Help to "restore" 1950s-1970s home movies converte

[Lcarvone]

I need some advice in regards to "restoring" some older home movies. I came across a VHS tape that a family member had made about 20 years ago which contains 8 different recordings of old 8 (or 16mm?) tape. The time frames range (I believe based upon the people) are from black and white early 50s movies to color version home movies from the early 70s. In some cases the video is too bright, in others too dark. In all the speed is too fast (common from all I have ever seen of these old type movies...why is that BTW).

My questions are somewhat two-fold

How can I either capture and/or edit the video(s) so that the motion is near "normal"

What is the best program to use to sharpen, fix brightness, enhance color, etc of the movies either during capture or after?

I have a Hauppage PVR-250 for all of my captures from VHS normally via WinTV2000 software but I guess another program may be better for this case?

Thanks for any and all input.[/list]

[reboot]

WinTV2000 will work, to at least get it digitized.
I use Vegas 5 to do my video work. There are others, and you'll probably get lots of opinions.
Check the tools list.

[lordsmurf]

You would do far better with hardware, a PROC AMP to be exact. Or to pay somebody else that has such a setup.

You can probably tweak it some in software, but one you digitize analog footage, your options are severely limited from then on.

The "proc amp" like controls on the capture card, the filters in an NLE (like Premiere, Vegas), and then maybe filters in an encoder/frameserver (TMPGENC, Procoder, VirtualDub, AVIsynth) ... all these are your most common software options.

Play play play, tweak tweak tweak.
Since every single tape (sometime even every different scene on the tape) is different, it is hard to give advice on exact settings without seeing samples.

[Lcarvone]

OK. Sounds like there are going to be some major limitations. If I had to pick only one fix it would be the speed thing. The "too bright", "too dark" are not out of the range of acceptance so I can deal with that. And for the most part the speed thing isn't that big a deal except for some clips of family gatherings where there are lots of people that you just don't get enough time to see to recognize, etc. Any options for "slowing down" the speed using my Hauppauge setup?

[reboot]

Again, once captured, it will be much easier to slow it down, than trying to do it during capture.
You can use "Proc Amp" controls a bit during capture, but I find it easier to work with the digital version on the hard drive, than trial and error during capping. You can tweak the brighness, contrast, saturation, etc., and slow it down, then resave it, ready to author/burn.
Again, a good video editor will help a lot.

[lordsmurf]

Use the NLE to fix the speed.

[Lcarvone]

OK...sounds like I am getting somewhere. If I limit my "restoration" to simply fixing the speed and you had my system then you would

..."capture via the PVR-250 at (Half D1 considering the source? Full D1?) and then take the resulting mpeg file and open with <fill in the blank> for slowing down the speed to near normal levels."

The one good thing is these have no audio so synching is not an issue.

Thanks again to all for the input.

[MOVIEGEEK]

ArcSoft Showbiz
It captures DV-AVI/MPEG-2,has speed and brightness controls,and the encoder is top notch.
I use Showbiz to transfer old videos via firewire,add titles and special effects and the quality is amazing.Ulead VideoStudio is another good NLE but Showbiz's encoder blows it away.

[Lcarvone]

Can anyone direct me to a specific program and feature that will "fix" the fast motion typical of old home movies?

Thanks

[Lcarvone]

Bueller?

[lordsmurf]

Adobe Premiere, Vegas Video, Avid