VHS to ???

[Dave]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I want to preserve a rare VHS recording in a digital format. AVI or MPG.

My question is what hardware will do the BEST at making my VHS tape look its
best after being recorded into my PC?

I previously used a Futuretel MPEG1 encoder board at 352 x 240 and 1150
kbits and I am not happy with the results.

I don't feel like it has to do with my encoder board as I have other videos
from laserdisc and DVD that look fine.

Maybe a better VCR? Or is VHS format just bad?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Dave" wrote ...
> I want to preserve a rare VHS recording in a digital
> format. AVI or MPG.
>
> My question is what hardware will do the BEST at
> making my VHS tape look its best after being recorded
> into my PC?
>
> I previously used a Futuretel MPEG1 encoder board
> at 352 x 240 and 1150 kbits and I am not happy with
> the results.
>
> I don't feel like it has to do with my encoder board as
> I have other videos from laserdisc and DVD that look fine.
>
> Maybe a better VCR?

How does the playback look on the TV when you play the VHS?
Is it equivalent to the best you have seen from the tape? The
capture process will never make a copy that is any better than
that.

If you like the results of your MPEG encoder with different
source material (and source equipment), then maybe you have
succeeded at doing the differential analysis and come to the
conclusion that indeed your VHS VCR is the weakest link.

Or is VHS format just bad?

VHS is not that great. However if you are looking for archival
quality here, you must use the best equipment practical for doing
the capture. A typical consumer VHS VCR may not cut it. If your
source tape is all that rare, perhaps it is worth taking to a professional
with a good VCR and TBC equipment, etc.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

In article <10f2ik8jk1ie54b@corp.supernews.com>, Richard Crowley
<rcrowley7@xprt.net> writes
>"Dave" wrote ...
>> I want to preserve a rare VHS recording in a digital
>> format. AVI or MPG.
>>
>> My question is what hardware will do the BEST at
>> making my VHS tape look its best after being recorded
>> into my PC?
>>
>> I previously used a Futuretel MPEG1 encoder board
>> at 352 x 240 and 1150 kbits and I am not happy with
>> the results.
>>
>> I don't feel like it has to do with my encoder board as
>> I have other videos from laserdisc and DVD that look fine.
>>
>> Maybe a better VCR?
>
>How does the playback look on the TV when you play the VHS?
>Is it equivalent to the best you have seen from the tape? The
>capture process will never make a copy that is any better than
>that.
>
>If you like the results of your MPEG encoder with different
>source material (and source equipment), then maybe you have
>succeeded at doing the differential analysis and come to the
>conclusion that indeed your VHS VCR is the weakest link.
>
>Or is VHS format just bad?
>
>VHS is not that great. However if you are looking for archival
>quality here, you must use the best equipment practical for doing
>the capture. A typical consumer VHS VCR may not cut it. If your
>source tape is all that rare, perhaps it is worth taking to a professional
>with a good VCR and TBC equipment, etc.
>
>
Also MPEG is not the highest quality file format as it's quite heavily
compressed (it also doesn't like noisy footage which the VHS recording
may be)

You should maybe capture it to DV-AVI format for better quality. For
this you would need a DV camcorder with analogue pass-through, or a box
like the Canopus ADVC-100.
--
Tim Mitchell