Getting ready to digitize some VHS tapes. *New questions*

[Crow550]

So capture as uncompressed 480i (S-video connection) using the Theater 750 card and clean and convert from there and keep the uncompressed AVI files in case of future clean ups or converting.

[robjv1]

Yup, that is one possible workflow and probably the ideal one to use for purpose of noise reduction and archiving. A few notes, in case I wasn't clear -- don't bother capturing uncompressed RGB, it uses more space than is necessary with lossless codecs like Lagarith and Huffuv out there, so capture to one of those instead. They have modest CPU requirements, but your system is more than up to snuff for it and the quality is the same as uncompressed. You'll have to download and install either of those -- links to them are both available in the tools section.

If you have the space, I'd definitely keep copies of the files if you can, especially since your target output is YouTube -- you won't be able to do much on them once they are that compressed. The files will be very large though -- about 30 gigs an hour for 720 x 480 -- so if you have a ton of tapes to do you'll need some space.

Many people store them on external hard drives -- another option is to split them up and store them on discs as files. Hard drive storage is convenient, but disc storage can be nice as a backup or just handy for stuff you want to put away if you need more space to do more captures.

[Crow550]

I think I will work one tape at a time and compress each one once they are cleaned. This is VHS and most are Home videos. A little grain and such aren't the end of the world.

I do have some spare HDD space but I'd rather do the best job that can be done and just store the tapes in a safe place if I decide to re-rip them again which honestly I kinda doubt it. I could get an external HDD just for the AVI files but that may be overkill. You know?

Might as well rip em and clean em up a bit and put them in a good universal format. I don't see the point in keeping the raw avi files.

So.... This JVC hm-dh5u will digitize the analog tapes through firewire but only in Mpeg2? Right?

Would running the tape through the S9900U hooked up to the HM-DH5U with both having TBC on. Improve anything even more or make things worse?

[robjv1]

Sounds like a good plan! I am really bad about running a million projects at once with this stuff. This is the first time in a long time that I've been disciplined enough just to stick to a few different ones at once haha

Yeah, I would definitely hold onto the original tapes, because you never know what will come around in the future in video processing or if your disk might fail. Redundancy can be a life-saver in that regard. I know what you mean about just getting it done too and you'll always have your original tapes.

You'll be impressed what can be done I think with minimal effort. I have a home movie where the camera is focused on a handwritten letter that someone is reading it aloud, but the audio on the tape is messed up and it is not possible to hear what is being read. On the original tape, the letter is not readable, but after running it through Neat Video you can read the words off the page with no problem. It is an amazing piece of software. In some cases, it's like the visual difference between being outside and looking outside through a mesh screen.

[robjv1]

So.... This JVC hm-dh5u will digitize the analog tapes through firewire but only in Mpeg2? Right?
Would running the tape through the S9900U hooked up to the HM-DH5U with both having TBC on. Improve anything even more or make things worse?

Yes, that is my understanding -- at least that is how the JVC VD-400US works and they are supposed to be very similar decks. YMMV. It encodes it to an MPEG2-TS stream, not sure about the bitrate. Perhaps do a test and then drop the resulting file in MediaInfo or Gspot to get all the information on that.

As far as the double TBC deal -- does the JVC HM-DH5U have a TBC? It does not, according to this post: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/286055-VCR-buying-guide-%28S-VHS-D-VHS-Professional...=1#post1881677. Edit: Another user on the forum has stated that it does have a TBC, it is just that it is always on -- there is no toggle switch to turn it off. There has been a lot of back and forth on this topic in the past -- in either case, the image quality should be as good as a fully working JVC SVHS deck.

There is a situation where you might use both VCRs at once though, if you get the top of the picture 'hockey stick' / 'flagging' effect and the JVC S9900 cannot address it. The HM-DH5U and other DVHS decks fix the problem on passthrough -- very handy in many cases.

[Crow550]

So it won't hurt if I run the tapes on the S9900 and pass it through the HM-DH5U?

Gonna be hooking up the HM-DH5U soon anyways. Figured I would just stack it on the S9900.

Hook up the S-Video cable audio and load up Virtualdub.

[robjv1]

Well, it may help in some instances, but I would probably only run one through the other on tapes that need it, as the pass through deck may add artifacts to the image, but that is usually a good trade off, if you have top screen flagging. In that situation it may just make more sense to try playing it in the HM DH5U only, as that may fix all of the issues.

Be careful with stacking them on top of each other and make sure you have lots of room for airflow, these decks get hot and need air circulation.

Good luck, let us know how your tests go.