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Backing Up An Old Vhs Movie

ETP

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I bought an original B&W VHS movie on ebay (out of print-Strange Cargo) and now need some expert advice on how to back this up so I can play it with a DVD player.

I tried an el-cheapo combo VCR/DVD player and was able to transfer it through my Sony Camcorder with my fire-wire and then to SONIC MY DVD. The quality was not very good at the highest settings for SONIC. Plus the program does not have a two disk option.

Was wondering if a high quality all in one unit would do the trick. DVD/VCR recorder.

Does any of the Sly Soft software help in this area?

I only have an OEM of Nero and Shrink would not grab the MPG file out of SONIC. CLONE DVD would not grab the file also.:confused:

PS/ I took the combo player unit back to Wal-Mart as it had parts falling out of it. I have an old pro Panasonic VHS deck at work with SVHS outputs but would still need to do a digital pass through another device.
 
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I use a cheapy DVD Recorder (SV2000-$40 on clearance at Wal-Mart). I use it to transfer my VHS to DVDRW. Run it through Shrink and burn it to DVD. I am quite amazed at the video quality that it produces from some older VHS that are not that good of quality.
 
IMHO, all DVD/VCR combo units suck big time. Your best bet is to buy a stand alone DVD recorder. Go to videohelp.com to learn which are best to hack i.e. Liteon LVW5005 has a firmware hack to circumvent Macrovision and add things like a 3hr mode plus become region free. Note-Newer versions of Liteon (damn them) recorders will not work with firmware hacks. You must do your homework to be successful with this.

Almost all commercial DVD recorders will not let you circumvent (Macrovision) analog protection schemes. You could also purchase a video stabilizer (or use your camcorder as a pass through) to connect between VCR & DVD recorder as another simple solution if you don't want to hack firmware.

SlySoft, Nero & Shrink applications will not help you in this area. Capturing to your pc is more trouble than its worth. Encoding video on most pc's is very taxing. You can literally spends many hours just to produce something that's mediocre at best. Trust me, I've tried with so-so results & looks like you have too.

Good luck!!!

:bowdown: :bowdown: WE'RE NOT WORTHY:bowdown: :bowdown:
SLYSOFT ROCKS
 
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You bring up some very good points MarkRacer . The VHS that I used were not protected so that was not an issue for me. It is a time consuming effort but, to me, it is worth the time because the ones that I put to DVD are not available on DVD.
 
You bring up some very good points MarkRacer . The VHS that I used were not protected so that was not an issue for me. It is a time consuming effort but, to me, it is worth the time because the ones that I put to DVD are not available on DVD.

ETB, Your problem is probably SONY. If you are connecting the device via USB, you should find that it is NOT USB 2.0; but rather USB 1.1 - which means that the maximum frame rate for the video is about .8bad. If the Camera device has a Firewire output, that is the one to use and you should get "Pristine" videos (well, as good as the original VHS).

I normally use an echeapo DVD-Recorder (LiteOn LVW-1105HC [$88]) to accomplish a lot of my transfers from VHS. It does a good job; however, the $88 is a bit steep for one movie.

Try borrowing another Camera that has USB 2.0 output or the Firewire/iLink/IEEE1394 connection if you have them. Sony so favors iLink, that it severly limits the USB Compatability to single picture transfers.
 
...... Capturing to your pc is more trouble than its worth. Encoding video on most pc's is very taxing. You can literally spends many hours just to produce something that's mediocre at best. Trust me, I've tried with so-so results & looks like you have too......

Not so, capturing VHS and then creating DVDs can be accomplished and the results can be very good. I do this all the time for various clients (Weddings, Communion, Baptismals, etc..) for those "Priceless" moments that they captured on VHS and are now concerned about loosing.

The best method, when quality is an issue, is to play back the VHS on a VCR Player that has SVHS output ( I use JVC HR-S2902U), connect that output to a decent PVR type device (I use Hauppague) that is connected to the PC via Firewire or USB 2.0 and record with a program such as ULEAD Movie Factory (There are many available and I have about a half dozen different programs that each have their own good/bad features). When using this method, you will find that the PVR software normally will either allow or disallow MacroVision protections. With mine, I simply use an Older version of the Driver and Excution programs that ignores MacroVision (Not normally a problem with the Home Videos unless they are of marginal quality which "tricks" the devices into thinking that MacroVision is present). When capturing the VHS, insure that nothing is running in the Background, that the Capture rate is not set too high, and that "Fixed" Frame rate is not used. If you do this, the results will be very good - I've had clients that swear that the results look better than the original; however, that is simply not true - it's just that their VCR is simply "not up to snuff" when playing old VHS tapes.

