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preserving vs. restoring

Ziz

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Not really a tutorial request, just kind of a "parallel question"....

Say you're going through say an old VHS copy of something you're trying to save. It's one of those specials hosted by some actor to promote some film but the show is also a retrospective on films that follow the same narrative pattern, so there's clips all the way through of all the other films.

Now, is it better to hunt down copies of all the old films and re-create the clips or just work with the material as is so that the video quality, even if it isn't great, remains consistent? IOW, would it be distracting to have the video quality keep jumping from VHS to DVD and back and forth? Likewise, if you are replacing the clips, should the replaced versions be widescreen/letterboxed even if the originals weren't or should they also be re-cropped to pan-n-scan to maintain consistency with the source material?

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is at what point does it cross the line from "preservation" to "restoration"?
 

el_silloneb

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I'd say if you replace anything then it becomes restoration and no longer "preservation".
Personally, I'd be inclined to keep the original material and just do whatever you can to make it look and sound as good as possible.

Others, however, may disagree..?
 

Ziz

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Not that I'm disagreeing but...why? What's the logic or advantage in one method over the other?
 

el_silloneb

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Because if you are trying to preserve something then I don't believe that you should change the content in any way if it can be at all avoided. Perhaps this is just a purist way of looking at it?
If you wish to recreate or restore it then that's a different matter...
Also I find the sudden shift backwards and forwards in quality quite distracting, consistency is very important to viewer experience in my opinion.

By the way, should we start another thread to discuss this? We are, after all, going quite off topic with this one.
 

Frantic Canadian

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el_silloneb said:
Because if you are trying to preserve something then I don't believe that you should change the content in any way if it can be at all avoided. Perhaps this is just a purist way of looking at it?
If you wish to recreate or restore it then that's a different matter...
Also I find the sudden shift backwards and forwards in quality quite distracting, consistency is very important to viewer experience in my opinion.

I agree with everything you said plus I think by replacing scenes with better quality ones it kind of takes some of the charm or nostalgia out of it. That's just me though.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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el_silloneb said:
By the way, should we start another thread to discuss this? We are, after all, going quite off topic with this one.

agreed. while its an interesting question, its sort of steered into its own territory. I've split the discussion into a new thread. keep on talking :)
 

Ziz

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Ok, this is kind of jumping ahead of my skills but, disc space permitting, how complicated is it to do seamless branching? What I'm thinking is to make it 2-in-1 where you choose at the main menu if you want "preserved" or "restored" version. Or would it be easier to just do two complete versions on either the same disc or separate discs?
 

el_silloneb

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I've never tried to make a branching disc but I'm led to believe that it's not the easiest thing to do, especially if you're after high quality results.
I think putting two different versions on one disc would be far simpler if there is enough room for them both without too much compression.

There's no harm in attempting to build a branching disc, it all helps you learn, it just might not be the best thing to try without some guidance. We need to coax a reply from someone with more technical know-how for a proper answer to this one. Maybe place a request for a tutorial?

What's the project by the way?
 

Ziz

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I don't know what the specific project is yet, I just know I have a few of those types of shows on old video tapes - one from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom comes to mind. I did quick-n-dirty copies straight from the VCR to the DVD recorder but now that I've upgraded my computer I want to start over and do a proper job.
 

ByteShare

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I don't think you should be concerned with preservation if you can do restoration.
 
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