backing up old VHS tapes

[Fe 26]

I was lucky to have a dad in the 80s that taped a lot of stuff for me. Because of that I have like 100+ tapes of 80's goodness. This stuff needs to be backed up for all the internet children to enjoy. I'd also like to do my part to bring TV shows to the internet for people who missed them that day.

So what are my options for backing this stuff up? I'd like a plug in unit that I could use on my laptop so I can do this on the go. I also want no quality loss. Ideally I'd like to gather up all the episodes I have of something and make a dvd of it.

Is anyone else doing this?

[Shin Johnpv]

they're on VHS...from the 80s, expect an assload of quality loss. As those tapes have sat there the quality has been slowly going down. As far as getting them into your PC, try something like the Dazzler it's a plug and go device that will let you run anything with a composite or S-Video connector into it and record it into a digital medium.

this here is the cheapest one that they make

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...e_DVD_Recorder

[Fe 26]

for what is worth, our stuff has always been recorded using the best VHS recorder offered at the time. I know, there will still be quality loss but I think many of the tapes are still of a quality worth shairing.

[cka]

I'm actually in the middle of converting some old 8mm videotapes to DVD, using a DVD Xpress USB capture device. It does the job, I guess

[Fe 26]

are there any packages that offer filters or the ability to play with the audio level?

[Mykozo]

they're on VHS...from the 80s, expect an assload of quality loss. As those tapes have sat there the quality has been slowly going down.

Truth. Unless those tapes were kept in a temp and humidity controlled environment, they have probably taken a massive quality loss. First off, if they have been sitting that long without being backed up or even viewed, they probably have a degree of audio print-through (magnetism being transferred to from layer to layer from being in contact for so long. This can be somewhat minimized by keeping tapes at tails out, meaning fast forwarded to the end). Also, the inherent issues with binder and substrate degredation, once again, if not archived in a proper environment, will be an issue.

Having said that, you can only do what you can. Shin's suggestion is a good one.

[Fe 26]

are there any programs that offer a filter to get rid of that air like noise that appears on some old recordings.

[Shin Johnpv]

You can try cleaning them up in something like adobe after effects but it's not going to be a simple 1 button push and bam it looks gorgeous. Digital Restoration of images and sound is a slow, time consuming, and costly process.

[Mykozo]

If you want to do audio restoration, that "air" like noise is simply tape hiss. It is a property of old recording, and namely, duplication technology. Noise reduction is hit or miss, and can be quite time consuming, and if you are paying for someone to do it, very, very expensive. Hit me up on AIM or PM me and I'll fill you in on what you can do.

EDIT: From what Shin said, image restoration is even more so time consuming. It's one of the things I hate doing most, as it is very painstaking. In the end there is only so much you can do anyway. If you have long passages (more than a few frames is long) of shit that needs to be restored, well...good luck. Chroma errors on frames are fixable...rolling scan lines are not.

In the end, don't try to polish a turd too brightly. It will still be a turd.

[Shin Johnpv]

EDIT: From what Shin said, image restoration is even more so time consuming. It's one of the things I hate doing most, as it is very painstaking. In the end there is only so much you can do anyway. If you have long passages (more than a few frames is long) of shit that needs to be restored, well...good luck. Chroma errors on frames are fixable...rolling scan lines are not.

In the end, don't try to polish a turd too brightly. It will still be a turd.

Truth.

Honestly anything video related is long and painstaking. Think of restoration as just another effects shot, there's a reason why most effects shots are only a few frames long.

For one of my classes this past semester I had to do a 30 second piece that included some kind of 2D effects shot. So I ended up filming this 20 second fight scene between 2 characters that I then rotoscoped them out of their background using an animated mask in After Effects. To do that over the 600 frames took me probably close to 40 some odd hours. 40 some odd hours for 20 seconds of video. Digital restoration is even more time consuming than that, specially when trying to restore stuff that's recorded on magnetic tape, so much crap gets in there.