PopSci Article: How to Decimate (er, Digitize) Your VHS Collection!

[ehbowen]

Does anyone have the number to a good veterinarian? Because I think Lordsmurf may be about to have a cow....

https://www.popsci.com/how-to-digitize-tapes

Fair Use Quote:

Quote:

First of all, you're going to need something to play the old tapes you've got. If you've long since got rid of your cassette or VHS player, you'll have to head to eBay or Craigslist to try and pick up a second-hand one. The good news is you shouldn't have to pay much for it.

[lordsmurf]

The author is a dumbass. I can't sugarcoat that.

I like how his image of Audacity shows the audio clipped and distorted. That's what happens when you use a POS like an Elgato to capture.

eBay and Craigslist have about an 85% fail rate with VCRs, with the items being damaged or simply in poor shape. Most sellers either lie, have no idea how to judge the condition (being recyclers and storage/estate buyers/resellers), or use some horrible packaging that the fine-when-auctioned/sold deck arrives broken. It's pure gambling.

The worst aspect is when newbies don't (at first) realize they've bought junk.

This has also led to the myth that "VHS was bad", when in fact a good VHS conversion can look as good as what you see on 4x3 aspect digital cable channels like Buzzr, RFDTV and Encore Westerns.

This is why non-video "tech writers" should stick to non-video topics.

Luckily my vet is just a few miles away.

[Sergei316]

Maybe we should point him in to the right website to capture VHS?

via Twitter?

I almost cant help myself.

8 months ago I would have explored this guy's recommendations to capture VHS. I started with Dazzle and Blackmagic and when I finally found DigitalFAQ, the game changed, the project stopped, and I had to rethink my entire workflow. This hobby is not for the faint of heart. The correct technology for VHS capture is all but dead. Finding equipment and setting up workflows is extremely difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Not to mention learning how to use all of the equipment correctly in a workflow. BUT I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!

LS, maybe you should submit an article to Popular Science and set the record straight!!

[lordsmurf]

What irks me about "articles" like that is that the information is unqualified. No attributions, no quotes, no vetted sources, no obvious qualitative research, no apparent first-hand demonstrated expertise, nothing. Just another pulled-from-ass mind vomit piece, not much different than a fringe lunatic's rant blog.

Writing more is something I want to do, on this site, but time is my limiting factor.

The too-easy/cheap-to-be-true nature of the "article" probably already set off alarm bells in smarter people anyway, and they're hitting up Google for verification and references ("more information"). Hopefully some of those lost souls find their way to this site.

As far as Tweets, go for it.