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Vhs -> hd

Vultural

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This may need to be shifted or merged.

I got this new capture gizmo to try and transfer a longish VHS tape to HD to DVD.
By longish, I mean about 4 hours. (think I taped in LP speed, though could of been EP)
In 1989, Voyager flew by Neptune and my local station aired Neptune All Night, which I taped.
Started the process yesterday. While it worked I mowed the lawn, edited an srt, tossed rocks at buzzards.
Anyway, after two hours I checked and - HOLY MOLY! - my drive was almost full at 200 GB!
Stopped the process, dragged the file into mkvmerge and noted the audio was PCM.
Crikey!
Is this common with VHS? I was going to convert to mp3 then mux, then decided to ask this crew.
I'm starting to wonder if my vintage laptop is powerful enough for this task.
Suggestions? Advice?

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matrixgrindhouse

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Clarification, please. By "HD", do you mean "high definition" or "hard disk"? There's no reason that I can think of for anyone to capture VHS footage at a resolution that high.
 

MusicEd921

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Since it was never released in America, I converted Godzilla 1985 (Godzilla Returns) from VHS to DVD. After recording it onto my hard drive, the file was like 20 gigs! I don't remember my exact settings, but I then converted it to an MPEG 2 and got the file down to 1.8 gigs. For what it was, I think it looks and sounds fine.

Maybe you could try re-recording it back onto your hard drive 1 hour at a time and convert each file and then merge them with some DVD Authoring software?
 

Kal-El

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I'm assuming because of the VHS technology that the transfer should take as long as the video itself? You play the video in realtime and it's captured and transferred onto the computer's hard drive? My guess then is your settings are too high end. 200GB for a VHS transfer sounds ridiculous.

How about taking default settings and then trying to clean up the video using Virtualdub? There are a lot of filters available on the internet that do a great job of cleaning up VHS footage. Interlacing, chroma/luma crosstalk, pulldown, color bleeding, noise and other distortion and muted colours can all be fixed using Virtualdub if I'm not mistaken :)

I only used it once myself though, for lagarith pull of my Superman Returns cut, so I can't say I've used any of them, but I know they exist.

Here's a nice video showcasing a before and after:

Here's a link for a VHS filter for use in VD: http://neuron2.net/flaxen/flaxen.html

Here's a discussion thread on Avisynth and Virtualdub VHS filters, looks pretty good at first glance, and more talk of filters here and here.

I hope this either helps tremendously or at least puts you on the right path :)
 

Vultural

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matrixgrindhouse said:
Clarification, please. By "HD", do you mean "high definition" or "hard disk"?

Yes, I meant hard drive. And I was truly baffled why the file was so huge.

Kal-El said:
I'm assuming because of the VHS technology that the transfer should take as long as the video itself? You play the video in realtime and it's captured and transferred onto the computer's hard drive? My guess then is your settings are too high end. 200GB for a VHS transfer sounds ridiculous.


Here's a link for a VHS filter for use in VD: http://neuron2.net/flaxen/flaxen.html

Here's a discussion thread on Avisynth and Virtualdub VHS filters, looks pretty good at first glance, and more talk of filters here and here.

I hope this either helps tremendously or at least puts you on the right path :)

Thanks for the tips. This is a new tool and I haven't figured it out yet.
Truth to tell, it's the only VHS I would try to convert. The Voyager flyby is already on YouTube, but it's at 240p.
I also have several Laserdiscs that either never made the jump to DVD, or the subsequent DVDs lack commentaries.
Example: Nyoka And The Tigermen (AKA: Perils Of Nyoka) has a four hour running commentary by Bruce Eder on the history of the serials and the main stars / studios involved.
Like to get some of those, too, before my player goes.
I have two spare LD players, but the belts are all aging.
 
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