Archiving video from PC to VHS using Firewire.

[Bob Zelin]

what is VHS ?
where do you get VHS tapes from in 2020 ? And D-VHS ? Really ? That is your archive format ?
Bob

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Sebastian Fudali]

I’ll ignore the first question.
No to the second one, I have just scored boxes of NOS BASF tapes when they were acidentlly found in the warehouse of my local blank media supplier.
Yes, I have a D-VHS deck, really, it was painfully difficult to find, but I managed to get one.
Yes, I want to copy mi miniDV and D8 live concert recordings I have transffered to PC years ago to the VHS tape, simply because I want to. Just like people record cassette tapes, because they want to.
Now, do you know of a workflow that can utilize DV-AVI and output it over Firewire to D-VHS deck, or should I invest a couple of quid in a Blackmagic Hyperdeck and Teranex?

[Bob Zelin]

you answered your own question.
You transfer to a digital format and archive on a digital format. If someone PAID ME to transfer to an outdated videotape format, I would not do it. I won’t be alive that much longer, but it doesn’t matter – its a complete waste of time. I don’t care if you transfer to SATA drives, or SSD’s or a cloud site, or if you transfer to a single 1TB drive and then take forever to find multiple cloud services to archive your data (or pay for it with a real cloud service) – doing a transfer to D-VHS in 2020 is just insane.

I have no idea of exactly what DV deck you have. Nothing has Firewire 400 these days. You take the composite or component outputs and go into “something” – assorted Blackmagic converters will be cheap enough (you need to probably frame sync it with a Teranex before it will get recorded onto something, like a capture card or Hyperdeck. Once its in this format, feel free to upload it to Amazon, Google Drive, Backblaze, or buy your own LTO solution. But certainly dont’ use D-VHS. Exactly what are you going to do when that D-VHS machine dies ? How will you retrieve your media ? Rely on eBay ?

And since I am torturing you – let’s take this to the end. So you now transfer to SATA, or SSD, or whatever. 10 Years from now, this format will be obsolete, and you won’t be able to play it back (no different than DLT, AIT, DAT, iomega ZIP, Floppy Disk, etc.). So it is YOUR responsibility for the REST OF YOUR LIFE, and the rest of the next person that takes your place’s life – to migrate this data to the “next format”. OR you pay a cloud service, who will bill you on a regular basis, and do this “behind the curtain”. But yes – you will PAY AND PAY for the rest of your life. You don’t get to make your D-VHS tapes, and they will be seen 30 years from now on D-VHS. That is not going to happen. It hasn’t happened for ANY tape format, and it CERTAINLY is not going to happen for D-VHS.

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Sebastian Fudali]

You seem to missed my point. I have D-VHS deck, I want to record a VHS tape in it with my video, for the heck of it. Not a D-VHS tape, not a VHS tape in D-VHS mode. VHS in VHS mode, so that it can be played in any VHS deck. Which I have written at the beginning. The only detail that it matters that it’s a D-VHS VCR is that it has a FireWire input.

Of course nothing has FireWire 400, this is why I had to aquire a Thunderbolt to FireWire 900 adaptor and then a Firewire 900 to FireWire 400 so that I can still earn by transfering DV and miniDV tapes to files.

The DV deck I have is DSR-2000AP, but it is irrelevant, because the DV-AVI files on on the PC and some of them were even recorded in Digital8 tapes.

It has nothing to with long term back-up storage.

And there obviously are companies that offer transfering video files to various types of tapes, including VHS, but why should use their services, if I have a VCR?

If there is no simple software solution, I have already tried copying DV-AVI back to DV tapes, Scenalyzer seems not to work properly in that regard, even though it should, I will give my PS3 a try, it has analog output.

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi folks,

yes you can. A VHS recorder has no FW400 in-output. So you need a converter from FW400 input onto an anloge composite output into the VHS recorder. Best thing is to buy used euipment via ebay.
I still have all the equipment here, but this is Germany. The box I have is a data video yuv to DV DAC-2 converter. I think that blackmagic and Aja have similar boxes.

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Sebastian Fudali]

My VCR has FireWire input.
As for external boxes, i planned to get a Hyperdeck andTeramex mini from Blackmagic, however it turned out I need to record stuff soon and not when I have the cash for more equipment.

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi Sebastian,

you definitely need a breakout card or box.

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Bob Zelin]

Come on Rainer –
Sebastian is in Poland. You can get your old unused DataVideo over to him somehow, right ?
It’s not like you will ever use it ever again.
Bob

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Rainer Wirth]

Hi folks,

you are right,

cheers

Rainer

factstory
Rainer Wirth
phone_0049-177-2156086
Mac pro 8core
Adobe,FCP,Avid
several raid systems

[Jack Jack]

I am also curious about this.

It’s ok Sebastian, some people will call themselves video professionals, yet they will only preach the knowledge they have, and deny the rest even exists.

*shrug* All I know is I know nothing.

In hopes to progress the subject a bit further, I am glad to discover you have similar objectives as me in the world of video aesthetics. I Have come across a few DVHS machines with FireWire input, wondering if they would allow recording to analogue VHS using the digital FW signal. Maybe there is a conversion internally and live video from the PC screen, or a DV cam, or 1080p VGA to FW capture box like a Canopus, can be captured to the VHS.

I have been working with odd converters for years, and I’m sick of only getting Composite and S-video quality on Master recordings… or emulating the VHS effect on PC… All I want is a superbly clean image onto my VHS tape to get a true VHS quality. I have a Panasonic BD-VHS combo unit that presents VHS in 1080p in 444 12-bit color via HDMI and it is brilliant for preservation, but sadly it doesn’t record. A unit that could record HDMI to VHS would be nice, but that’s impossible… non-existent.

Research has led me to currently have my sights set on VHS Duplicator machines, which have SDI inputs. Outputting the SDI signal from my PC via converters seems to be the next move, but FireWire is still something I am very much interested in. I feel it might be a contender in quality versus a raw SDI signal, although I’ve seen some sharp shit out of SDI in some VHS samples.

Like I said earlier, I know nothing, so I’m not sure any of this works. Regardless, I wish you good luck on your research findings Mr. Fudali, I eagerly await to see results of your work.

P.S. I’ve attached some pictures for educational purposes. Hopefully it grows interest.