Digitizing VHS & Hi8 Tapes: How Professionals Do It

Today we're going to be taking a look at some semi-professional analog capture hardware that is capable of digitizing every last bit of quality that VHS, Hi8, and 8mm videocassettes have to offer...
Gear Used:
Camera: Fujifilm X-H1 & X-H2S
Lens: Minolta Rokkor-X PG 50mm f/1.4, Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4
Mic: Deity D3 Pro & PowerDeWise Lav Mic
Editing Software: Final Cut Pro X
Credits:
Music:
"Happiness is Here" by Table Etiquette: www.epidemicso...
"In My State" by Table Etiquette: www.epidemicso...
#vhs #retro #digitization

[@randytate]

3:42 this isn't typically what you should expect as the highest quality from an NTSC source like VHS or Hi8, even for as hobbyist. I believe, just looking over the video presented here that it appears to have dropped either all the odd or even fields from the interlaced frames. This effectively cut the resolution in half. It also cut the frame rate in in half, making the video "move" in a way not consistent with NTSC video, with is technically 60 fields per second - a much smoother "motion" when video in the original format. If you clock "Stats for nerds" you see this video was uploaded at 30p. So, even with your setup, you can capture 480i @ 59.94 then use a slightly more sophisticated deinterlacing algorithm like the MSU plugin for VirtualDub to render on a nice 60p version of the video. It will look a lot more like how the video originally looked when viewed on a TV. If you're looking to share your home movies via KZbin, then it's preferable to upscale them to 4K. Even though your VHS source content doesn't come close to this resolution, KZbin's compression algorithms are *much* more kind to 4K uploads than anything less. The upscale won't add more detail but the final KZbin result will be much less "messy".

[@njm1971nyc]

I run a digitizing business in the US - the top rated one in the city I'm based in, FWIW, and it never fails to amaze me how "low end" virtually all of the "professional" digitizing facilities actually are. They love to criticize "Legacybox" (rightly so!!) but typically they seem barely any better themselves. It also amazes me how many capture systems they have running...dozens and dozens...with barely more than a laptop, a consumer VHS deck/camcorder, and a cheap capture interface for each system. There's absolutely no way you can guarantee high quality results with so many tapes all running at once, or with such basic gear. Typically they have no waveform monitors/vectorscopes, no proper audio monitoring or metering and capture interlaced DV-codec video. While I don't want to give away too many "trade secrets" by naming the exact equipment that I use, I run an absolute maximum of five systems at once, all with professional-grade source VCRs, all with professional-grade monitoring, and all with broadcast-grade HD up-conversion. The pricing may be somewhat higher than other companies, but still affordable to "regular people". Much of what I work on is archive footage for use in tv documentaries etc., but at least 40% is just "home movies". Sure, I could never charge $10 for a tape, or anything close to that, but there are plenty of companies charging $30 or so, for 60mins of extremely "unprofessional" results. Much of what I work with is Betacam SP, DigiBeta, HDCAM etc, but regardless of whether it's a pro format or VHS/Videos/Hi8/MiniDV etc, it all gets the same treatment. Analog video has terrible "rough edges" that need trimming, black/video/chroma levels all over the place - which need correcting - all kinds of audio issues, the list goes on and on - and most places seem to just press Play and Capture and that's the extent of their input. No adjustments, no corrections, no repairs of any kind, and really substandard results. At my company, rarely does a client get the "raw capture" either, even with so much care taken with it. Typically, everything gets a further step of tidying-up in Premiere, then ProRes export for the pros, and H.264 for the consumer stuff. A one hour tape can easily take 1.5 hours to complete, and several thousand dollars of gear to get it captured "professionally", but the results speak for themselves. Even if I listed every piece of gear that I use, without decades of experience with consumer & pro video/ videotape formats, anyone trying to copy me would quickly land flat on their faces. Even lowly VHS is way more complicated than most people realize. With the combination of NTSC/PAL/SECAM (and even more obscure standards like MESECAM) plus SP, LP, EP, linear mono, linear stereo, AFM HiFi audio, plus tracking errors, timebase errors, audio head azimuth errors, damaged tapes, moldy tapes, so on and so on, I've found it extremely difficult just to train staff on VHS alone. Maybe 50% of VHS tapes are straightforward enough for a novice to get good results from, but the other 50% need expert attention. At most facilities, those "difficult" tapes just get digitized very poorly. Very often I'll need to try various VCR models, try various different time base correctors, even monitor the RF coming off the tape heads and manually correct tracking errors, with entry/exit guide adjustments, not just the tracking knob correction. Add to that another dozen or so videotape formats, each with their own features, quirks and issues, and soon people realize that it takes years of experience to be able to produce consistently high quality results. Virtually everything on my own KZbin channel is just odds and ends recorded with an old Canopus DV capture device, years ago, so don't take any of that as examples of my work 😄 (just saying!) So, anyway, yes... professional capture gear is one thing, but it's the years of experience that really makes the difference between one digitizing service and another. And most of them absolutely SUCK! Most people who had a lot of experience with videotape have either retired, moved into other areas of tech, or died! Very few of us left on this planet! 😆 Well, that ended up being an essay rather than a comment, but maybe one or two people will find it interesting 🤷‍♂️

