Saving Ricky 1 - A Deep Dive into VHS Preservation

In this episode of "Wasting Hundreds of Dollars", I go out of my way to preserve the movie bomb "Ricky 1", a film no one but me cares about. This is because I found an online review funny when I was 12 years old. In any case, I hope someone finds the VHS preservation techniques explored here helpful. Don't be negative!
Ricky 1 on the Internet Archive: archive.org/de...
VHS Decode Wiki: github.com/oyv...
VHS Decode User Guide: • VHS Decode, ld-analyse...
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[@ElWaKa69]

This is the first time that youtube actually recommends a good video with very low views. Seriously, you deserve more views for preserving this relatively obscure movie

[@miguelalmeida1213]

Ditto! I don't know how I got to this video, but watched every second of it.

[@loshan1212]

I think this is one of the first youtube videos explaining vhs-decode based vhs ripping.

[@CadBrad]

Sometimes you just gotta get the ball rolling yourself.

[@sKeReNsT]

@@CadBrad Gotta thank you man. This helped me out ALOT.

[@CadBrad]

No problem!

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

@@CadBrad I wish i would have got this video on year ealier. It would saved me a lot of time because you explained it very basic without any huge blablablabla.

[@EthanLong]

Now we just need cheaper storage options!

[@thepirategamerboy12]

Gotta find the original camera negative to scan next.

[@SFtheGreat]

Suggest that to Vinegar Syndrome, or one f their partner labels.

[@aidanr.c.2604]

Don’t be negative

[@jeganathanv4173]

@@aidanr.c.2604 Bruh! 🤣🤣

[@thatguyontheright1]

The film doesn't have a negative, because Ricky isn't negative.

[@johnclark926]

Thank you for your preservation effort. Now Ricky fans can catch up with the whole series before Ricky 2 drops January 2025

[@johnclark926]

@kingkazaWhat happened? Is Ricky 2 actually going to be made?

[@ArMartz]

@@johnclark926Yes. 🙃

[@selectokay4654]

4:55 Placing Ricky 1 on top of the bible tells you how much of a super fan cadbrad is

[@CadBrad]

When Jesus told everyone that one of the Apostles would betray him, he was being too negative!

[@fabiocolor]

It's quite amusing that people on the internet are so far ahead of conventional archivists in implementing these technologies. I'm going to conduct some tests and present this to my colleagues. Thank you for your video.

[@kelownatechkid]

Love this energy. As the slow death of the 3D Blu-ray format progresses, I've been trying to locate and dump all the commercially-pressed discs and sync up english subs/audio to enable international viewing. It's great to know people are preserving VHS

[@AlphaTheMan]

Actually interesting VHS preservation advice, thanks.

[@FilmTrekk]

I friggin adore this video dude. Well done!

[@CadBrad]

Thanks!

[@DwRockett]

🫡 doing the important work Also humorous to remember that the Ricky 1 fandom consists entire of people who saw avgn’s video

[@MrCheeze]

This video does to comedy what Ricky 1 does to low-quality VHS preservation.

[@CrispyTurtl3]

Common, don't be negative.

[@HaythamGruxton]

Very good video! I found it interesting how you talked about preserving your family tapes. I think that's a point of preservation/lost media that people don't usually think about. I think it's important and I did it recently. The way I view it is that it's important because these tapes give insight on how regular everyday life was in the past in a way a movie couldn't. Hopefully more people digitize them since we have a large lense into the past that's slowly fogging up as tape after tape succumb to the damage that time brings to the format.

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

Not even that. Your video footage and images might be one of the last things that show that you existed and how and who you was when you are dead. That's what will be left as all the memories of peoples just stay in they head and go into the earth, but videos and photos can preserve those.

[@MrJebelis]

@@MrGTAmodsgerman .. and also preserve voices and movements ;-) (but i see some people around using AI technology and make animation out of pictures.... i am still wondering with wich software 🤔🤔 But so far, i try to find the best way to preserve my old vhs family movies with best quality possible... what would be the best way now that we are in 2025?

