Introductory Post/Request For Advice

[TheMightyNumberNine]

Introduction

Hello, everyone. I thought for my first post I'd give you a bit of information about myself as well as requesting some advice from you all. I recently got into video production. And when I say "recently" I mean "about a week ago". I found an old Samsung digital camera lying around in my room, and noticed that it had a video function. I amused myself for a while by filming some music videos, as well as couple of short "vlogs", using NCH Videopad to edit my footage. By fooling around and seeing what I could do, I've managed to become acquainted with Videopad, as well as audacity, any video converter and handbrake. I've also managed to get myself thoroughly addicted to video production as a hobby. Now, when I get interested in things I really get interested. Some would even call it "obsessive". Images flashed through my mind of all those comedy screenplays I wrote back in GCSE drama, of classic low budget films like "El Mariachi" and "The Blair Witch Project", of Lars Von Trier's "Dogme 95" movement. I wanted a slice of the action. I wanted to become a filmmaker.

It rapidly became apparent to me that I needed a new camera... My tiny 12.2 megapixel Samsung simply wouldn't cut the mustard if I wanted to become a bona fide indie movie auteur! So I logged onto ebay, where it became even more rapidly apparent that my budget of "about £30, at a push" was slightly too tight to afford something along the lines of the latest generation Sony Handicam. Undeterred, I wracked my brains to come up with a solution. Then in a real eureka moment, a thought occured. "If not this generation, why not the last one? Or the one before that? Or the one before that!?"

So, to cut a long story short I'm now the proud owner of a Panasonic M10. This - for the uninitiated - is an enormous, ridiculous, full-sized VHS camcorder; and it's my baby. The gentleman who sold it to me also threw in a cardboard box containing about forty blank VHS cassettes, mint condition and wrapped in cellophane, to sweeten the deal even further. I love it so much that I have an M5 - the previous model of Panasonic camcorder - on its way to me in the post; and am engaged in a heated internal debate over whether or not to pick up an M40 as well. Just to sort of round out the collection, you understand.

(I also really really want an RCA CC4392, but that's neither here nor there.)

Now, I know exactly what you're all thinking. But VHS does have a certain nostalgia appeal for me. I was a member of the very last generation to grow up watching VHS tapes. The medium is also ludicrously cheap, as I've managed to source some pretty heavy duty recording equipment for under £100. I simply wouldn't have been able to get my hands on digital equipment of comparable quality (and durability - seriously, I could probably club a burgler to death with this thing and film myself doing it) for the same price. Speaking of quality, you'd be surprised at how good it can be. The video that I've just linked was filmed with another M10, and by anyone's standards I think it looks great! And finally, speaking of looks; have you ever seen a full size VHS camcorder? The things look stupidly cool! Like the sort of thing a reporter would carry on his shoulder in a war zone.

All of this positivity practically flowed out of me as I clicked the friendly blue "buy it now!" button. Seconds later, the realization that I don't have the vaguest idea what I'm doing dawned on me. So naturally, I resolved to find a source of friendly expert advice... and my search led me here.

Get to the point. What do you actually want?

So, I have the camera. I can work out how to operate it effectively by myself with a combination of the handy operator's manual and trial and error. I also have a decent grasp of basic editing, that will only get more decent the more I experiment. That's not what I'm here for. What I want to know is, how do I transfer footage from the VHS cassettes to my computer's HDD, without losing picture quality? Or, if a downgrade in picture quality is inevitable, to what extent is it possible to mitigate the loss? In an ideal world, I'd want to be producing media at least as good looking as that Youtube video I linked ealier. What tools would I need to accomplish that? I know I'll need a capture card of some kind. Which is the best model available for under £100? And is it best to capture footage directly from the camera while I use the playback function, or to use a VCR player?

All advice is extremely welcome. Unless you just want to tell me to just give up and buy a digital camcorder... That particular ship has sailed, and I'm now determined to walk the obtuse and impractical path I've chosen.

Finally

How did they edit VHS tapes "back in the day"? Obviously you couldn't transfer them to your computer and play around with them in Videopad. And I don't see how you could "cut" them like cine film... you'd only break your tapes. I'm guessing there must have been some kind of specialist hardware? If so, is any of this hardware still kicking about; and how expensive would it be to start collecting it? This is less of a serious question and more of an idle speculation. I think it would be really cool to learn how to edit my tapes in the "old school" way.

Anyway, sorry to assault you with a wall of text! I hope you found my story amusing, even if you can't help me. I look forward to learning more about video production and sharing my progress with you all, and being an active member of your community. Thanks for having me!

[smrpix]

VHS editing was done deck to deck, you re-record the parts you want in sequence to another tape. It could be frame accurate if you used time code, editing decks and a controller. It could also be wildly inaccurate. VHS to VHS was mostly used for offline editing to generate an edit decision list which would then be used to automate an edit from the actual source tapes (usually 3/4" or Betacam) to a master 2" or 1" or 3/4" or Betacm or D2 or Digibeta (among others.) It was not fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuyEN7NqcFw

If you really want to go "old school," digital NLEs have far more in common with earlier film editing than video editing.

As for capture devices, there are many, many threads here -- even in the last few weeks -- discussing (sometimes passionately) the merits of each.

Welcome to the forums. (But do keep your posts more concise going forward, please.)

[TheMightyNumberNine]

*snip*

Welcome to the forums. (But do keep your posts more concise going forward, please.)

Of course. Only reason I chose to write my first post in such a rambling style was because it was my introduction as well as a request for advice; and I felt it would be somewhat presumptuous to barge into an established community and go: "Here I am, now tell me how to do this!". I'm sorry if I broke ettiquette.

Thanks for the reply, though! That video's been saved to my "watch later" playlist, and in the meantime I'll start searching for some threads discussing capture cards. Good stuff.