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Optimal workflow to archive (many) home VHS
Hi all,
I’d like to know what an optimal workflow might be to archive VHS video digitally. First, my tools:High quality VHS player
Canopus ADVC-100 for analogue to digitcal conversion
Vegas 7, and Adobe CS3 (including premier pro and after effects)
Many TB’s of HD space for archival or uncompressed video.I’ve been working with Vegas for years, but know little about the Adobe programs. I’d like to keep my workflow within Vegas as much as possible, but will go outside if certain best-of-breed plugins require it.
I’m currently converting the VHS tapes to DV. I’d like to have some opinions on whether i should be converting the footage to progressive or not. Also, i’m thinking about using the “neat video” plugin for cleanup. After that, should i convert to HD using a HQ conversion plugin like Instant HD? The end goal is a digital archive and some tangible media to show on the HDTV.
I really look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Thanks so much!
Kind Regards,
matt -
3 Replies
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If this is truly an “archive” I would not modify the video in any way. I would simply transfer it to digital format in it’s existing state. If these are old VHS tapes you might want to upgrade to a Canopus ADVC-300 because it has built-in time-based correction (TBC) and filters for cleaning up bad signals on the way in.
I would not use Neat Video or Instant HD on the archived footage. Here’s why: just 5 years ago, we didn’t have video cleaners like Neat Video. You may have used some 2D or 3D noise cleaners from VirtualDub and they may have done a pretty good job. 5 years later, Neat Video comes along and it can do a better job but you don’t have the original source anymore. You now have a modified / cleaned up source that doesn’t have the original noise to process. You have forever sealed the quality of that footage to the clean-up that was done 5 years ago. What about 5 years from now? There will be tools that are better than Neat Video. If you alter the “archive” now you will not be able to use new tools in the future to get a better result later.
If I were you, I would save the unaltered source as an archive and then if you want to clean it up with Neat Video or any other tool, you do that as a separate project that doesn’t alter the source. This gives you the option of going back 5 years from now and doing an even better job.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Hi JR,
Thanks for the input. I certainly don’t want to transfer these more than once (i have family videos from both sides of the family), so keeping an unedited original for later manipulation when technology improves makes great sense. Point well taken.For the tangible copy – the one that we’ll be watching for the next 5 years or so – can anyone comment on the workflow? I’m demo-ing Neat Video and really like the modest yet significant supression of noise. How about interlaced –> progressive? Should i give that a go since we’re now all in the world of progressive HDTV displays? And furthermore, has anyone had luck with upconverting VHS to HD? Is that just stupid? Should i let VHS be VHS, or for our current state in technology, should i be upconverting?
I’m not sure what TBC is, but i assume it has something to do with the audio/visual sync. The sync from the ADVC is very good… i might like to put my $$$ elsewhere is possible…
thanks! -
when you can get this gizmo to work it works good enough…It’s from pinnacle and is called the dazzle link below…
https://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4088245&CatId=1428
Give Me More Silicon!
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