[@spontaneousadventurouskid]

Where is your business based. I have some VHS tapes i need to convert at the best quality.

[@anthonyjacoway7364]

I apreciate this comment. I was thinking about getting in to VHS conversion. By trade I am an editor and colorist, but started at the bitter end of analog, so this is a bit out of my wheel house, but I love technical stuff, and I have nastalgea for for the 90s, and care about preservation. I happen to purchase an old JVC professional deck with component, at the start of covid to digitize my 40 or so vhs tapes from middle and highschool's video production classes I took. I used an Atomos analog to HDMI in to a Videodevices pixe 5 recorder that i had from my old a7s2, this allowed me to scale to 1080p and deinterlase in hardware. but I could not tell it my results were good because I didn't have the technical knowledge of how to determine what good is. Your comment about scopes made me, realize i had no clue what i was doing! The other reason I've been interested in this whole thing, is because there is a guy whos handle is Jpopization, who has been using Topaz AI to upscale old Japanese Pop videos from the late 90s to early 2010s in to 4k, and the results have been impressive because his upscale are tasteful. At this point I am just rambling. but to continue with my ramble. I recently purchased a RetroTink 4k for propporly scaling my classic video games in t4k. I am again curious if a hardware scaler like this would provide any benefit. Ok i am going to tend to my family.

[@njm1971nyc]

