS combo = blah, or no
- use MiniDV for MiniDV
- JVC S-VHS-C cameras loveto eat tapes on playback, so no
- Sharp never had S-VHS-C, especially not 1988, you must mean VHS-C, and yuck to -C cameras for playback

Honestly, it seems like a lot of random gear, bought from random places (Facebook, thrift store, etc). And it'll give you random quality. And it'll be in random condition.

Random condition will be why some better models can look worse than worse models. A bad model in good condition can outperforms a good model in poor shape. Would you want to buy a used car from the little old lady who only drove it on Sundays, or the used/old car from a teenager that wrecked it multiple times? Same thing here.

XP mode from a recorder is safe on most units. Almost no compressed, at least in terms of the DVD-Video spec. Noting all DVDs are highly compressed, just XP is lesser compared. "It doesn't suck as much" is not a compliment.

I wish I had more positive comments here. Maybe in the next message?

What I'm seeing so far is lots of low-end mediocrity.