Archiving VHS to DV the easy(ish) way
7:45AM, March 18, 2007 - [ Permalink]
The DV revolution need not cost you all that old footage that you shot on VHS (or S-VHS, Hi8 etc). Over the years, I have accumulated many hours of footage in these old formats and wanted to be able to use them now.
Previously, I would have to either record this footage to a DV tape, then capture it into the computer, or capture it directly into the computer.
If you have access to a FireStore, you can use it to capture VHS footage *without* typing up your computer(s). If you don't own one, you can rent one (or pick one up on eBay) or a reasonable price.
I connected my JVC SVHS VCR (HR-S5911U, if you must know), to my Canon GL2 (as a DV bridge), and connected my Firestore FS-4 to it (via Firewire).
By using the retro-cache mode (a rolling six second cache) on the FS-4, I can just start recording when I see footage I would like keep, without potentially having to stop and go back because I missed the first couple of seconds.
When finished capturing the moments I wanted to keep, I copied the footage into my PowerMac for finer editing and then to render it into H.264 for long term storage, rather than trying to store the DV source files.
You don't have to copy it locally - I just do that because I regularly use my Firestore for production work (shooting events etc), so I try to keep it clear.
However, after having looked at the recorded footage, what appears to be okay on the monitor, doesn't always have enough signal to record nicely, resulting in some messed up footage. I would imagine that if I had a TBC (Time Base Corrector) to toss inline, that would potentially solve the problem.
Not everyone has a Firestore, I know, but I think you might be able to use a PVR (usually recording a MPEG variant) to accomplish the same thing - if you can connect your PVR to your computer - some can be, others not.
Either way I can get rid of those old tapes that were taking up space and hopefully not fill it with more stuff.
Some of the footage I've captured is over 15 years old - shot at the National Capital Air Show here in Ottawa, back in 1992 - in surprisingly fair condition. Also recovered: a Victoria Day Parade from the early 1990s, a 1995 family Christmas, a few time lapse sunsets, some footage from a camping trip in 1992, a former roommate's dog playing with an elastic.. The better stuff will end up online, have no fear or buckets-o-fear, depending. ;-)