@@anthonyjacoway7364 Good to read your reply. So, I use Blackmagic Design Teranex up-converters. They're working purely on algorithms, no AI here, so there's a definite limit as to how good the results can look. Fed with a high-quality Digital Betacam source, or even a high quality DV (from a pro DV camera with a decent lens/CCD) the results in 1080p are "very very nice". I'm not trying to make the footage look like "real HD" - it's more to make the SD footage look "correct" when viewed on an HD screen/device. Deinterlacing the video, "properly", is one of the most important parts. Since there's motion between two fields of interlaced video, the frame rate has to double in the progressive output. Each field becomes a whole new frame. NTSC becomes 59.94fps. Some clients are using the footage in 23.976 productions, in which case I frame-rate-convert with the Teranex, but to keep things fully "original", motion-wise, NTSC has to become 59.94p and PAL becomes 50p. Cleaning up the shitty edges, which are always present in SD, especially head switching noise, also makes things look a lot better. All the resizing options are provided on the Teranex. Black levels, especially if set too high, will make any video look like crap, so a scope is necessary to get black levels spot-on. Rarely is the black level correct on NTSC tapes! The US used 7.5 IRE "setup" black level (no idea why!) other countries used 0 IRE, which partially explains the all-over-the-fucking-place black levels, but mostly it's just down to sloppy work when the tapes were recorded. Often tapes are second gen dubs, with errors on top of errors! The current range of Teranex processors have NO analog inputs whatsoever (weird!) so I have several older Teranex 2D models for analog sources. Only the newer ones have 4K up-conversion though, so I have the Teranex AV model for a few of the capture systems. The Teranex Express is SDI only, if I recall correctly - no HDMI - so that model is a bit limited. I don't capture too many HDMI sources though, and never FireWire/DV (all my DV-type decks, DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO-HD, HDV, etc) are the top-end models with SDI/HDSDI outputs. The Teranex's also have a fairly decent video noise reduction built-in, with variable level adjustment. The scopes I use are also Blackmagic (Smartscope I think is the name). The older 2D Teranex's can also be used as multifunction scopes, with Blackmagic software. Originally, I used the Teranex's as the actual capture device, too, but the newer models can't be used in that way (FFS Blackmagic!!) so I installed latest-model "ultrastudio" devices in all the capture systems. Multiply all this gear by the number of capture systems, and the $$$ soon mounts up. Need fast drives with flawlessly sustained high-speed performance to capture HD ProRes, too...so more $$$ again. Need a lot of storage space for these ProRes files, too! Tons of RAID drives. Ughh!! More money. So, anyway, with the amount of tapes I work on, AI processing just isn't realistic. Not even possible, unless I bought a load of very fast computers. Some clients (rarely) like me to capture straight NTSC/PAL, and do their own HD up-conversion with AI. Nothing to stop someone feeding my hardware up-converted 720p/1080p (&4K) footage into an AI system though, if they want to! Currently I'd say it's better to leave the "bulk capture" to hardware up-conversion, and only do AI on the clips you actually need. I have played around with Topaz, a little, but it wasn't quite as "miraculous" as I'd expected. No doubt AI processing will get better and better very quickly though! If it can create realistic-looking HD from literally just a few WORDS, I'm not expecting it will take too long before super-accurate HD can be created from flawed SD-source video captures. Whatever happens, it's my experience with the tapes/VTRs that will keep me in business for a good while yet. Getting a bit bored with it, if I'm honest, but that's true of any job. The business is mine though, so at least I get to keep the profits! Not sure I'd want to work for someone else in this industry! Anyway, it's bedtime for me. Good luck with your tape transfers! If you end up doing them for other people, though, remember that many people recorded in LP mode (yuk) or EP node (puke) and no professional deck will play those speeds!! MORE $$$ again to buy a bunch of consumer-type VCRs. Ughh!! And time base correctors! 😂

[@CHUKDEPHATTE]

i found this incredibly interesting. currently in the process of digitising my own home videos using canopus adv 110. i am no where near as experienced or knowledgeable as you though

[@njm1971nyc]

@@CHUKDEPHATTE glad to hear at least one person found it interesting! 😄 FWIW, the advc300 is a lot better than the 110 - it has a pretty decent TBC on the analog input. If your tapes are in good shape, the 110 is fine, and if your camcorder/source has a built in TBC, also fine, but for "troublesome" tapes, the advc300 will fix most timebase errors. VHS in EP node, and similar "crap" will need the additional circuitry of the 300! Incredibly, the advc3000, the Big Boy in the Canopus DV range, doesn't have the tbc feature! Weird. 🤷‍♂️ DVD recorders need to stabilize wobbly consumer formats on the analog input, too, and most, if not all, will stabilize the video in pass-through "EE" mode. Often more effective than a dedicated stand-alone TBC. Also a lot less expensive than a Canopus 300. There's a reason the 300's still fetch high-ish prices on ebay, but a good DVD recorder is probably comparable. Stick with Panasonic/Sony/etc. Skip the "Westinghouse" type brands!

[@jaymeff2455]

Great video - this is almost the exact same setup I put together (after hours of research). Running a 2006 Mac Pro (10.6.8) and a Kona LSe. I've been capturing uncompressed 8-bit Hi8 and VHS through S-Video and never had a single dropped frame or crash -- about 22MB/sec. which any SATA drive easily will handle. You can actually find S-Video to BNC cables for connection for the camcoder/VCR to breakout cable and 3.5 inch stereo mini to XLR for the breakout cable for audio.

[@tacofortgens3471]

What are the pros doing it on a computer than a standalone dvd recorder? Besidws it being more expensive. Time consuming and more hassle

[@RetroBulgaria]

Quality, shitty amateur!

