The top 5 mistakes to avoid when digitizing your old video tapes
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- There are a number of mistakes that people often make when digitizing their precious video memories. Watch this video to find out what they are, and how you can avoid making them!
Extremely very important: When transferring VHS Tapes to any format desired, Forward all VHS tapes to the end, then Rewind, Forward once again, Then lastly, Rewind. This will completely enhance the total resolution of the VHS tape for transferring. What this does, it safely aligns your tape so that the heads on player reads the media without no hesitation and no drop outs. Try it.
Back in the day, I would do this once, not twice, because I heard somewhere, that the tape fast-forwarding against the play-head, cleaned debris off of it, and helped it play better. I never did it twice, because nobody told me to do so, and I would have thought it to be redundant, anyways. ...I did notice a big difference, even with one movement of fast forward and rewind.
@@badreality2 Good to hear it worked for you! Now just another tip: If you really want to enhance your audio sound, do this: From the back of your VCR you might have Yellow (video), Red (audio Right), White (audio Left) RCA plugs that are Output. You can plug in both the red & white RCA Outputs of your VCR with a 6-foot male/male RCA cords into a powered mixer and run your Audio Outputs into the powered mixer's monitors, or run them into your Tv's Inputs to hear them out of your Tv's speakers. To monitor your powered mixer's speakers and get that great sound by tweaking your powered mixer's EQ. Now if you only have only one Audio Output and not two from the VCR, then you can purchase a 3-way male RCA splitter to run into your powered mixers Inputs. You also might have to buy two female RCA to 1/4 inch adapters to plug into your powered mixer. The powered mixer I used is the Mackie PPM 808s. And I'm also using two JBL JRX212 12 Inch Two Way Passive Stage Monitors. Hope this helps.
@@rivercidal Hey.....remember you're talking to alot of us "average-tech" folks out here! Sorry, but "this does not compute" ....... ;-)
@@USCG.Brennan Hey......stay average, because some of us pro audio techs take it to another level.
@@rivercidal ;-)
The sixth mistake is not realizing this was an ad for a company as soon as you heard that cheesy radio announcer voice.
Oh, and this guy also made a mistake when he chose those ridiculously small glasses. They make his forehead look huge!
VWestlife what equipment does legacybox use to do this?
VWestlife I almost spit my coffee up, I was thinking that too👾
Yeah unlike some of the film to video scanners (w brand) this is why too obvious , lol
VWestlife so true!
This is my favorite comment on youtube. Ever.
0:40 burn them into video files? There is no such thing as "burning" to a file.
these guys are real experts lol
He's meaning, Putting them on win10 or earlier or iMac.
A perfect example of what my Dad used to call "Hair Splitting".
@@chriswebb4162 that would be a bad use of the very popular and known the entire world over term, splitting hairs.
@@DamnDealDone I think you've totally misunderstood my comment. Everyone would know exactly what was meant by the phrase 'burn'. Apart from someone like you it would appear.
6: using a bad deinterlace method, something that even this video itself shot in HD suffers from. Also, MPEG-4 isn’t the only option for good video encoding. I get that newer formats like HEVC didn’t exist back then, but even then there were other formats like ProRes which is a much better format for editing and long term archival.
I know this comment is super old, but mpeg-4 aka. mp4 is a container.
HEVC however is a Video Codec. An mp4 file can have video in pretty much every codec, most common these days are x264, x265 (hevc), rarely vp8/9, AV1 just to name the most important ones (also, this list is going from inefficient (x264) to most efficient (av1)).
ProRes is a codec btw.
doing a how to digitize VHS Tutorial and not deinterlacing the Video: Thats reeks of Quality.
DVDs don't degrade after 5 years.
Yes they can.
@@theman3476 That's if you don't take care of them, then yes.
They can last 10+ years if you keep it in a case
Be aware that uploading to youtube can be fraught with issues. If there is any recognizable music on your tape, CZcams can flag it as copyrighted material and some corporation can claim the rights to your video.
