VHS to DVD to Hard drive

[JoeUtah]

Hello,

I have just started to copy all my home made VHS tapes to DVD in order to digitalize them. I found it easy to do with a VHS/DVD recorder. Now my question is how to best store the content on a hard drive.

Ive tried hand brake where Ive grabbed the DVDs into .h264 mp4 with "Bob" (i think its some kind of de-interlace filter) which is "High profile" under the "Presets" menu. The result is ok since the VHS isnt the best quality in the first place but when I compare it to the raw DVD file ( i guess its called .VOB ), where it is still interlaced, and watch it in VLC with interlace mode on, it seems to be better quality than my grab to Mp4.

What would be the best way to store these files? My intention is to be able to watch them through PLEX but I want to keep as good quality as possible.

Thank you for some smart answers =)

[JVRaines]

Of course your h.264 files don't look as good. You're encoding the video twice. My advice is to use something besides Plex that can play your VOBs or that can play MKVs ripped from your discs with MakeMKV.

[KarMa]

Assuming the x264 settings used in Handbrake were decent then encoding it twice (once to DVD then with x264) probably isn't the biggest issue. It's probably because of using Bob in Hanbrake, which I think uses Yadif to double the frame rate to 50fps. Yadif is an ok deinterlacer but there are better ones out there, not available in Handbrake.

We don't have any pictures or videos to compare and we don't have mediainfo of the MP4 file in question. You might get better answers if you can provide these.

[manono]

I watch MKVs and MP4s made from DVDs through Plex. There's no need at all to reencode it a second time. But then I don't capture using a DVD recorder either. My advice is to capture directly to the hard drive and then encode once to whatever your final format is to be, and not using Handbrake's filters. If you're stuck using the DVD captures, then Karma's advice is the one to follow. Yeah, video samples might help.

[JoeUtah]

Thank you for quick answers! I will elaborate with the different options to save the DVD-files to the hard drive. If I simply copy the files its of the file type .VOB but has interlacing as seen in attachement 1. If I turn Deinterlacing on in VLC player it looks better, attachment 2. I guess the question is weather to leave the files as they are or if I could encode it to other formats and still keep the information.

So..

What would be a better way to capture the VHS to a digital format?

I have the following equipment at the moment but I could try to getter better if someone could tell me what I need:

Macbook pro early 2011
LG RC388 Vide DVD recorder
Sony PC110 miniDv Cam with analogue in and DV out

way one: VHS-DVD-recorder - Hardrive (easy and time efficient )

way two: VHS-MiniDV camera(Sony PC110 from early 2000) as adapter to Hard drive. The format is then some kind of AVI. ( Takes a bit more time and I get the feeling its not optimal)

How do I do this the best way with these two options or what could I do to make it better?

[manono]

way two: VHS-MiniDV camera(Sony PC110 from early 2000) as adapter to Hard drive. The format is then some kind of AVI. ( Takes a bit more time and I get the feeling its not optimal)

The format is DV AVI and it's a helluva lot more optimal than is capturing using the DVD recorder followed by another reencode to deinterlace it. Yes, your DVD recorder way is easy but you're asking for better quality. Then just reencode it once to your MP4 or whatever you like, deinterlacing it along the way. You could make a DVD of it as well.

[JoeUtah]

So VHS -> Hard drive (using MiniDV to format .AVI is the best way to go given my options? if so, what program is recommended to deal with the deinterlace? and in wich format should I store it? I have lots of hard drive, but I also want to be able to access the media easily through PLEX or something similar.

thanks a lot for the help! =) =)

[manono]

What KarMa was implying when suggesting different deinterlacers, was the use of AviSynth with the much better QTGMC for either single or double-rate deinterlacing. Yadif is okay and if you're more comfortable using Handbrake, then that's the best they have. Like he also suggested, I'm not completely convinced your problems stem entirely from the double reencodes or the use of Yadif. Maybe you didn't get high enough quality out of Handbrake. But without samples one can only guess.

What format? Easiest for Plex would be a deinterlaced MP4 or MKV. I play both easily through Plex and my Roku box to my television. I also make DVDs of my tapes. You wouldn't have to deinterlace for DVD.

[JoeUtah]

Thanks a lot for your answers and time.

As for now I think the biggest challenge is to get a good signal out from the VCR to digitalize through my camera. I have 3 or four different VCRs but I think none of them have anything other than SCART output for video. Is Scart out ok or should I find a different VCR?

[manono]

I don't know anything about SCART, having never seen one in my life. Someone in PAL territory will have to answer that one.

[JoeUtah]

alright... I'll dig about PAL elsewhere..

so, final question:

If you would recommend a capture device, capture card or anything at all to capture the VHS (PAL) to the computer, what would it be? My budget limit would be around a 1000 dollars..

thanks!

[johnmeyer]

I have done a lot of this work, and advised people I know on how to do this. With the people I know, I've been able to track their progress, and the only ones who ever seem to finish are those who use a VHS-->DVD machine. While the DV capture is a better workflow, and the one I recommend if you are going to do extensive editing, it is more complicated to set up, and has "more moving parts."

The simplest way to store on a hard drive is to just save the VIDEO_TS folder from each DVD into a folder on your hard drive. Label each folder so it matches the date and content of that DVD. When you play, turn on the deinterlacing option in your player, as you have already done.

I always recommend to NOT deinterlace VHS captures, especially given the workflow you are doing. Deinterlacing always degrades the video: this is unavoidable. Yes, you will always have to deinterlace when you watch the video on a modern monitor, but future technology may be able to display the video in its native interlaced format. If you use a good software DVD player, its deinterlacing will do the job.

Once you deinterlace, you can never get back the quality that you lost.

I certainly would not re-encode using H.264 or any other codec. Yes, you might be able to get a smaller file, but unless you are encoding at a really low bitrate, you won't get quality that is appreciably better, especially with VHS video.

And, speaking of bitrate, do not try to store more than 90 minutes on any DVD (I assume these are single-layer). In fact, it is better to limit the video per DVD to 75 minutes. This will let you use the maximum DVD video bitrate of 8,000 kbps. Do make some tests to make sure you are not encoding at some super-low bitrate. Anything much below 6,500 kbps is not going to look very good on fast motion when you use single-pass VBR, which is probably the only option on your VHS-->DVD machine.

[redwudz]

I see MakeMKV was mentioned earlier. It's freeware at present and I would give it a try to see what results you get from your DVDs. It should be able to read directly from the DVDs.

If you just want a single file with no changes, try DVDVob2Mpg. That would just extract the existing MPG file from the DVD folder.

Unless you really need to change the format by re-encoding, with the inherent quality loss, those are two very quick alternatives.

[manono]

If you would recommend a capture device, capture card or anything at all to capture the VHS (PAL) to the computer, what would it be? My budget limit would be around a 1000 dollars.

You could ask a dozen people and get a dozen different answers. If you want easy, then VCR->DVD recorder is the way to go. If you want almost as easy with better quality then VCR->DVD recorder used as a pass-through for its TBC->Canopus box (or your miniDV cam) and WinDV to cap as DV AVI is the way to go and the one I use most often. If you want best then VCR->DVD recorder for the TBC->cheap USB capture device capping lossless using Virtual Dub or others is the way to go. I do that sometimes.

The final two allow for editing/filtering before encoding to the destination format. I mostly follow johnmeyer's capturing advice. However, I cap mostly old movies on tape and always make my stuff progressive, along with the other filtering.

[JoeUtah]

Thank you all for the help!!