[@njm1971nyc]

​@@tacofortgens3471a standalone DVD recorder is fine if that's giving you the kind of results you're happy with! DVDs are a pretty dreadful archive medium though, and MPEG2 is far from ideal. Some people are happy with McDonald's, others want a steak cooked by a pro chef. Same with video 🤷‍♂️ In many cases, the "McDonald's" is all someone needs.

[@TofuInc]

RF capture directly from the test points in the VCR or Camera is probably the way to go. This method of capture creates direct copy of the tape in it true form. Then using VHS-Decode to create a the video from it. Also storing it in this form allows better video to be created from it as tech improves without worrying about the original tapes degrading. This is the method that was developed to preserve laser disc and has since been expanded to VCR and other magnetic tape media.

[@daltonrandall4348]

Care to elaborate on how that works exactly?

[@RetroBulgaria]

This is only on theory. There are shitty guys that try to do that but for 6 years they have not done nothing some ever close to capture with specialized professional equipment

[@RetroBulgaria]

This is only on theory. There arw shitty guys that trybto do that but for 6 years they have not done nothing some ever close to capture with specialized professional equipment

[@RetroBulgaria]

It doesn't wotlrk. It just spreads rumors.

[@TofuInc]

@@RetroBulgaria You might want to get your head out of you ass and do a Google search.

[@docboy989]

Many thanks for this interesting video! Some time ago I went and took over 25 old Video 8 and Hi8 tapes and converted them into MP4. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to work with an AJA Kona so I read about other methods and ended up with the following workflow, maybe it's of help for someone: Playback source was my trusty old Sony CCD TRV 208E camcorder with which I recorded most of the stuff 20 years ago. Beforehand I had it cleaned properly with a cleaning tape. The camcorder was then plugged into an old DVD Recorder from Panasonic via S-Video. This is very important! Hi8 is capable of seperating chroma and luminance, something that the S-Video connection does as well, as Griffen described. The normal oldschool RCA plug in yellow can NOT do that - it mixes chroma and luminance into one signal, worsening the image quality in the process. The reason for using a mid 2000s DVD recorder from Panasonic is that these models had the best jitter and time base correction on the market. Basically there A/D converters were constructed for the bad quality and unstable signals amateur analog camcorders produced and converted them into the best possible digital signal. The digital signal (576i resolution) was then fed through an HDMI splitter (to get rid of HDCP)via HDMI into my PC's Blackmagic capture card. The audio went straight from the camcorder via mono RCA into the capture card as well. With the Blackmagic card suite I then recorded raw *.avi files. These files are insanely HUGE as they're uncompressed (1 hour = 100 Gbyte even in 576i). I then took to avidemux, did some slight cropping (the recorded signal always shows greenish borders which CRTs didn't show back then due to overscan). Also I deinterlaced the videos with the YADIF 2x filter and used a very slight blur to make them look a bit softer. Then they were compressed and archived in H.265 MP4 files (5000-6000 kbits bitrate). This is a very complicated workflow, I am aware, but apart from using professional video restauration equipment for 1000s of dollars it will give you the best possible results. All the stuff I just touched here is written down in great detail by AlexG in the German Hifi Forum. If you're interested you can run it through google translate and have a look: www.hifi-forum.de/index.php?action=browseT&forum_id=54&thread=17166&back=1&sort=lpost&z=1

[@klavesin]

"Yadif 2x" - is it about doubling the frame rate at the cost of vertical resolution?

[@videocaptureguide]

The quality looks good. I've always been cruious to do a comparison of the AJA method versus the Osprey or ATI PCI cards. I suspect it will be pretty close. Good demo video. Thanks.

[@RustyTheGeek]

Wait... I was expecting a Part 2 to this where you took the captured content on the computer and then moved it to a new computer and applied up-scaling and other enhancements. Come on man! You can't stop now!

[@videotaperetro1126]

For every last bit of quality you need to use at least the s-video output of your recorder/camcorder. So you also need a super VHS or Hi8 camcorder/recorder. And yes it really is a big difference. Also for standard VHS and video8!

[@OurResistance]

I have had great results with a cheap but slightly older USB capture device. However, said capture device is lossy and uses MPEG compression, which means there would be some artifacts in the video. Thanks to this video, I have purchased an "LHE" capture system. I will set it up and test it in a few days when I receive all of the connector cables I need.