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

@@MrJebelis There are several AI papers that are able to make animations out of pictures. They differ in quality depending on what you choose. There are some online services for that some you have to install yourself. MyHeritage for ex. have such features for your family photos for quite some time now. And the best way to preserve VHS family movies with the best quality possible? Well you are already here. VHS-Decode is the best way. Since it preserves the raw signal and allows you to decide yourself how good you want your Tape capture to look. Not the VHS Player that costs insane amount if you heading for the best. VHS-Decode allows you to save a lot of money on that one. But be aware, the downside is the file size and that you need to build the setup your own and maybe that it's a very nerdy and technical progess to make it. Meaning for ex. you may have hidden costs to build stuff like soldering station. Just checkout they Wiki and such. The mainstream seemed to not be aware of this method yet, that's why i came to this video since it's like one of the first videos for the mainstream audience. Checkout the Visual-Comparisons section of the Wiki. It tells you the most obvious differences. Otherwise there are some comparsion videos on YT. If you familiar with digitizing negative film, well it's basically like that. You keep the og DNG (Signal in this situation) file and develop the photo later when you want to use it somewhere. So a digital copy of the original cassette as with negative Films.

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

@@MrJebelis There are several AI papers that are able to make animations out of pictures. They differ in quality depending on what you choose. There are some online services for that some you have to install yourself. MyHeritage for ex. have such features for your family photos for quite some time now.

[@MrGTAmodsgerman]

@@MrJebelis And the best way to preserve VHS family movies with the best quality possible? Well you are already here. VHS-Decode is the best way. Since it preserves the raw signal and allows you to decide yourself how good you want your Tape capture to look. Not the VHS Player that costs insane amount if you heading for the best. VHS-Decode allows you to save a lot of money on that one. But be aware, the downside is the file size and that you need to build the setup your own and maybe that it's a very nerdy and technical progess to make it. Meaning for ex. you may have hidden costs to build stuff like soldering station. Just checkout they Wiki and such.

[@MuensterQ]

“I’m this movie’s sole collector” gave me a big chuckle 😂😂

[@CinemageddonReviews]

I wanna say: I’m Puertorican and I happen to have a copy of what is easily one of the most beloved Puertorican movies of all time, and only made available on VHS (which I happen to own a copy in perfect condition). I’ve wanted to restore and preserve this movie because it means so much to me as a Puertorican and it’s one I wanna keep alive for generations. Thanks to your I now know the tools and methods I need to make my dream restoration job a reality. 😊

[@DarkFiber23]

What is the name of the movie?

[@CinemageddonReviews]

@@DarkFiber23 La Guagua Aerea. Its a movie adaptation of the book of the same name. Its about a flight from Puerto Rico to New York City as Puertorican citizens make the move from the Island to the US in search for a better life, all the while flashbacking to each of their past lives on the island and what led to the decision to move. Its hilarious and thought provoking and has a special place in my heart as a Puertorican myself

[@CinemageddonReviews]

Ironically, like Ricky 1, it too was since uploaded onto youtube in all its 240p glory, but I wanna restore it and preserve it and maintain it for generations to come since Puertorican cinema rarely if ever gets to shine or be properly preserved

[@binkusbonkus]

​@@CinemageddonReviewsthat sounds fascinating! Hope you can preserve it in high quality! I'd love to watch it

[@toastrave7820]

thanks for this as a buddy of mine is remaking Ricky 1 for a college project

[@CadBrad]

Please send it to me when it's finished!

[@HOTD108_]

​@@CadBrad It'll be out when it's out! But great work ethic!

[@satsuke]

FWIW, my workflow 20 years ago for this task was Same JVC SVHS deck you used .. I think I had the 7700 model without TBC ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon Capture over S-Video using VirtualDub to a lossless HuffYUV intermediate ... I think it was an AVI container at the time. You are right that those ATI boards were absolutely wonderful for working in analog media. I used to program 2 hours of stuff for my anime club and I had the AiW Pro - 128, Radeon .. all of them. They had some quality of life details I loved for my anime club was that I could output analog video to VHS without displaying it on the PC screen .. anything that went through the MPEG decoder was shuffled off to video as an outboard display. (I tried staying with it on the ATSC transition // watcing digital TV, but kind of lost interest in watching broadcast TV altogether at that point).

[@satsuke]

It's weird how some of these recordings persist. I captured for preservation purposes a few obscure girly cartoons from the 80s back in the mid 90s that were uploaded to Usenet .. I still see those copies (or their very poor recompressed reproductions) on bootleg media and on KZbin to this day.

[@CadBrad]

You must have done a good job then at least!

