S-VHS tapes final format for archival

[Tek03]

Hi everybody,
I've been capturing a bunch of VHS and S-VHS (PAL) tapes off of a TerraTec Cinergy 400 and now I need to find a suitable format to archive them. I've done a lot of research, online and on this forum, but still can't find a suitable answer, so I'm asking you.


I've recoded them in YUY2 lossless mode, but I have no space to keep them all this way, since they take about 75GB/h...
[Attachment 64315 - Click to enlarge]

I'm going to make a DVD off of NERO for each of those, but I still wanted to keep an interlaced ProRes-like version, in order to keep as much detail as possible.

I tried ProRes itself (via Adobe Media Encoder), but it seems to me it can't keep YUY2 color space and does not keep a true interlacing.
[Attachment 64316 - Click to enlarge]
I've read that one of the few lossy format which do retain interlacing is MPEG2, but I have no idea on how to possibly set it. By the Way I was thinking about something like ALL-I (but may need IPB for some clips), TFF, 4:2:2, DVCAM-like bitrate. And no, DVCAM is not an option for me.
What do you suggest me? Thanks in advance


A raw yuv sample is attached (just one second because it would be sooo large)

[dellsam34]

Try lossless h.264 4:2:2.

[lollo]

I've recoded them in YUY2 lossless mode

You should have used a lossless codec, such as HuffYUV (<< 75GB/h).

In general the master should be archived is such form. However a h264 compression with crf=17 or lower is good enough

[jagabo]

Prores "Interleaved fields" is interlaced.

[Tek03]

Prores "Interleaved fields" is interlaced.

Try lossless h.264 4:2:2.

So you're telling me that even interleaved fields is real interlacing? Even H.264 MBAFF? That would be great!
Because from what I've read MPEG2 is the most modern codec still properly supporting interlacing.
And what about long-gop? I wanted to use in some non-important tapes. Does it interfere with interlacing?

[QUOTE=lollo;2654128]

I've recoded them in YUY2 lossless mode

I can't capture any HuffYuv here. I could only convert it afterwards, if I can avoid to convert it to RGB24, like VirtualDub wants me to...

[Attachment 64337 - Click to enlarge]

[jagabo]

So you're telling me that even interleaved fields is real interlacing? Even H.264 MBAFF? That would be great!

Yes. Those are a matter of how the interlaced frames are handled internally by the codec. What goes in is interlaced frames, what comes out is interlaced frames.

Because from what I've read MPEG2 is the most modern codec still properly supporting interlacing.

Not true. What may be true is that some players may not handle handle interlaced video with other codecs properly as they are less common than DVD/broadcast interlaced MPEG2.

And what about long-gop? I wanted to use in some non-important tapes. Does it interfere with interlacing?

GOP size is independent of interlacing. Long GOPs can be harder to decode, especially with random seeking. For example, if you seek to the last frame of a 200 frame GOP the player may have to go back to the previous I frame and decode all 200 frames to display that frame. Depending on the speed of the decoder that could take several seconds.

[ConsumerDV]

With some Long-GOP encodes found, um, elsewhere I can see the quality jumps at every GOP start, very annoying. Maybe this is less of an issue with proper bi-directional prediction. OTOH, I don't care much for intra-only either. I think that camcorder designers came with decent-sized GOPs that look OK and are easy to scrub and cut.

Regarding available codecs, I see Lagarith in the screenshot. Here is a 12-year old discussion, which I think is still relevant.

[jagabo]

With some Long-GOP encodes found, um, elsewhere I can see the quality jumps at every GOP start

Yes, but that's a matter of poor encoding, not just the long GOPs. It can happen with both interlaced and progressive videos. Some encoders are better than others at preventing that kind of keyframe pumping.

[Brad]

I can't capture any HuffYuv here.[...]

[Attachment 64337 - Click to enlarge]

You've got Lagarith, x264vfw, etc. installed so your capture program certainly has no problem using external codecs. Just install Ut Video Codec or MagicYUV; they're better than Huffyuv these days anyway.

[Tek03]

Thanks everybody!
I guess then I would be going to keep some masters in ut/magicyuv, and the least important tapes in H264 high422@L4 at around 25-30 Mb/s.
Something like this for instance

[Attachment 64340 - Click to enlarge]

Of course I'm not caring at all about compatibilty across all devices, since of all the recordings I'm going to have a vp9 deinterlaced low-bitrate copy (and perhaps upscaled).