[@spontaneousadventurouskid]

I have a VHS player, old analog red yellow and white cable, and am planning to use an elgato converter with my windows 11 PC. You guys think that's a good idea or should i use a video conversion service?

[@HISPEKK]

Does that card have a TBC on board cheers.

[@cheric35]

Really enjoyed the introduction

[@daltonrandall4348]

Can you please give more information about the specific computer and capture card used in this video? Together, they're available used for only $50??

[@afonsobatista1420]

Would want that too

[@JoeMac1983]

Really good thumbnail. 👍

[@kaitlyn__L]

It’s kinda funny how the hallmarks of “sleaze” from 150 years prior become, through the distance of history, a fun setting to put productions on mimicking the styles (with the saloon mistress, the cabaret dancers, etc)

[@tongmovies]

My mini dv canon camcorders has a svideo in to record from analog to mini dv tape. From the camcorder, I would then FireWire to the computer in avi format. The avi format uses about 15 gb per hour in SD format. Problem now a days is mini dv and FireWire are getting rare.

[@EricGlenSnyder]

Same here, wonder if that's better than a capture device (elgato $90). Other than a desktop PC with FireWire card, I think Apple has two $30 (?) cables that together convert FireWire to modern USB. There are multiple versions of FireWire is my recollection - investigated 1-2 years ago...

[@Capturing-Memories]

It is a stable, less problematic method but you endup with compressed DV files with half chroma information only.

[@tongmovies]

@@Capturing-Memories I didn't know that. But are you sure? Where would I lose the chroma info since DV/AVI barely compresses compared to MP4 and my Canon's do have S inputs as well as the SVHS I had at the time. Unless the camera analog to digital converter automatically cuts the chroma. But if that's the case then just about any analog to digital converter will cut chroma info - except for extremely expensive ones. However, If I have anymore analog to convert, I'll have to go a different route since I don't have firewire anymore and there are easier devices now.

[@Capturing-Memories]

@@tongmovies Lookup chroma subsampling, Lossless capture is 4:2:2, DV is 4:1:1 for NTSC and 4:2:0 for PAL.

[@video99couk]

@@tongmovies DV has less chroma resolution than luma, true. But there again, so does the tape. VHS chroma resolution is best described as shocking. DV chroma resolution isn't going to make any difference at all to that.

[@BurninSven1]

Or you can get a Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro card and the Breakout cable that shipped with it and the free program Davinci Resolve

[@ionluv]

Wouldn’t you want a professional hi8 player? Is the footage coming out of the camcorder the best it can be?

[@tacofortgens3471]

I use a video8, Hi8 Digital8 camcorder Firewire cbale straight in dvd recorder. The shorter the analog path the better

[@Capturing-Memories]

@@tacofortgens3471 You ignored one thing, DV is a compressed format, The only better way to get lossless AVI 4:2:2 is the S-Video out way.

[@njm1971nyc]

Most Sony professional Hi8 decks have died from hundreds of bad capacitors! I know from experience. Far too many bad caps to replace!! The only other "professional" Hi8 deck is the TEAC V-800G, I bought two of these, absolutely brand new, and they absolutely SUCK. Extremely soft picture, extremely unstable video on anything except "perfect" tapes (needs a LOT of "TBC-ing") They handle old tapes really badly. Extremely disappointing! I literally only use mine as rewinders. They're not even useful for checking tape durations, since the tape counter runs even on blank section of tape. Useless!! The only thing they've ever been good for is getting PCM audio off the rare PCM Video8/Hi8 recordings that I encounter. I get far better results with a "modern" Digital8 camcorder that has analog playback capability and a built-in TBC. These give a signal stable enough to capture even with broadcast-grade gear, which typically requires ultra-stable video. Pro gear is far more fussy about timebase errors than consumer gear is.

[@mylovesongs2429]

my question is, do these tape conversion places do a decent job at digitizing? they must if they have been in business for 5 or 10 years. I asked one place if they use high-end VCR's to do the conversions, and the person said no. Very interesting that they don't use JVC's with Time Base Corrector.