[@satsuke]

@@CadBrad As good as mpeg1 could offer anyway

[@npenplz]

i love ricky 1, i would give anything to see a copy of it in real life

[@npenplz]

update: i saw a copy of it in real life

[@exist505]

I literally had this exact idea for analog RF video duplication years ago so I’m glad someone else had the idea and actually did something with it.

[@MaxH0ward]

That is crazy that you paid $150 for this. Back in 2019 i bought it on ebay for $15 but sadly i lost that copy so i feel really stupid knowing how expensive it is now

[@BorisBecksRetro]

1. Holy cow! I recently fell into the rabbit hole of digitizing older VHS only releases and while I knew of the whole Domesday and VHS decode thing I thought it would be too expensive for me. But with the CX card it is well within my budget. This saves me a lot of trouble i have right now with de-interlacing. Great video - terrible movie :D 2. I wouldn't disregard the PAL tapes in general. As long as the tape is sourced from a film master (which it is for close to everything shot on film) you get a higher resolution which SHOULD result in better quality. And de-interlacing is a bit simpler because every frame of video is a frame of film. The speed can be corrected in Premiere Pro when you use that anyway. And (as far as I know) your VCR doesn't even have to be PAL compatible since you decode the pure RF signal.

[@vasilypugh696]

Loved this video. I remember Ricky 1 in my local video shop in the 80s - only saw it recently. Not sure it was worth the 40 year wait, but I don't want to be negative.

[@Jufiuno]

For the audio you could use adobe premieres new ai tool to isolate the vocals to remaster the audio yourself. I find the best method is dumping the recorded audio, with out any prior modifications, into the premiere project and after synchronizing the audio to match the video, splice the audio for every scene change and or environment change. Then for audio clip, i would go to the audio isolation window and "enhance." From there, there are different presets and tweaks. The voice isolation is near perfect - as a matter of fact too perfect. I purposely add some reverb so the vocals sound like its in a room rather than a noise isolation chamber/recording booth. I usually then go to a royalty free website to add ambient background noises based on the environment of the video. From there i start mixing to blend the audio all together. Not sure if you want to go all out for Ricky 1, but that would be the cherry on the top lol

[@ihartmacz]

I think that might be my TBC-1000 in your eBay screenshots! lol anyway, this was an excellent video. Thank you for showing me another way!

[@oliverpony]

Thank God there's no Ricky 2

[@MazeMe]

20 minutes of hardcore analogue video autism with Bug Fables music in the background. Thank you so much, also thanks for Ricky 1

[@SuperM789]

wait this isn't my regularly scheduled housetrapped content

[@CadBrad]

There is at least one Homestuck arrow in this video.

[@orihalcon8693]

Awesome video! I'll have to check out your others. I have a domesday duplicator to dabble with but found it a bit cumbersome for general use mainly due to file sizes and having to add back audio later. I think preserving rare commercial releases is an excellent application for it though! I plan to check out the capture you made. At some point I plan to do some testing comparing a 10bit 4:2:2 pro-res capture directly using something like the AJA KiPro and 10 bit full frame TBC. The part we really don't know the bit depth for is the internal line TBC in those VCRs, so that could be a limiting factor that the Domesday would not have - that and you are relying quite a bit on the full functionality of the VCR. You'd think the 15 hours of processing should blow realtime capture out of the water, but I am curious by how much. Would be interesting to see more comparisons of the regular capture you did vs the domesday one.

[@LetMeTellYouAbout]

Im glad you were able to navigate the BUGs to bring us this FABLE. As someone who's also interested in digital preservation i never knew anything about how they saved laserdisc and VHS

[@CadBrad]

Hopefully Tristan Alric doesn't sue me for associating his music with Ricky 1.

[@nefm]

found this video on a quest to digitize old home movies. love that i got a tutorial and a movie review 2-in-1

[@pulseflow_yt]

I just watched this on a live stream for the first time a few days ago and just found out this was your transfer. I totally forgot to credit you for the preservation, so I added it to my stream's description. Thank you for your efforts. Hopefully one day we'd be able to find a film print to preserve for the sake of educating people on how not to make a comedy.

[@CadBrad]

Cool! I hope you "enjoyed" the film.

[@pulseflow_yt]

@CadBrad That was a wild experience. Not gonna lie.

[@NEScRETRO]

As a VHS collector, I own Ricky 1 and love it very much, thanks to the AVGN lol. Definitely would have never heard of it otherwise!

