Recording from VHS SLP

[Gooch]

<newbie post>
I have about 70 or so VHS tapes, most with 6 or 8 hours of content recorded in SLP, that I want to convert to DVD. Since my main goal is to transfer the video to digital first and not to edit, and because of the volume of tapes I want to convert, I think I should use a standalone recorder.

My questions revolve around trying to get a whole VHS onto a single DVD. Logistically, I need to be able to start the recording process and then return hours later with the job finished. I don't have the time to shuffle discs. So is it possible to record eight hours on DVD using a standalone recorder? What will the quality be like (the content is soccer matches)? What must I do to ensure the same quality as the VHS tape, which having been recorded in SLP, is not great to begin with?

This job is not urgent. Should I wait for the higher capacity DVD's due to be released later this year?

Will a recorder with a built-in VHS player give me better output?

Thanks in advance!

[SaSi]

Theoretically, you can record 8 hours on a DVDR recorder on a single disk. It just reduces resolution and bitrate enough so that you get the required capacity. Not all DVDRecorders provide 8 hours. Some stop at 6.

One of the not so clear problems you may encounter (I face it) is that when recording a VHS tape from start to finish, you will most likely pass through either a curled tape segment (tape scratched or folded) - especially if the tapes are old and / or misused - or recording start sections when the frame sync is a mess.

To explain the second problem, when you press REC and the recording head is over a recorded section on the tape, the recording will most likely not start properly and you will get a few scrolling frames until the new recording "stabilizes" and continues ok.

This effect is most likely to happen with LP or EP recording mode.

Two DVDRecorders and a PVR device I've tried fail to record such sections of the tape.

So, my suggestion is to try before you buy. If at all possible, use one of the tapes you have and try to record the end of a recorded section to the beginning of the following section transition. This is the most tricky part.

Another tricky part can be totaly blank tape between recorded sections. My Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe will stop recording once it reaches a non-recorded section in the tape. It considers the recording to have finished.

[houtx67]

As always YMMV, so I would recommend trying it somewhere before buying first.

I have a Panasonic E-100HS, so I my personal preference would be to get a recorder with a hardrive (E80 perhaps ~$530). Since I find that the SLP (6 hr) mode is too blocky for my taste, I wouldn't recommend recording on anything lower than LP (4 hour mode). I actually feel I get better recordings on 6 (or 8) hr mode from my Toshiba 6 head VCR than in 6 hr mode on the Panasonic.

If you record it to a harddrive recorder first, you can edit it before dubbing it later. If you choose not to edit it, you can still set it to record and come back 6-8 hrs later and then "divide" the recording where appropriate to put onto however many discs you choose (LP, SP, 3 hrs on FR etc). Personally I'd go with LP mode in high speed dub mode because it will only take you ~51 minutes to transfer 4 hrs to a disc from the harddrive vs redubbing. I've bben told that you can fit ~6 tv episodes (1 hours before commercials) after editing the commercials out onto 1 LP DVD-R, too. I usually work with SP (2 HR) mode and I can usually get (3) of the above on 1 DVD-R.

[Kevin abq]

Gooch,

I wouldn't try squeezing that much onto one DVD. You're starting with a handicap since the VHS tapes were recorded at slow speed, and putting 6 or 8 hours on a DVD will further degrade the quality. You'll get lots and lots of macro blocks - especially with a sports program like soccer.

I am about 1500 movies into my archiving project - to transfer our VHS movies onto DVD-R. Most were recorded on EP(SLP) VHS and I learned three things the hard way:

1) Get a Time Base Corrector (TBC) anytime you're transferring VHS. It goes between your VCR and the capture device/standalone. Otherwise your lip sync will be so bad, it'll look like a bad Japanese movie.

2) Bitrate, bitrate, bitrate. You can't have too much. Go as high as you can and avoid trying to get more than about 2:20 on one DVD. If you've got a long movie, put it on two DVDs. It's much less of a hassle than trying to see actions scenes through macro blocks. (The WORST movie capture I ever tried for macro blocks was "Event Horizon". Lots of flashing lights, which blows the encoder's mind if the bitrate isn't screaming along).

3) Tape it in as good a quality as you can - preferably SP. It's well worth it and makes a HUGE difference in the finished product. Many of my EP-taped captures are watchable, but they're not the best quality.

Good luck. I started out 2 years ago and at the time standalones were ghey and buggy, not to mention overpriced. Now I own a component capture setup as well as a Panny DMR-E50 standalone. I wish I had had the Panasonic back in '02!! I could have bought three of them for the money I spent on my other setup.

Check out this board:
http://www.dazzlegeek.com/index.php

I've been a member there for a while and there is a wealth of general-purpose information and freebie stuff, even though it's geared primarily for users of the Dazzle DVCII. I don't own a DVCII but I have learned a lot there about MPEG and DVD.

Good luck to you! Sounds like you're asking the right questions.