Junk Into Digital Gold: Photo and Video

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ravewulf

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For video capture I just use the S-Video and Component ports on my TV card (which has hardware off-loaded MPEG-2 encoding). After editing and everything I have taken to encoding to h.264 video and aac audio in the mp4 container. You can get the same (or better) quality as MPEG-2 in a significantly smaller file size. The major trade off is that it take a lot more time to encode.

As for scanning photos and other stuff, my scanner isn't very good and actually does better if I increase the scan resolution then downsize the scanned image to get rid of some of the noise (and of course further editing in Photoshop).
 

williamvw

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[citation][nom]ravewulf[/nom]For video capture I just use the S-Video and Component ports on my TV card (which has hardware off-loaded MPEG-2 encoding). After editing and everything I have taken to encoding to h.264 video and aac audio in the mp4 container. You can get the same (or better) quality as MPEG-2 in a significantly smaller file size. The major trade off is that it take a lot more time to encode.[/citation]
Excellent point about H.264/MP4, ravewulf. It's definitely a more space-efficient archival format, and if you have a decent transcoding engine, you shouldn't take much (if any) of a visible hit in image quality. Of course, most of the editing titles that come with these capture products don't yet support HD-oriented codecs because most of the source material is SD. But if you're willing to bring another app into the loop, it's a great idea.
 

killmenow

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In regards to audio, I believe the only way to preserve CD's is the uif format - (iso doesn’t support music cd's).

I once tested a recreated disc using mp3, flac, and uif and only uif gave me a perfect result, even though flac is lossless, there still is loss in the transition of formats.

So all my cd’s get backup in uif, then from there I can create mp3 for the car, or perfect copies for the HiFi.
I believe Nero has a nrg format that may work just as well.
 
G

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How good/bad is the Canopus capturing device (like anopus ADVC 110) in comparision with others?

Also what is best way out to convert S-VHS tapes to Digital format? Links to info. about these would be appreciated.
 

husky91

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I didn't see any solutions to the audio and video being out of synch. I had this problem too. Every time I paused my Hi8 cam, then start recording later, I would get a split second of static. Each time this happens, I would get the audio and video out of synch only in the captured video. I struggled with stopping and restarting over and over again until I found that I could record analog video on my digital camcorder and not get any out of synch audio. I then could capture the digital video from my digital cam which never had any problems with audio and video being out of synch. In fact, I might have been able to just pass the video through the digital camcorder and gotten the same results. I never tried that.
 

husky91

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I didn't see any solutions to the audio and video being out of synch. I had this problem too. Every time I paused my Hi8 cam, then start recording later, I would get a split second of static. Each time this happens, I would get the audio and video out of synch only in the captured video. I struggled with stopping and restarting over and over again until I found that I could record analog video on my digital camcorder and not get any out of synch audio. I then could capture the digital video from my digital cam which never had any problems with audio and video being out of synch. In fact, I might have been able to just pass the video through the digital camcorder and gotten the same results. I never tried that.
 

wild9

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I have a huge array of VHS tapes lying around, from the 80's to the present, resulting in 100's of tapes.

The convenience of accessing digital media is appealing. However, over the years I've grown a dislike for digital formats especially camcorder - dark, bland and uninspiring; conversely the recordings of my Mediterranean trips on old Hi-8 tapes seemed to portray much more color vibrancy, and light levels despite the lack of resolution. I still preferred it to high-quality digital recorders that could handle Mpeg 4 formats.

Alas, there's only so much time you can allocate to fast-forwarding/rewinding tapes, and naturally they deteriorate over time and the machines themselves break down. Plus, younger family members are only used to distributing stuff in a digital format..show them a Super-VHS recorder and they look at you as though you've arrived from the past in Delorian, complete with flux capacitor lol.

So digital is inevitably the way to go. Now comes the question of which route to take: PC or other. I've never had much faith in PC-based capture solutions due to quality, stability and compatibility issues. So Instead of spending £100's I just opted for a domestic DVD video recorder. The device was made by Lite-On and cost around £100, supporting single-layer DVD+R media. The highest-quality was HQ giving 1HR of footage. I was very impressed with the quality - Mpeg 2 is good enough for my uses.

Such machines seem to have excellent video filtering hardware, and some can be updated to overcome Macrovision difficulties as well as offer the ability to play Region 1 disks. With these devices you effectively do away with the capturing hurdles associated with PC solutions - and naturally you get to archive your source material before you do any post-processing.

So given a choice between an expensive DVD video recorder and a half-decent PC card, I'd choose the former any day. I don't think digital is all it's cracked upto be in terms of quality, not just yet but you can't live in the past forever I guess..

p.s. Going down the local video storeS in the 80's to rent out all the VHS horror films before they were banned and before the days of politically-correct mush..happy days :)
 

techguy911

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I use my archos for this i plug it into the base hook up camcorder to base press play on camcorder and record on archos then take file transfer to pc and convert the video to dvd and burn.