[@captainblackheart999]

this movie is a masterpiece... people just dont know it yet.. takes time to digest this high level of art thanx for preserving this important artpiece

[@MrBjanders]

Oh wow, I was just praying there was someone with knowledge and tenacity who also was misguided enough to use it to preserve Ricky 1 for some reason. I rewatched the AVGN review and then sought out the only uploads available on KZbin and as you said, they're almost unwatchable due to poor video and sound. Then I saw your video in the search results. Now it's only almost unwatchable due to the movie itself! You're a hero my dude, thank you!

[@coralsleeper]

I would just like to chime in with a 4th method that I would place somewhere between the first 2 that you talked about. A lot of dvd players back in the day had a basic tbc built in (specifically ones with an hdd and recording functionality or dvd/vcr combos). While it may not be ideal I managed to digitize all of my family's old VHS home videos by plugging in the vcr into the dvd player, using the dvd player for TBC and recording the video from the dvd-players s-video output. Recorded everything in AmarecTV with Lagarith lossless and deinterlaced with qtgmc. It's not perfect but it was a very cost-effective solution since the only equipment I had to buy was a capture card (Diamond VC-500) for about 50$. This method is probably good enough for most home video preservation projects but for more serious projects vhs-decode is an incredible tool.

[@RobbyHuang]

Thanks for making this! Was considering using this for my home videos, but thats a pretty heavy workload.

[@TrashHeap64]

Now this is the kind of content I crave. I had no idea that the third method was even an option.

[@sushicat999]

I'm 5 minutes in and i gotta say, love the video! Keep it up man, hope you get more views

[@Jhakson]

Thank you so much for your hard work!

[@moveoutproductions1835]

I actually thought about making a sequel to Ricky 1. It was gonna be about Ricky's grandson getting into a boxing match at his high school. One day, I'll try to make Ricky 2 💪

[@josh984gamer5]

Great video. Love seeing people make game preservation videos like this. Also, super weird this made it into my recommended days after watching that AVGN video and I have been playing Bug Fables these past few days as well so scary timing lol

[@johnclark926]

Ricky 1 is up there with the greatest video games of all time, my dad got the high score by watching until the 12:04 mark before he passed out from exhaustion

[@pa0letti]

The bootleg DVD even gets the tagline wrong on the cover.

[@5urg3x]

Very cool. The VCR converts the analog tape signal to digital, and then everything else is done in software.

[@stevep9177]

I didn't know there was such a thing as "raw data" with an analog format😮

[@Esteban_LeGrafx]

Great video. Not sure how Algorithm works, but I appreciated your Ricky 1 passion project!

[@uranium5694]

Thanks for uploading this! Didn't know that you can archive a VHS tape digitally without the use of a analog capture card!

[@cookieface80]

"Does to flying what Airplane did to boxing" is funny though.

[@RobertBartos]

Great video, thank you 👍. To capture data in such a quality is a good starting point for a VHS restoration. Precise tracking and time base corrections at the physical level is great idea. Also preserving RAW data is great for advanced processing in the future- video tools are improving with such a speed. Better to have stored digital clone of analog media in reasonable condition than in the future seeking functional VHS player. The most critical issue is aging of the magnetic tape. Did you ever manipulate with 60 years old reel to reel tape? I did 😎.

[@lpoki8897]

Media preservation is so fucked, a museum or something can get the budget to buy a fancy machine to digitize shit with. But spending the mountain of money on "rare" listings on Ebay is just not feasible.

[@NostalgiNorden]

The bebes kids review is a classic. Dork!

[@wdsongama]

I appreciate your effort so much! As someone who loves this kind of stuff, I can already tell that you know what you're talking about!

[@tourwillem]

I feel like I'm hanging for dear life on the edge of the VHS digitization rabbit hole. One little push and I'll fall very, very deep. Edit: I just bought a domesday duplicator

[@MelanyMiku]

Not gonna sit here and pretend that I understood any part of the technical breakdown of the digitizing process of the VHS, but bravo! Good on ya for preserving this iconic sack of crap! Great vid 👏

[@duncanmacleod2136]

At 15:15 you can see clipping in the shadows. There’s actually clipping in a lot of it. I am doing a conventional capture and my proc amp in my TBC adjust the colors before they are digitized to prevent clipping. Once your capture card captures them you can’t get that color information back in software.

[@CadBrad]

The crappy black levels are kind of inherent to the tape itself. This movie wasn't mastered particularly well. Believe me, there's not much detail there. I did adjust the video levels so it didn't look super washed out, though.