[@p0358]

Most people can’t probably even tell that quality is much shittier than it should

[@njm1971nyc]

Most digitizing companies SUCK. I've seen my competitors' work, and it's virtually always CRAP. I'm honestly not exaggerating. Also, when you call most of these companies, you typically speak with a receptionist or assistant who has no fucking clue what they're talking about. I use Sony SVO-5800 VHS decks, professional/with a proper built in TBC. Unfortunately, pro VHS decks only play SP recordings, so LP and EP have to be played in consumer VCRs. The Panasonic VHS/DVD combo decks with HDMI output are good enough for this purpose. LP/EP sucks anyway, regardless of how "perfectly" it's captured!

[@OurResistance]

The VCRs you mentioned are extremely expensive, and I am not sure what benefits they might actually have.

[@photobyTaps]

Excellent presentation

[@girlyodang1119]

Do you restore vhs? And if ever, how much do you charge?

[@ohshowproductionsllc]

Hi Griffen what about log and capture using Final Cut Pro X? Thanks for sharing the video.

[@gpowerdragon9852]

I use an Aver media game capture with the component/ RGb inputcard with a DVD recorder in between plus 16 megabits it looks really good😊

[@ovadiaantian2676]

@griffensander Is there a specific reason to use a Mac G5? Does it work better with the old tech workflow and nuances of VHS? Or would any Mac Pro with a PCIe slot work with an AJA Kona LHe? Also, would an LHi work even better? Which machines could/should support LHe and LHi?

[@ChristianPinnock-r4s]

What's the difference between hi8 and vhsc

[@videocaptureguide]

__Maximum Lines of Horizontal Resolution__ VHS / VHS-C: 240 Video8: 280 S-VHS / S-VHS-C: 400 Hi8: 440 Digital8: 500 MiniDV: 520

[@akis.tsirogiannis]

What about firewire and D8 Camcorders? ;)

[@TheiTunesFanboy]

Those are digital, so you can simply transfer footage from them to your computer over FireWire or USB.

[@akis.tsirogiannis]

@@TheiTunesFanboy The camcorders and the system itself yes, but many of them play back analog tapes and covert them in losless quality and full SD resolution to your PC via FireWire as a DV-Stream ;)

[@CINEKYD_MEDIA_ARCHIVE]

@@akis.tsirogiannis Actually, no...DV conversion of an analog(i.e. Hi8 or VHS) tape yields lossy(4:1:1) compression, costing you half of the luma/chroma values. Only tapes that are *already* digital(Digital8, MiniDV, etc) are ideal for IEEE 1394(aka Firewire) transfers, as they're encoded with a DV signal.

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

@@CINEKYD_MEDIA_ARCHIVE So what do you recommend instead for Hi8, VHS?

[@CINEKYD_MEDIA_ARCHIVE]

@@MrGTAmodsgerman VHS-Decode(the project started with Laserdisc and now it supports all analog formats - VHS, Hi8, Video8, Betamax, U-matic 3/4", etc...)

[@toddpa-c3826]

I only have a M2 macbook pro - so no video card to install….. is there a work around. My option 2 would definitely have to add a TBC - Time Base Controller- the amazon capture sustems are way to jumpy… any work arounds for just having a m2 pro ? Thanks

[@TTVEaGMXde]

With such a question you should also define the price range. Not everyone wants to spend €4800 on a TBC/synchronizer. The SDI to HDMI converter and the rather rare interlaced(!) SD HDMI USB3 grabber are downright cheap at around €250.

[@orihalcon8693]

ADVC-110 actually will work driverless for modern Macs with a firewire to thunderbolt adapter. Only real downside there is 4:1:1 chroma subsampling that DV uses. For VHS and the tape you're using, it'd be hard to say if you'd really notice a significant difference. You'd then want to deinterlace and scale with something like the hybrid app. The DV capture can just be done in the QuickTime app by pressing record and choosing the file format - probably best to stick to DV since that's the stream the box outputs.

[@swashyhimself]

PC. PC not Mac options what’s available?