Don't save as MPEG if you don't know how to adjust the bitrate. It is all too easy to save an MPEG file that has been compressed so much that it is lower quality than the source tape. AVI is better, if you have the hard drive space, and the devices to play it back.
Your comment is 4 years old but I wanted to ask, the Elgato capture device I plan on buying allows either MPEG or h.264
In that case, which one is better?
@@majbt45 Nice!😃👍🏻
#1 and #2 aren't even mistakes.
Exactly, this video is almost pointless. I get more out of th comments. The real questions are lossy vs lossless, what format do you choose (avi vs MP4 vs mkv), what software to use, what options to select in that software, do I try to fix interlaced video and if so, how.
Neither is 5
MPEG-4 (MP4) is a container format that supports multiple different stream formats (audio and video codecs). Just saying "use MPEG-4" doesn't make sense
Plus I think it's cool that damage blue ray disc movies doesn't play at all
When comes to this topic, it's still hard to get what is the best conversion method, if it's needed a particular device with TBC and how convert all VHS with Macrovision protection.
I'm not giving ALL of my secrets away!
Great advice!
I thought this was more on the technical side of "during the process of digitizing tapes". No, it's just the simple high-level things that may not even be mistakes one way or another.
Also apparently an ad for them.
I'm not so sure about MPEG. I'd recommend something less lossy for archival purposes.
AVI Format
DVD only lasts 5 years? I have securely archived DVD over ten years and when use the very best quality discs they last a lot longer than that. Estimates are - over 50 years for DVD-R.
Woodomain - Jeremy Broun what would recommend if someone Word to digitize tapes to DVD what would be the best kind of DVDs to use I use dvd +r discs but are there better dvds I can use
I have >10 year old dvds and they work fine
Thank you, very informative.
A TBC (Time Base Corrector) is ALWAYS needed. In the Recorder, as an external Device (in the cheapest case a DVD Recorder with TBC in EE mode - NO Disc) or in the A/D Converter.
Another mistake: This video is interlaced.
Hahaha, mistake number 6: dont interlace your videos like this
Where did you see interlacing?
If you watch it at 480P you don't see the interlacing artifacts. CZcams must only make use of the odd fields for the 480P version. At 1080 I can see the interlacing artifacts really easy.
Try using Vitrualdub and handbrake that will deinterlacing the video
the place isn't got a workable web site any longer looks like. would of like to know what his pricing would have been like.
I'm 0:21 in the video and that statement is incorrect. You SHOULD Digitize your VHS to DVD. At lease it would make sense because the VHS is interlace and the DVD will keep everything in line.
Poor guy
Hes running windows vista
That was the OS you could had at the time. And people barely buyed the Windows 7
MOST IMPORTANT: Whatever you do don't through away any video tape or hard copy that is irreplaceable. A disk or drive crash only to find out your back-up is corrupted will happen way sooner than if when the video tape won't play anymore. Remember: nothing is forever in the digital world! Always keep a hard copy (video tape/CD/DVD/Cassette) for those really important things.
A sound engineer friend of mine says that something doesn't exist unless it's in three places at the same time.
That's why the guy in the video says 1) on your computer 2) on an external HD and 3) elsewhere/cloud
Nothing is forever period we will all be damaged or gone (as we are finite) our kids will toss out our rectangles with clear windows or use them to "toilet paper" a house or a car as to will have a tangable value to then sad but true
I am keeping every one of my 230 VHS videotapes. Every single one, forever.
Pass. I will not be dealing with tape once I transfer. This is not film, there will be no magic to fix it's poor audio and resolution. As far as multiple copies? Uploaded to the cloud, external hard drive in the fireproof safe and a USB drive kept off property in a safety deposit box. The tape isn't going to outlast those digital copies.
You should have at a minimum 3 copies in different media. I have made a permanent copy using M-disc rated for 1000 years. If every other copy fails, you will always have that disc as a last resort.
He lost credibility at MP4,
He lost credibility when he said Mac.
another mistake: putting your script for off the the side of the camera
Would you suggest using one of the video stabilizers to digitize VHS tapes? I hear the RXII stabilizer also removes macrovision when digitizing your store-bought VHS Hollywood movies.