[@duncanmacleod2136]

@@CadBrad The proc amp in my TBC 3000 would fix the illegal color values. my tapes had illegal colors like that clipped before I got my proc amp. They were VHS-c shot on a really cheap camera. A good low noise proc amp can adjust that pre capture and make those colors legal so there is more details in your shadows. If you don’t have any detail in your shadows then you don’t have as much to work with in editing later.

[@duncanmacleod2136]

@@CadBradis there anyway i can get that VHS from you to digitize or talk to you about it off of here? Like maybe email.

[@geovani60624]

after over 15 years I decided to finally give this movie a shot and watch it and I ended up stumbling on this video, so now I have to actually watch it

[@goregrindisthebestgenre]

Absolutely stellar video!

[@backdoorwolf666]

$150? God damn dude. I wish I knew you needed the movie. I bought the VHS for $20 just a couple years ago and would have gladly given it to you.

[@CadBrad]

I actually paid more for my copy of Ricky 1 than I did for my copy of EarthBound. Maybe I'm just crazy.

[@klinerfan69]

Ive been using a VHS to dvd converter from 2008, its pretty decent for what its worth and less of a headache, i also have the latest clearclick but i havent used it yet. Every time ive tried to dig deeper into it its either way too pricey or insane.

[@myronachtman4304]

There is new AI software from companies like Eleven Labs that can clean up the audio much better than any of the tools you used. However, this only works for pure voice tracks because the AI will remove audio (such as music) that's playing in the background. I've used AI noise removal software for live seminars of professional speakers that I recorded on S-VHS in the 1990s and the resulting audio is fantastic.

[@MrJebelis]

.. and the software is free? wich one? i have seen peoples bringing pictures to life on some facebook groups... i am wondering with wich software they can do this... 🤔🤔 But right now i am converting (or try to) several old VHS tapes from home videos from the 1980's to my computer using UCEC usb adapter and my old VHS.. result is soso, and i use OBS software for it... is ther a better software or way to do this? also the audio seems terrible.. i am looking also to change the audio track (or make it better if possible) on the converted videos.. any suggestions? (i Try..)

[@enriquemedina3631]

Can’t wait for Ricky 2, Ricky 3, Ricky 4, Ricky 5, Ricky Wanero, Champ 1, Champ 2, and Champ 3!

[@CadBrad]

We could only be so lucky.

[@FunkyStudios]

I can't wait for Ricky 2

[@secrstamas]

That's a really good video! 😍 I did not now about the PCI-e cards... and Domesday is pretty pricey, so thanks for making this video! I hope algorithm hypes you up and you continue to make videos in the future! I onlyown an early 2000's USB 2.0 capture card right (Adaptec AVC-2210) now as I shot in Video8 from time to time and there is no Domesday/CX module for that, or not even a player (that a human could afford). What do you think how those older USB 1.1 and 2.0 capture cards like Dazzle hold up with RF capture? I would love to see how would you solder or even clock gen mod the CX capture card.

[@FatherJoe--NLO]

This was really interesting. I love tales of media preservation. Thanks for doing this, even if the film is lousy. :)

[@randytate]

This is a great video. Although I'd likely use a RetroTINK 4K and a Magewell capture in 480i, knowing this is out there as an option is very cool.

[@mrgarceapolitistunew]

257 gigs for the lds file alone. That is some dedication for RIcky.

[@Mickeyjuice]

Great video! I look forward to the day that this method fully replaces the super expensive 'conventional right way' workflows

[@lightnear8085]

This seems like the type of film that Vinegar Syndrome would restore and release on their Vinegar Syndrome Labs sublabel.

[@ASMRPeople]

There's a master, but then there's a master. Unless somebody digs up film then one has to assume you have the effective master. Especially given it was sealed vhs, one has to assume it's the cleanest video rf track. No tape stretching

[@Capturing-Memories]

640 pixels hurt the quality, It is better to resize to 1440x1080 right after de-interlacing and convert to rec.709.

[@ing.rafaelsolorzano1976]

It´s really important that this method could preserve de 60fps that is in every NTSC signal.

[@latviandragon2718]

ngl that dvd cover looks way better then the vhs one

[@CadBrad]

I like it more too.

[@davidhildreth]

For the record, you can get a Leitch DPS series TBC for way less than $2,000.

