[Hidden-tech] VHS Transfer options?

Wed Feb 9 19:04:24 UTC 2022

Thanks for the kind words Shel, and the ClearClick suggestion from Mik.I've done a lot of comparison research over the years, and given the mixed reviews I haven't bothered with the ClearClick and similar devices.The problem I run into is the wildly varying condition of the the signals I'm working with--some strong and stable, but many are not, and need all the help they can get, and, I don't what I'm dealing with until after the fact of successful capture or not. So my case is different in that regard. I will say though, that problems in playback/signal are becoming more the rule than the exception when it comes to consumer videotape playback, and even so with professional master tapes (specifically Ampex, 3M and a few others which have sticky shed syndrome, requiring heat treatment to stabilize the binder).
But the thing I forgot to ask Mike from his original post is why he didn't stick with the files ripped from the DVDs. Sure you don't want to download a 3-hour file, but you can cut and organize them like you did your eventual files from Everpresent. I suppose it was a quality issue of the DVD? The better units had (have?) hard drives in them so you can edit and compile content before burning to DVD. Panasonic might still make a unit like that. That workflow is actually probably the best DIY solution I can think of since you have a DVD hard copy (and even HDD in the unit for as long as that lasts), plus your derivative files from the DVD, which could be the native MPEG-2 and/or re-encode to MPEG-4, where you could apply some additional processing if desired. Handbrake can do a lot of that heavy lifting.

Steve Unkles, Production Manager
    Audio-Visual Archives
 Media Production and Preservation
     www.MakeHistory.tv

    On Wednesday, February 9, 2022, 01:06:28 PM EST, Shel Horowitz via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:  

 I am among the satisfied customers of Steve Unkles. I've also worked with Tom Adams, but since he is posting a referral to another company here, I guess he's not interested in doing your particular job.
On Wed, Feb 9, 2022 at 12:14 PM Michael Muller via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:

Funny. Back in the 80's I worked at a place that converted S-8mm film (and other film formats) to VHS tape. I saw the care they took most of the time and was on the production team when orders started to pile up. Now I'm converting my own VHS tapes to digital.

If you have a lot of tape, it might make sense to do it yourself, unless you feel the condition of the tape is too delicate to handle yourself (like the oxide is falling off the acetate). I had about 50 tapes to transfer, so I bought a ClearClick Video2Digital Converter 2.0 and borrowed an S-VHS semi-pro deck from my local public access TV station (they don't use them anymore -- was just in storage) and recorded the tapes onto thumb drives, which I then moved to my internal HD for editing and clipping. The quality of the video generated by the ClearClick is pretty good, all things considered, and it was easy to see what was going on because the unit has a small screen you can look at while it's working. I used the s-video port and the RCA L/R audio. Your mileage may vary.

   - https://www.ebay.com/itm/183897443817?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28   

Mik

 Mik Muller, president
Montague WebWorks
20 River Street, Greenfield, MA
413-320-5336
http://MontagueWebWorks.com
Powered by ROCKETFUSION On 2/8/2022 6:05 PM, Michael Lynch via Hidden-discuss wrote:

 I had a negative experience with EverPresent.

  They tried to bill me for products I never requested, and they tried to charge me a different amount than they quoted me. I had to dig up the email proving that they quoted me a different rate before they refunded the difference.

  They were also storing customer data insecurely, making it possible to access all of their customers' captured videos and photos. To their credit, they took it seriously when I reported it to them and escalated it to the owner, but it took them six months to fix the issue, and they never notified their customers.

  When I discovered the issue, I also requested that they delete all copies of my data, but they left my data online and exposed insecurely for several weeks until I asked them again to remove it.

  But back to the topic of digitizing VHS tapes, I spent a long time on a digitizing project, and I wrote a guide explaining how I did it:

  https://mtlynch.io/digitizing-1/ 
  Thanks,
  Michael Lynch 
  On Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 11:18 AM, Tom Adams ~ Reelife Productions & Folktography via Hidden-discuss wrote:

  I've had very good experiences with Boston based(?) Everpresent

    Regards,

  Tom Adams, Director/Owner

  Reelife Documentary Productions • Folktography by Tom
   Cool Media Production...Not Boring or Dumb.
  Educating, Entertaining & Enlightening since 1996
    (413) 575-9707
              • Williamsburg, MA

   On Fri, Feb 4, 2022 at 11:13 AM fsaronson--- via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:

I have a friend who has some particular needs in terms of transferring VHS to a digital format.  He’s transferred other tapes via commercial companies, but there are some sensitive issues with the current tapes that might require more specialized attention:

   - They don’t track properly in a VCR, so need someone with the tech to adjust for that   

   - They are quite dark, so need adjusting for that also, if possible.   

   - One tape may contain politically incorrect material (not blue, per se, but something that more modern sensibilities wouldn’t approve of.  But it’s a family tape, so they want to preserve them).   

He’d like a local and/or small concern who may be able to assist.  Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Frank Aronson

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