SIMA GO DVD
@@leonjohnsonjr3331 thanks so much!!!
AVI lossless is the best format for storage and then transfer to MPEG4 for sharing.
Need a HUGE hard drive tho!
It's like 1Gb/min.
I have 90 x 3hr video tapes to transfer!!!!
Use Lagarith Lossless Codec, much smaller while remaining lossless.
Only if you have several 4TB Hard drives.
For a 1 hour video you will be looking at a file size of over 10gb
You could also use a video logger program such as included with matrox qnd pinnacle video edit suites they make your file into DV format still need a big drive and its lossless haha but way more options for DV than the heavily compressed hard to edit mp4
What about keeping the video interlaced when you want it for monitors? lol
awesome info thx!
I have seen a DVD once that I was able to separate into two thin plastic discs. Of course any data that is on it is ruined at that point and sooner. I have no idea if archival DVDs and CDs are any more durable or last longer. The separation just affects DVDs. I do not know if any CDs are constructed the same way. I never saw a CD made that way but with my luck there is that one guy out there with that rare one that no one has ever seen before.
Mistake number #01 output with a Component VCR deck JVC made those 720p/1080i upscaling built in. Also DishPlayer VHS recorder by Philip's
Great 📹 🎥 tips!!!
What kind of weirdo uses an old iMac keyboard on a Windows computer?
#DigitizeMyLife if I have a vhs with composite output and i get a composite to hdmi adaptor, will the translation of the original vhs tape be better when digitizing?
Leave the music off when you are explaining procedures; background music does not help and is very distracting. Talk slower!!!
How do you recommend organizing videos? There are a lot of photo organization applications, but what about video? Thanks!
I created a spreadsheet that tracks each video by year month date and unique number for each tape a brief comment on tape content and uploading and sharing dates. I use Clear Click HD Capture Box Platinum Edition to thumb drives.
Again with a few Avery sticker tags each VHS tape and thumb drive and spreadsheet tracks my tapes by unique number. Diffractor is a great available software that is free but please donate the twenty dollars. This allows easy tool for both video and photos to track and drag to in my case software to mostly clip beginning and end. I like VideoPad Video Editor as it never locks up on importing video. Without my spreadsheet and tracking number I would have a mess as now past 100 VHS tapes and more to transfer. PS my spreadsheet year month and date is titled on my thumb-drives. Good Luck.
I forgot the most important additional comment is a nice ring binder that sequentially tracks each of the numbers and comments, tape conditions, troubles etc. So that the same number is tracked in the ring binder, on the VHS tape, on the log and named as part of the digital file on the thumb-drives and all transfers. If you have a lot of tapes you need to begin this way or you will end up with stacks of tapes and frustration that goes with it. Best regards.
I hve been offered a sony camcorder. Its been (I would think) the bee's knees in it's time It takes 8mm tapes?? Once you' ve run off the tape onto hard drive as you say how then do you free the tape again (remind me)? Do you just tape over the old information? The set is offered cheap enough, like I say it's been a stonker at one time. Should I grab it ? I'm on strictly limited budget.
Would I better off buying the crop of motion detection cameras for wild life photography (for elderly res at day centre)
Tapes can be recorded over as long as you don't have them write protected. They all come with a little switch or slider that you can toggle to keep them from accidentally taped over.
Hello,
Thank you for your video.
I would just like to ask for your opinion. I converted my old VHS tapes using an easycap and OBS software, but the final result has an acceptable image quality, but it appears "grainy" with low definition. The captured image looks much better than after recording. Is there anything I can do to improve this?
easycap = easycrap
What about when the tapes won't play? What kind of mistakes should you avoid when trying to fix them and get them to play, so that you don't permanently ruin them? That's what I thought they were going to talk about in this video.
@@rivercidal The tape didn't actually get stuck in the machine, though. Other tapes play fine in it.
@@rivercidal I don't know. I just want to be able to get it into a digital format somehow. They're old family videos from the late 80's and early 90's. I just bought a brand new HP Envy desktop today. Is there any tape things you can hook up to it, that will do that? I'm kind of wondering how I'll watch them, though, because I think most services/methods turn the tapes into DVDs and my new computer doesn't even have a disc drive.