[@radiantgunstar6881]

with the recent advances in vhs decode with the MISRC on the horizon, is there any chances you could do an updated version or guide showing the current state of vhs decode and the new hobbyist hardware upgrades?

[@CadBrad]

Maybe. When I made this, I wanted a basic overview that would stand the test of time with whatever updates would come. That's why I didn't go into extreme detail like a tutorial would. The basic principles that I explained are still sound, but maybe an actual tutorial would be nice.

[@kanalnamn]

I began my capture journey two decades ago, so I have a JVC SVHS deck, a full-frame TBC and a Black Magic capture card. I always capture to lossless. Since I started early when things were cheaper I've put perhaps $500 in total on this hobby. I'm unsure if vhs decode would improve the quality to the extent that I want to make the investment in time and money. Need to think about that.

[@CadBrad]

High-end conventional captures are still pretty great. Personally, I think you'd hit diminishing returns, but it's cheap enough to try with a CX card that I think it's worth trying. There's nothing to really lose.

[@kanalnamn]

@@CadBrad Yea, I'm thinking along those lines too. But I always find it hard to go for the second best... and a Domesday duplicator are quite epensive. :D But yea, I should try a CX or two.

[@jasminsarajcic7543]

great video! thanks for reminding me about ricky 1

[@random11]

$500 and 1TB of free space, plus 15 hours to decode... plus the record time, and the time it takes to mod the VCR.... jesus.... Ill stick to my shitty S-Video recording.

[@CadBrad]

It's not as bad as it sounds.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

Muhammad Ali did say little rhymes in his pre-match interviews so there might've been some inspiration there too I assume.

[@CBXweb]

No Bevis, No Vibes applies to life. Its when your workplace loses the Spirit person and suddenly there's no more Friday Donuts. Years past and the job is charging you for coffee. Nobody celebrates benign holidays anymore, the "cool black guy" is not playing old music anymore. No Bevis, NO VIBES

[@blue_pikmin2.085]

Came for 0.25x A presses, stayed for Ricky 1, great video

[@TheDzhoel]

I watched a very terrible VHS transfer of Backroads 1976, an Australian roadtrip film. Much like Ricky 1, it probably wasnt mastered correctly especially since the video stream was in 600x480, instead of the full SD quality i at least expected. I wonder if i found the original released tape of that if the Domesday project circuitry would improve it since i dont think an original negative scan exists on any modern format at all. Very interesting deep dive into VHS preservation and its ultimate limitations, its just not film at all even with software that can extract the raw data.

[@Gigidag77]

you could also just use a dvd recorder. the sony ones at least came with a tbc

[@HjRobins]

Whoa wait a second, did you say if you want to keep the lds file? Definitively keep it, I’d recommend converting it to a 28mhz ldf though so that saves space. Also ideally upload it to the internet archive so other people can be able to decode it and then it’s a proper 1:1 preservation of the source media

[@Dim4323]

Ricky 1...oh god God their was no Ricky 2.

[@RockTo11]

Hmm. I use a fancy S-Video VCR with TBC, but with an Elgato device. It is the 3rd capture device I have tried, and is the best out of the three so far (the other two being StarTech and ION Video 2 PC Mk II). ...and yes, using OBS, with the settings that are recommended everywhere, except I also use the high bitrate encoder, because I can see the macroblocking with the regular setting. The result is pretty good, but now I am intrigued to try this. The thing is, unfortunately my family copied Video8 to VHS tapes, in LP mode. I'm curious if extra quality or video information can be extracted using this elaborate method.

[@skstills4621]

I copied your setup with Ricky; Thank you! now I can rip old home vhs and maybe tv movies for a hobby

[@alexander_mejia]

Thanks for doing all this!

[@Zoogle]

Your videos are great dude

[@ENunn]

12:10 and THATS why i'm sticking with my traditional capture setup (vcr with line tbc + frame tbc). there's no way in hell i'm waiting that long for 2 hour tapes, let alone 6-8 hour tapes. quality is good, but i don't think it's worth it due to the complicated install + slow processing speed. excellent video on the topic though!

[@CadBrad]

Thanks! The processing times don't bother me that much, since I can just run the decode in the background. I assume in the future, the speed will be much better. But still, since you have the equipment, there's nothing wrong with doing a traditional capture.

[@duncanmacleod2136]

I am doing the conversation method also. The file sizes on decode look ridiculous to me.