Forgot to mention the obvious - with this method the captured video must be recoded before it is recorded on the DVD. I add DVD Menus, Title Screes, and Charpters to the end result for that "Extra Touch" that every loves.
 
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I was using a Firewire with my SONY. However, the cheap combo unit did not have a SVHS output. I noticed some of the premium units at SAMS had a firewire input with every output known to mankind. If the tape is not copy right protected that might work.

Just thinking/LOL

The copy I made must have either avoided MACROVISION through my Sony 2000 or the tape is not protected.
 
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Another thought. What if I bought a $209 47s all in one unit at SAMS and played the tape with a cable hooked up to the SVHS output and to my camera and then feed the firewire on the SONY to the Panasonic 47s from SAMS and record a DVD.:confused: :confused: :confused:

My luck it won't play one source and record another.
 
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If its not a protected VHS tape then use a good VHS player to play it in then hook up the VHS player`s audio/video outputs to a good stand alone dvd recorder`s audio/video inputs. Since you puting a VHS tape onto a dvd dont expect the quality to be as good as an original dvd movie, you simply wont get it. This is a simple way of doing it and will only do a movie only, some stand alone dvd recorders you can do your own menu and chapter set up through the dvd recorder.
 
I use a Magnovax VHS HQ player tied directly to my Pinnacle PCTV Pro USB. It's a one to one. What ever quality the tape is in you get when you capture it on your hard drive.
I use TMPGEnc 5 in 1 to edit and clean it up so the picture gets enhanced some then TEMPG Source Creator to convert. Most of the time, by making sure there is nothing running in background (as stated below) I can get a better quality DVD then the tape ever was.

The process is a long one, and you hae to run the VHS tape completely to get a full one to one, but anything worth spending a little extra time on is more then worth it when you get good results of the fruit of your labor.

Cheer's :)


Not so, capturing VHS and then creating DVDs can be accomplished and the results can be very good. I do this all the time for various clients (Weddings, Communion, Baptismals, etc..) for those "Priceless" moments that they captured on VHS and are now concerned about loosing.

The best method, when quality is an issue, is to play back the VHS on a VCR Player that has SVHS output ( I use JVC HR-S2902U), connect that output to a decent PVR type device (I use Hauppague) that is connected to the PC via Firewire or USB 2.0 and record with a program such as ULEAD Movie Factory (There are many available and I have about a half dozen different programs that each have their own good/bad features). When using this method, you will find that the PVR software normally will either allow or disallow MacroVision protections. With mine, I simply use an Older version of the Driver and Excution programs that ignores MacroVision (Not normally a problem with the Home Videos unless they are of marginal quality which "tricks" the devices into thinking that MacroVision is present). When capturing the VHS, insure that nothing is running in the Background, that the Capture rate is not set too high, and that "Fixed" Frame rate is not used. If you do this, the results will be very good - I've had clients that swear that the results look better than the original; however, that is simply not true - it's just that their VCR is simply "not up to snuff" when playing old VHS tapes.

Forgot to mention the obvious - with this method the captured video must be recoded before it is recorded on the DVD. I add DVD Menus, Title Screes, and Charpters to the end result for that "Extra Touch" that every loves.
 
Still working this guys.
On a quest to find a decent VCR or maybe a good combo unit.
 
Most of the replys here always say, "If it's not protected." Does anyone know of a "black box" you can buy to remove the protections? I have about 20 original VHSs of Three Stooges and they're all protected. I'd love to have them backed-up onto DVD-Rs. I had a black box, way back in the day, but haven't been able to find one again.
 
i have a vcr connected to my my pc using a ADS DVD Express going thru the USB port and Nero vision 4 i also use this set up when making copies of peoples cam corder stuff to put on DVDs weddings etc.... so far no problems with the protections
 
Good news. I went to SAMS and bought a DMR-ES46V Panasonic on clearance for $119 (298 retail). Worked fine and has everything built in including 1080i and HDMI. It's not 1080P, but for $119 it was a steal. OK, not all VHS tapes are protected, so I was able to do the deed in one step.
 
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