@@rivercidal That really sucks because my old HP desk top from 2011 had a DVD burner built in and was nicer than my new one. But I can't use it anymore because the hard drive is failing. I've been mulling over whether or not to try to have it repaired. The repair guy said even if he could fix it, it's going to get harder and harder to do so because Microsoft doesn't put out updates for Windows 7 anymore. I also had a professional Adobe audio editing program on that computer that I absolutely LOVE and you can't get it anymore without having to pay for a subscription to keep it.
@@rivercidal The computer, (the whole thing, not just the internet) started getting really, REALLY slow all of a sudden. It had previously been working fine. I'd click on something like the file viewer, for example and I'd just be waiting forever for it to open and it never would. I couldn't get anything to open. Then I started getting a blue screen that would come up and it would turn off, I think. I was able to turn it back on with difficulty. It either wouldn't turn on or it would, but it would want to go into safe mode or something. On the third attempt I was able to get it to turn on. I think those are all the things it did. I don't remember exactly because it was a few months ago. I called the repair place that I trust and the guy said it sounds like the hard drive is getting ready to fail so I better get all my important files off of it while I still can. So, luckily, I was able to do that. I'm just upset about that audio production program. It's Adobe Audition 3.0 and it was installed on the computer from a disc back when you could still do that. So I could use it offline too. Now you can't do that anymore because Adobe makes people pay for online based monthly subscriptions only, now. It's the program that all the professional recording technicians and people at radio stations use to do all their commercials and stuff. If there was a way to transfer that onto my new computer, I'd be so happy! I had a video editing and a stop motion cartoon making program on the old one too, but those aren't as big of a deal to lose because I can just buy them outright again, because they are still available to buy that way. It sucks to have to lose the money, though.
@@rivercidal Desktops have batteries? The computer I'm talking about is an HP pavillion desktop. I already got an external hard drive and put everything on it that I needed to. I didn't really have a ton of files on it, so I wouldn't even know what to delete. I think the best thing would be to take it to the repair place but I think it's just going to be a money pit because it'll just break again. If they were still supporting Windows 7 I would do it, but since they're not, I don't see that it's worth it. I just wish there was a way to transfer that old version of Audition onto my new computer.
Why are some old movies now showing weird movement of objects in background? In the foreground the actor seems in focus and steady but the background seems to warp. Here is an example: the minute marks are between 1 : 33 and 1 : 42 the effect I'm talking about is especially notable. The foreground subject, the actor stays steady, the background moves: czcams.com/video/b_D4UsU5aI0/video.html
Greetings. If you still want to know the answer, this effect was caused by a Stabilization filter. I think sometimes CZcams adds this automatically to an upload. It's also an option in their editor.
The filter is intended for handheld videos like bad camcorder recordings. Using it on other content like movies causes these strange warping effects. (These side effects can appear on handheld video too, but less often.)
@@bradriley9777 : So I learned since posting. Thank you, I appreciate it.
Does anyone know the professional equipment legacybox uses?
If I did...I wouldn't tell you.
Use your vcr videorecorders and blank VHS tapes to get even with the news media and tell your friends to just use their vcr videorecorders !
One of the very few times I disliked a video. Congrats!
Hello Sir i have an really important question to ask you, Also if anyone else would know the answer to the question please leave a comment. If i use the (Diamond Video Capture VC500) or a similar model of those types to connect the VCR to convert it to CD or save it on my documents, Will i be able to connect the cables onto this types of Audiovox VBP2000 Portable VHS Player
. Will it work this way?
well, i would not recommend using a cd. A blank DVD-R would work better. Now you should really use an external hard drive to save the footage. Saving on your computer will take up space, depending on the bytes. And yes it will work. As long as you have the red & white audio and the yellow video connected, it should work.
Mistake #4 using MPEG4 format, for analog video AVI is the best format for archiving it uses less compression than MPEG4 and its native resolution exceeds the VHS resolution.
