Domesday Duplicator - good, or no?

[snafoo]

Hi. Are the Domesday Duplicators, or VCR Decode devices, a good investment? Do they really help clean up a VHS tape enough so it can be digitized? I am really interested in this. Please, if anyone can give me the scoop on these devices, and if they are worth buying, i'd appreciate it.

[The 14th Doctor]

For LaserDiscs yes they are the superior option and should be used if you care about getting archival grade quality from that. But that's mainly because of LaserDisc being a composite format and the players not outputting the best quality possible.

For VHS and Video8/8mm (also S-VHS, Hi8) it is not any better than what a high end S-VHS VCR or Sony Hi8 camcorder can do. Especially when Edit mode is enabled in a VCR which disables some noise reduction.

The method as it stands is very complicated, requiring both understanding the software and it's confusing unfriendly documentation along with the hurdles and challenges involved in needing to perform physical modifications to your VCR and camcorder to even tap into the raw signal, which more often than not requires soldering.

And if you include the amplifier, which they always recommend even with Sony branded VCRs that do not require soldering as the video RF signal is a small header on the PCB board that can simply be plugged into using a BNC connector, then you'd need to figure out how to use oscilloscope.

If money is not an issue, then you'd be better off buying a refurbished JVC S-VHS VCR and a resilient capture card (IO-Data GV-USB2, Pinnacle 510/710, etc)

Unless you really want to deal with needing to feel like an electronics engineer just to archive some VHS tapes...

Along with the problems with just setting it up, in which I feel like there is a higher chance of something going wrong in the process, there is also the drawback on the decoding processing taking a long time depending on the system you use.

Such as decoding a 2 hour VHS tape taking upwards to a day and a half, and the fact that the resulting files are massive in size, around 120 GB in size for just the video information, and that is with compression.

Also by clean do you mean problems with the signal recorded onto the tape or physical defects like mold and crinkles?

Decode can not deal with physical tape problems, physically damaged tapes should be taken to professionals who can handle that kind of stuff like Spec Bros.

[Sharc]

@snafoo
You may scroll through this thread to get an impression whether 'VHS-Decode' is something for you or rather not.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/394168-Current-status-of-ld-decode-vhs-decode-%28t...-RF-signals%29

Some comparisons with conventional methods you can see from post #1079 onwards
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/394168-Current-status-of-ld-decode-vhs-decode-(tru...36#post2767592

Happy reading!

[The 14th Doctor]

Yeah those comparisons are really good in showing the truth, shame the thread devolved into uncalled for attacks because some people just so happen to be rather immature for their age

Alas, projects on the internet sure have a lot of uncalled for drama and fighting attached to them. Really does suck, hurts the project's reputation and makes the guy in charge look like an unprofessional immature childish person.

Also forgot to method that even if the OP were to use decode, the Domesday Duplicator itself is not the right device for VHS (it is for LD and Video8) as the device can only capture the video rf signal, not audio.

So one would have to use a different method, such as the new MISRC whenever that comes out, or capture a tape twice, once for the rf video and another for audio, then sync that up in post.

That and decode can only work with HiFi audio, not linear audio, that must be captured conventionally and therefore the quality of the VCR used is more important when it comes to linear mono audio.

[lordsmurf]

a good investment?

Investment? No. It's a hobby project, mostly unsupported, no professional use.

Do they really help clean up a VHS tape enough so it can be digitized?

It doesn't "clean up" anything. It's just a different/non-standard way to read a tape, mostly in an attempt to make a cheap VCR give better output than it does natively.

Please, if anyone can give me the scoop on these devices, and if they are worth buying, i'd appreciate it.

Given the questions, I'd say it's definitely something you'd want to avoid. It's a rabbit hole that even Bugs Bunny himself would avoid.

Given the words "investment" and "clean up", what exactly do you think that is?
What are you expecting?