It's amazing what new archos can do compared to ipod/itouch or zune/hd it has more uses and has MUCH better video playback.
 

Shnur

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I've been looking into converting my 100+ VHS' into Digital and stack them in one or two external drives (space wise most importantly...) but every single guide always mentioned that it takes about 8 hours/VHS... is there anybody that can confirm this to me? I'd really like to go and save some of the stuff that's non-existant anymore in digital versions but I'd be happy to know how much months it's going to take me before I start the process...
 

ravewulf

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[citation][nom]mactsk[/nom]you speak of mpg2 and avi.. but avi is a container not a codec!!![/citation]
He probably means DV-AVI, but most consumer video progams label it simply as avi as most consumers don't know the difference and don't want to be confused with tech specs.
 
G

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Several years ago I used the Canopus ADVC 110 and Nero 7 to copy 80 hours of VHS tapes of my kids from the late 1980s and early 1990s, and although the details of the experience have faded, it's definitely a labor of love. I chose the Canopus because of its great reviews with respect to keeping the video and audio in synch, which it did exceptionally well. The last thing you want on your transfers is for them to sound like a badly dubbed Asian martial arts film for the last half hour of the two-hour tape.
 

williamvw

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[citation][nom]Shnur[/nom]I've been looking into converting my 100+ VHS' into Digital and stack them in one or two external drives (space wise most importantly...) but every single guide always mentioned that it takes about 8 hours/VHS... is there anybody that can confirm this to me? I'd really like to go and save some of the stuff that's non-existant anymore in digital versions but I'd be happy to know how much months it's going to take me before I start the process...[/citation]
Eight hours per VHS tape? Not sure where that number might come from. The process is simply 1:1. The recorder simply records whatever analog signal is coming in. If your VHS is recorded in a 2- or 4-hour format, it'll take 2 or 4 hours to record it. I can't recall ever seeing an 8-hour VHS tape. Now, if you want to include time for trimming, editing, filtering, and so on, then yeah, eight hours per tape might be closer to the truth. But if you don't start, it'll never get done. ;-)
 

PunchGrinder

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So what about .avi conversion. The main techno gain from digital is the storage into much smaller area. Thus when there are many digital cameras taking and putting onto small drives (SDHC for example)these 'archives'(forgive me but yes you have vhs's and 8mm..'). So this is now several years. And though I really like the statement of taking the lesser MPEG-2,over something of another resolution,this equipment is not available to someone whom would be the receiver of your vids ..say to play on their compartmentalized DVD player. MPEG-2 cameras are not all that available;the pc is still always there and the dvd player w/o the mail man. So there is a lot of Rendering to do with File based formats. These Formats have been a closed shop for making DVDs to play on popular systems. Or have not been exactly exposed,as a different storage and technique that is more advanced than doing the 'Capture thing.
At least if the Formats were exposed,then moving from dinosours into horse and buggy would actually proove productive. Perhaps another story about Formats,what they mean,and what Device manufacturers should do about them. For example provide advice for which Software vendors they would recomend for their own products.
You couldn't blame anybody for making a statement with their own communicative accomplishments. Its just that there are some,that are well past being more than personal. They actually mean something to someone.
Still,'Capture'is different from 'File To Storage'. DVD is the best there is actually. Since publishing to the Internet isn't a 'format'. And 'Standard Definition'while looking good for a given format cant stand around for very much longer.
 

PunchGrinder

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Incidently you need something that matches a Q6600,to be somewhat equavalized within the time necesary. That is only at that present platform is 'rendering'(file to file) a match with what anolog capture would do with a TV set. Then of course USB 2 is not everything it is cracked up to be. And it is a good idea not to run background apps on a traffic loaded bus that is doing your video tasks- as far as the motherboard you are using.
..sorry about posting twice. The question becomes 'how much time have you got ? Most users have this question mastered. But manufacturers need to give some away. Certainly they know . By now.
 

RWRamo

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I have a drawer filled with personal historic treasure from the 50's through 70's in 8mm and super 8mm. I am afraid to load them up in an envelope with a check and hope to someday get them back with a disk filled with some innadequate level of video someone hired an ape to video tape in a dimly lit garage.

I have seen devices to scan negative strips. But, never a device to scan those old rolls of vacation movies we all have from childhood. With the nature of film, I have not even opened any of the reel cans in decades to minimise the exposure to atmospheric disintigration.

Surely there must be someone that sells a device to digitise those tens of millions of old home movies? Last time I considered it, super 8 projectors to try to capture with a video camera were becoming scarce.
 
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