Is H.264 a good format to convert VHS to?

[RyfromNy]

I am trying to archive home movies on VHS.

I recently contacted a service called Rafik. They use H.264, and then make a BluRay or DVD copy as well.

Is this a good format/way to archive my VHS? And should I go with BluRay or DVD for the second copy?

[redwudz]

Depends on the encoder settings your archive service uses. H.264 encodes are very compact. And most think the quality is good for archiving. It would be great if they would process a sample file from you to see how it looks to you.

If the videos are very important to you, you might use a less 'compacted' format. Downside is the files can get very large, and the costs will rise.

Universally, MPEG2/DVD quality is still ok from VHS tapes, if it's handled properly. Burned DVD discs are good for older relatives that only have a DVD player.

Most Blu-rays are ADVC, H.264 format and very good quality. So, myself, I would recommend H.264 encoding and maybe a less compact (Usually higher quality) format file that you might use for future edits.

But read some reviews about your archiving company and do a lot of research if a lot of money is involved.

[Topsy]

I am trying to archive home movies on VHS.

I recently contacted a service called Rafik. They use H.264, and then make a BluRay or DVD copy as well.

Is this a good format/way to archive my VHS? And should I go with BluRay or DVD for the second copy?

Rafik NY? They seem like a good facility and also provide uncompressed capture. If you liaise with them they can probably tell you their process and the data rate they use. Generally >8mbits for H264 is what you need IMHO. With the pervasiveness of the H264 format you can be fairly confident it will be playable for many years to come.

For long term archiving I would personally stay away from optical media (dvd/blu-ray) and instead buy a couple of Hard Drives to store your files (2 copies). Store them separately from one another. Then recopy the data onto a new set of hard disks every 5 years or so.