[@bobsbits5357]

hi don't run down betacam you could still keep files on the tapes i am still using new stock old tape and decks that are still ok i went down to digi like you said for editing on computer note it so easy to lose the data files with betacam tapes i know they will last 40 years the bbc have 10.000 - 100.000 plus of them in the uk i know big number of the tapes were sold if you find a easy way to save the old files from a vhs use a dvcam - or betacam sp deck with a TBC as well

[@njm1971nyc]

Not a good idea in my opinion. I'm seeing BetacamSP tapes tear themselves to shreds after about 25 years of storage. You get one tiny spot on the edge of the spool where the tape sticks to itself, and then tears when you play it. Happens quite often with Video8/Hi8 too. Just last week I saw the problem on a BRAND NEW Hi8 tape that a client had recorded on. Plus, working Betacam decks won't be around forever!! If you REALLY want a tape-based archive method I have an absolutely awesome For-A LTO video archiving system. It's awesome, but I never ever use it! Cost about $30k new. It's yours for $2k 😄😄😄

[@rillloudmother]

actually no, cam corders were not very common in the 80s or 90s. most people did not have one. and i'm talking about upper middle class NYC suburbs.

[@taylorlukens8486]

Where did you get the cable for the LHE? I can’t find one anywhere.

[@wright96d]

As others have pointed out, vhsdecode will give better results, but more importantly, the deinterlacing being performed by your video editor is atrocious. It's just throwing out half the fields, effectively halving the vertical resolution.

[@videotaperetro1126]

That's right, except Davinci Resolve (licensed version) if you use Neural Engine. Then you can compare it with QTGMC. QTGMC is slightly better, but not in all parts of the SD Video. Too difficult to explain here in the commentary.

[@Capeau]

Theres some pretty good AI restoration tools that can make the footage even better. (and those tools are still improving at a fast pace)

[@arod7404]

If you’re transferring old camcorder digital tapes to a laptop, is the upscaler still needed

[@njm1971nyc]

One of the most important elements of HD up-conversion is the de-interlacing of the video. Most people do it in post, with software. Personally, I prefer to do it with hardware, during the capture.

[@SchardtCinematic]

I use my Clear Click to transfer my old tapes.

[@Kurtonebay]

I have a PC with a Happuage Collossus 2 capture card

[@rorcarrot1]

Hey where did you source the s-video to rca cables?

[@TTVEaGMXde]

The AJA card wouldn't be good enough (timebase) for me to write "How Professionals Do It".

[@sdflipper743]

whY? what is better? And does it work for PC too?

[@TTVEaGMXde]

@@sdflipper743 When I write not well enough, that means I saw a Video on YT where you can see the sideways fluctuations, even though YT omits the subtleties. My old Solution with Panasonic DMR-E55 EG (PAL) DVD Recorder only as TBC can be seen here in Full HD: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGish52Mjq1pbrc My new Solution will essentially consist of the Pioneer DVD Recorder DVR-560H as a TBC (PAL=4:4:4 HDMI out) and the Blackmagic Decklink Mini Recorder HD. But it doesn't work on my old PC without PCIe 2.0 .🤣

[@video99couk]

@@TTVEaGMXde Many later Hi8 camcorders include a TBC, it's worth picking up one of those. Digital8 camcorders also include a TBC but then you might as well just take the digital signal from Firewire as suggested elsewhere. Yes chroma is reduced resolution on DV but it's still heaps better than a lot of other capture solutions, especially when you consider the chroma resolution is limited on Video8, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, Beta and all.

[@petepictures]

Cool, although it doesn't look better than being done by any other way Ive seen.

[@toddpa-c3826]

@griffinsander great videos 👍🏼 was wondering if you provide help 1 on 1 for those that really need your help… i have 2 cases of vhs as well as vhsc and dig 8 to convert and would love some support . Wasn’t sure if u provided that at all ?

[@RetroBulgaria]

You must PAY in the nearest digitizing shop, they will be glad to serve you. Its not for guys that have no deep understandings in the matter.