Personally, I use Mpeg2 when making digital transfers of VHS. When captured in S-video, the quality looks indistinguishable to a rip of a DVD recorded in XP mode. Of course, I'm also in the process of upgrading my setup to upscale VHS to 1080p and capture it at that resolution.
***** DV is a lossy format, and for NTSC it is only 4:1:1, The best way to capture is AVI losselss at 4:2:2, You can use VirtualDub with HuffYUV plug in, It has a learning curve but once you learn it you will be capturing like a pro, I recaptured all my DV captures after learning about this, using only Pinnacle 500-USB and sold my Edirol VMC-1.
Jarrah White The biggest mistake is to mess with an interlaced video, You only make it worse if de-interlacing it or up-scaling it, If you don't believe me join DigitalFaq.com and ask that question and see what you will hear from the video pros.
James Bordon I'll have you know that I am video pro. I got distinctions in my Screen courses and have over 15 years of experience.
Jarrah White You're obviously not familiar with analog video, Why don't you then head over to videohelp.com and digitalfaq.com I want to see how your challenges hold there.
0:33 so dvd degrades after 5 years? Lol
In high humidity locations yes. The silver coat degrades and mold can grow damaging the plastic coat
I JUST TESTED CD-R AND DVD-R FROM 15 YEARS AGO. ALL FINE. STORE IN COOL DRY WITH NEWSPAPER WRAPPED AROUND THE PILLBOX
There is an out of the box way to transfer old tapes. Play your video on a Plasma or HD TV in the Dark. Set up a tripod with Eye Shooter Smartphone Holder and VIDEO TAPE IT.
You can also do pause / record / pause to edit on the fly.
Wrong! No lines decent quality. Don't knock it till you try it. BUT not recommended for a lot of footage. Many other great ways to do it i agree.
And I did say "outside the box" method. Everyone always says save priceless memories using this or that method as being the best but the point is how to do you value a memory? I have some very old 8mm footage of me in the soap box derby. Crap footage no matter how you transfer it but priceless non the less.
I'm having a challenge with Audio Sync while capturing Hi-8 video. The audio is around 1.8 seconds faster than the video. Any suggestions / comments on what I can do to mitigate this?
I've tried a multitude of different software, as well as trying to fix it in post processing.
The results are not promising.
Have you tried separating the video and audio apart and dragging the audio a little bit behind in a video editor? Such as windows movie maker (if it even allows video and audio to be detached) or if you have a mac, you can use iMovie.
Not sure if you’re using USB composite but my solution with vhs to avi was to separate the audio into the line-in blue from the video USB composite so the audio/video is always insync. You’ll need a dual red/white into one cable
Thank YOU!!!!
one word: el gato.
This is old! So many things probably changed like the format. Do research before following this advice.
Esther Sorenson hi . Look like you know what you talking about . Hey I’m completely lost what advice should to follow . I’ve Watched plenty of videos , still can’t figure what format is better . I’m not an expert , just want to save 25 years old video tapes memories for my son . Please advice .
If archiving use Pro-res or DNX file formats and use mpeg 4 or h.264 for sharing
wow. this is woeful
One of the most pathetic pieces of misinformation I've seen in a long time
Hey talk to the camera
best 16 mm film lasts for ever
VCR players cleaning tapes vhs movies VCR belts vhs movies proven there are everywhere online now days never left at all it's the people who is leaving on tilling you truth now days about all those things are online now days specially am buying them myself offline
The real question is, how to properly dispose of the original VHS tapes. Tape recycling used to be a thing, but nobody does it anymore. But you really don't want to just chuck the things in the garbage.
I would never discard those original tapes, especially if they are precious recordings.
When you talk, I can see combing around your mouth. You did not deinterlace the video before uploading to CZcams? Instant fail.
This video is *FULL* of incorrect information.
Like DVDs only last five years? Yes, I've been doing this for years and only DVDs stored in an attic or external storage unit have failed.
@@PaulRentz for me, 16+ year old burned DVD rewrittable is still readable
**FACEPALM**
self advert repulsive
This video is kinda pointless.