[@BlueNeon81]

PAL may be 4% faster, but has better resolution. Besides, you can always slow it down to 24 fps really easily without any pull-down process or whatever it's called.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

I haven’t seen the whole thing… but surely the PAL version would be preferable to the NTSC one? The NTSC one will have gone through 3:2 pull-down before being recorded to tape, so getting back the original 24 frames will require taking fields from different frames and combining them together. If you were to record the PAL one, each frame of the film will be recorded over exactly two fields and played 4% fast, so you just need to record it, combine the frames together, and slow it down slightly to get a 24fps master. EDIT: As someone else pointed out, the PAL tape would also be slightly higher resolution, providing it comes from the film master and isn’t standards-converted.

[@CadBrad]

The IVTC process is pretty straightforward. That's not a big deal. I do agree that a PAL tape would be higher resolution, but then I'd also need to find a sealed Ricky 1 PAL copy for that to be worth it. I guess I just prefer the NTSC tape because that's what region I live in. I couldn't actually watch the tape (could probably rip it with the Domesday Duplicator just fine though). The NTSC copy is also what James Rolfe had, so I'd want it for that reason alone anyway. He had the only known footage of the American release before me, so I felt challenged to actually get that version preserved. Maybe one day I can track down a good PAL copy though! I tried emailing the director and his wife about the possibility of the original film reels still existing. I would make a 4K scan if I got those. I never got a response though.

[@jordanmillraney5481]

@@CadBradIf possible if the original film reels were scanned in 4K, would the sound itself be presented in LPCM Mono or Stereo for the best sound quality possible?​​⁠ Also, I don’t know if the PAL copy of this film or other PAL VHS tapes is/are compatible with the Sony SLV-N99 that is in this video as most NTSC tapes/VCR’s support 525 lines while PAL tapes/VCRs have 625 lines.

[@Ryan-Petre]

20:00 Irate Gamer moment

[@decipherable]

Next step is to find the film it was shot on and remaster it!

[@CadBrad]

I wish...

[@itiswhatitis141]

yeah. ricky 1 in 4K

[@OfficialCinematicTrash]

It's a cheaper option, but still a bit costly. I have no soldering experience so I guess I'll have to look around for a Sony VCR. I'd have to buy a Domesday Duplicator. That's not so bad, but I also have to buy more hard drive space. 600 plus gigs is a lot, I would need dedicated storage for those files alone. I want to try this so bad. I better start saving up.

[@superpan218]

RIcky 1 was basically Seltzerberg before Seltzerberg even made their own movies.

[@SantiagoMonroy5]

What about trying to find the original 16mm film negatives and scan it to 4K?

[@CadBrad]

The only lead I could think of to do that is to contact the director's wife (I believe the director has passed by now).

[@SantiagoMonroy5]

@@CadBrad Someone must have it.

[@eugeneketaminekrebs3403]

Sorry if this is a random thing to note but from what I have found out, It only played in one theater back in 1986, as a premiere.

[@jordanmillraney5481]

Maybe Vinegar Syndrome or AGFA might search in leads for the original 16mm negatives shot for the film for a 4K HDR10 or HD remaster.

[@jordanmillraney5481]

@@eugeneketaminekrebs3403I wonder if this movie was made either as a paycheck for some of the actors or if the director himself had crafted his knowledge/directorial style that doesn't bode well to audiences when translated on screen.

[@thomsboys77]

Ricky looks like Robert De Niro in Mean Streets

[@MizoxNG]

for maximum quality (assuming both were created from the film directly): rip both the NTSC VHS and the PAL VHS, IVTC the NTSC VHS, slow down the PAL VHS, so both are 24 fps, then composite them together for MAXIMUM QUALITY

[@loafanon-]

Hey CadBrad.

[@LorimarTVVHSBroadcast]

Ooh!, I wondering You can use VHS Decode!

[@propinki]

Wow! I would love to know all that details about capturing as 20$ + shipping is not bad and I have few rare things to archive...

[@goreyorotten4472]

Something that i haven't seen compared, is the units that convert tapes to DVD. Doesn't that also just capture the digital video signal at the highest quality? I'd love to hear your insight!

[@CadBrad]

Well, that would also depend on the VCR part of the combo unit being high quality, and they usually weren't. Even then, you're spitting out the video and audio compressed. Plus, DVD's MPEG-2 and AC3 standards leave a lot to be desired these days.

[@goreyorotten4472]

@@CadBrad thank you so much for your reply man! Gonna get my setup in gear now!