[@unverifiedbiotic]

Or instead of screwing around with an old mac and fc pro that gives you quality from two decades ago, just get a Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4k. To be honest, I got way better results with an elgato game capture hd than you got with your elaborate setup, the deinterlacing and processing this card applies wrecks the image, you shouldn't see those jagged edges on contrasting lines. The topic is already nuanced and convoluted, misinformation like this is what wastes A LOT of my time when I'm researching a technical topic, and I put in the effort to verify what I find online - imagine someone going to all the effort to complete a setup like yours, copying his family tapes and then throwing them out, because "it's the highest quality possible".

[@damianseals]

What’s your recommended process? I also have an old game capture hd but recently learned about the extensive processes some ppl go to to get even better quality

[@HeatmanMKIII]

My handycam doesnt have s-video :c

[@alvarogvdltgarcia52]

If those are hi-8/svhs recordings, they are the worst in quality I've seen. I don't understand why. The camera seems to be in good condition, but the videos look excessively pixelated, you see "saw teeth" where there shouldn't be any.

[@Capturing-Memories]

Consumer analog tape formats are not the same as professional tape formats, The recording system is mediocre which uses a chroma under scheme to convert chroma to a lower frequency, the recording/playback mechanisms are not of high precision which causes timing errors in the signal, You can probably get away with a high end S-VHS deck and a Hi8 camcorder with built in line TBC that use better tape transports, but you could still be out of luck for badly recorded or worn out tapes, This is why I use stand alone professional analog capture devices that are built in TBC and use the PC for just digital SDI ingest, the capturing or conversion from analog to digital and timing/synchronization is done inside the stand alone device, this way even bad tapes are tolerated to a certain degree.

[@swashyhimself]

How can I digitize my hi8 tape to the computer with higher quality than OBS screen capture?

[@TTVEaGMXde]

@@swashyhimself OBS Studio doesn't work at all because it doesn't let interlaced video (PAL/NTSC/SECAM) through unchanged. The SONY CCD-TRV65(+E=PAL) has a simple TBC (Time Base Corrector) which can be sufficient for good recordings. The AUGUST VGB100 video grabber can record uncompressed (72GB/h) with virtual dub Freeware or your editing Software if possible. A software with video denoising, horizontal sharpening (optional) and compression is required.

[@swashyhimself]

Is this video just a flex? You have access to this stuff so congrats I guess??

[@ScottGravlee]

If you aren't running the tape through a Time Base Corrector montering with a waveform monitor then you aren't transferring tapes how professionals do it.

[@klinerfan69]

And why exactly is that?

[@tacofortgens3471]

I use a standalone Dvd Rrecorder and a digital 8 camcorder thru firewire input on the dvd recorder Record it in highest quality 10mbps, aboit 60 minites a dvd. You make it way too hard for yourself.

[@Capturing-Memories]

You are making it too complicated and the video quality gets hit twice, first hit analog to DV compression, second hit DV compression to mpeg-2 compression, Yikes.

[@njm1971nyc]

DVDs are a pretty terrible archive medium, and even if you then rip the discs, you have MPEG2 video to deal with. Again, not great! Many people who had their tapes recorded to DVD over the past decade or so are now bringing the DVDs to me to turn into digital files. Sadly, the quality of the original transfer is usually dreadful, and the people already threw their tapes away, believing that DVD transfers were somehow "perfect backups".

[@joshuapowell1868]

Your video is great everything proven people like myself are fixing broken vhs movies with Scotch tape it starts playing again with out no problem's everything proven vhs tapes don't lock up at all like internet does everything proven damage blue ray disc movies doesn't play at all like vhs movies does

[@yoeymeme]

theres also another method for vhs, and that is to get a vhs player with hdmi output and use a hdmi capture card

[@swashyhimself]

Tell me more about

[@stevenwymor1398]

Your video looks washed out. There are better so.utions for digitizing.

[@videotaperetro1126]

The problem is not the capture itself but everything that happens in post. This video is clearly poorly deinterlaced (stairstepping, half the vertical resolution) and upscaled. And despite the 4K upload, I still see a lot of compression artifacts. These things here on KZbin are common practice here when it comes to capturing SD video. You very rarely find a good result.

[@joshuapowell1868]

People like myself are buying VCR players cleaning tapes vhs movies offline now days everything proven there not hard finding online

[@tacofortgens3471]

Regular blank copy paper and 99% isopropyl only. Never use a clwaning tape