VHS pic quality

[akkers]

I have captured a VHS tape of a function from 1993. At the time it played fine on CRT TVs.
I have captured it through firewire and is good quality. However, the highlights are too bright and shadows dull and dark. Any adjustments I make with brightness/contrast seem to blow out the highlights. Its really hard to bring anything decent out.
Is this the result of playing old footage on moden screens? Or maybe the tape has aged badly? Any hints on editing VHS footages in general?

[Alwyn]

Best would be to post a sample here for analysis. Much can be done to improve captured video, but the experts (not me!) need to see it to be able to make suggestions.

The forum will accept attachments up to 500mb, or you can host one of your original DV files on a hosting site such as Google Drive. If they are too big for that, snip an appropriate section using AVIDemux following my guide here and then attach it here. For DV, snip around 60 seconds-worth.

[lordsmurf]

DV capture ("Firewire") often ruin color and contrast in this way.