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  1. Member
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    Hi All,

    I have some VHS tapes that are from a reliable source and are in very good condition. They do not require any colour correction or any noise reduction. Just wondering if I would be loosing any quality if I record direct to a standalone DVD recorder. I know that VHS resolution is lower than DVD but always worried about the MPEG compression artifacts but I've been fairly lucky so far i suppose.

    Also for upconverting, would it be worth upconverting while initial capture or is upconverting the recorded DVD good enough as well.

    Thanks
    Mark
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  2. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    As far as upconverting let your player do it. Don't manipulate the source. ie the recorded file.

    Basically you can do either one you want. The advantage of doing the dvd recorder is you don't need to use a computer. The advantage of using a computer is you'll usually have more options available during capture (compared to basic dvd recorders - the only experience I have - I'm sure more advanced models probably have proc amps to some degree and more flexible recording modes).

    If you really want to tweak bitrate settings for longer captures I'd go with a capture card.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  3. Member
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    Long story short regarding capturing VHS with a DVD recorder versus capturing with a computer: Capturing with a PC can produce better results, but only if you are willing to put the time into learning how to do it correctly, and learning how to use the software required improve the appearance of the capture beyond what good hardware can provide by itself. The learning process will involve a certain amount of frustration. Capturing with a DVD recorder doesn't not require as much effort, but the resulting video will have more defects. Some defects might be corrected with software later, but at the cost of loosing more quality.

    Attempting to capture NTSC VHS at resolutions higher than 720x480 is a waste of time. Upconverting with software is also a waste of time unless you must add VHS footage to an otherwise HD project. Most new TVs and players do a splendid job of upconverting via hardware.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 8th Apr 2012 at 14:43. Reason: grammar
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  4. You will lose quality because it's 1 pass only encoding with a dvd recorder: macroblocking + fine details lost
    all vhs recordings need color correction without exception (including retail tapes) despite the fact your eyes says otherwise
    *** DIGITIZING VHS / ANALOG VIDEOS SINCE 2001**** GEAR: JVC HR-S7700MS, TOSHIBA V733EF AND MORE
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  5. Banned
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    Originally Posted by themaster1 View Post
    You will lose quality because it's 1 pass only encoding with a dvd recorder: macroblocking + fine details lost
    all vhs recordings need color correction without exception (including retail tapes) despite the fact your eyes says otherwise
    All true, even for "pristine" retail tapes. IMHO many viewers really don't see those old bugaboos: residual tape noise, dropouts, spots, chroma noise, macroblocks, banding, ripples, edge ringing, crushed details, color anomolies, rainbows, dot crawl (yes, people, the latter even with s-video)......Frankly, many people just don't see that well. Not even when the noise is laughingly obvious and pointed out to them. And then you get reactions like this: a movie-buff friend and I were "treated" to a view by a proud owner of a DVD recorder who had transferred dozens of old retail tapes to DVD and proudly showed us the results on his brand-new 40-something-inch HDTV. The image was total chaos, a perfect demo of the kind of visual disturbances mentioned here, and then some. When we pointed this out to the owner, he just shrugged. "Oh," says he, "that's just tape. Tape always looks like that. But it's recorded perfectly."

    Denial. It's a beautiful thing.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 21st Mar 2014 at 21:18.
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  6. Tape always looks like that. But it's recorded perfectly.
    the so called professionals ( push play vcr push play dvd recorder done types ) do the same thing and even use regular vcrs and tbc for them is television broadcasting company you now what copy you will expect from them. My experience is if you want to transfer vhs to dvd ( or any other codec for that matter mkv h264 files are very popular now ) use only pc ( you can use dvd recorder for passtrough never for direct recording) and you can do color correction and noise reduction and others which you can never do in the dvd recorder alone.
    The beauty of dvd recording is versatility if i watch soccer game for example and want to record it ( you can also do with digital tv ( from digital box to dvd recorder ) you push rec go away take the dvd after the game has finished, and go to your friends house put the dvd in his dvd player and watch it plain and simple that's about all the good stuff of dvd recorders
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