The Most Stubborn Tape so Far

[DB83]

I only looked at the original transfer but, in my eyes, there are already red alerts there.

Maybe I am wrong. But let's assume for just one moment that your client only had the VHS and not the original media. Not unknown for a wedding etc. party to engage a videographer to record an 'important' event. And given that the original client could not even view that footage on the original recording media some 'destructive' copy could have taken place.


Now if your client has the original media - and surely he/she is entitled to that - then that is the source that a later transfer should be worked from. And not some 2nd generation copy which, even apart from the flagging, is so piss-poor.

[sophisticles]

Thank you everyone for the feedback, what inspired my question was this project that i remember from a while ago and thinking a similar approach could be used with better equipment:

https://hackaday.com/2022/12/13/vhs-decode-project-could-help-archival-efforts/

VHS-Decode is designed to capture the raw RF signals straight out of a tape head, which are the most direct representation of the signals on the physical media.

[Cornucopia]

Here's why not:
Optical scanning works when the image is still during the exposure/capture period. Like what you linked (although your link doesn't seem to be working). If it were in motion, the image would be a smeared blur.
Magnetic pickup (conversion from magnetic to electric) ONLY works when the magnetic field runs past a playback head, aka when it is in motion. In fact, much of the field collapses when there is no motion/change in the field.

VHS uses magnetic tape, not optical film. And the VHS signal is a continuous stream (including V & H blanking), while film is discreet, separate images in sequence.


Scott

[lollo]

Yet you haven't contributed a single bit to this thread which is not about capturing or bragging about it, it's about needing a software solution to mitigate a problem which you claim you are an expert in, Instead insisting on scanning a magnetic tape with an optical film projector which should be the joke of the week.

Just ignore him.

He's a complete idiot, proposing Kodak services as ultimate solutions (confused by the brand), which is a joke, and the optical stuff, which is the joke of the century, not of the week. He has little knowing on video in general, but in VHS capture he excels in ignorance, while criticizing we all and our workflows.

Back to your problem, give to vhs-deshaker a try https://github.com/rsnitsch/vhs-deshaker?tab=readme-ov-file#install; it's designed to fix horizontal jitter, but maybe it can help somehow

[Baldrick]

Closed for review. But I'm busy so it will take some time.

edit: sophisticles: Please avoid this thread.

[lordsmurf]

Kodak services

There is no "Kodak services". This is simply LegacyBox, out of Chattanooga TN.

[lollo]

We all know, and wrote so (many posts have been deleted by the moderator, so the whole meaning is lost)