FirstLoveMovies

I can not think of any videotape in the entire world that is worth a few hundred dollars to me!

Night457 wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 12:14 am I can not think of any videotape in the entire world that is worth a few hundred dollars to me!

Nope. That's why you find a cracked version of the software.

Conversion services if you need them can charge anywhere from 6 or 7 dollars up to 30 for a single tape. The more expensive price usually comes with a digital download so you don't have to wait for a USB drive or a disc to arrive in the mail. They can either return the tape (if you want it) or dispose of it after conversion. My dad recently had his remaining VHS family home movies digitized and got a bulk price. No way could he ever have figured out how to do it himself!

I will never again use cracked software, it turned out to be too risky. Why would a digital download cost more than a USB drive? That's ridiculous. There is the cost of the physical drive! I used to be able to get DVD-Rs for 25 cents, but I don't recall a USB stick less than about $9. Digital files cost ... nothing. There is only the cost of the conversion.

deadman wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:08 pm
If I remember correctly, they came up with an improved technique for digitizing VHS that gives results closer to DVD than traditional VHS rip (although still short of disc quality). Don't remember the specifics though. I have no tapes left, and no working VCR, so I paid only minimal attention.

I mentioned it before but there is this project: https://github.com/oyvindln/vhs-decode based on the same project for laserdiscs.

Most regular people I know use those rare dvd/hdd-vhs combi devices that allow to copy the vhs to a Dvd or internal HDD.

Or if I remember correctly one of the better options is also to use a camcorder and transfer the footage first to the camcorder and then from there to the computer (FireWire etc)


Camcorder+adapter method:


Dvd/vhs Comic device method:

goku33 wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 6:49 am Most regular people I know use those rare dvd/hdd-vhs combi devices that allow to copy the vhs to a Dvd or internal HDD.

Does that work? I thought those devices were designed to not duplicate copy protected tapes. Although, I do think there are some particularly rare models that may have been before Macrovision and such.

Night457 wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 12:14 am I can not think of any videotape in the entire world that is worth a few hundred dollars to me!

It's definitely a money-pit. Most of my attempts have either failed because the tape was damaged or someone uploaded a better version within a year of my rip. After buying some equipment, I managed to break my digital converter and had to replace it ($$$). Although the VCR keeps truckin' along. I guess they built devices better back then.

Here is what I was able to rip with my equipment
https://the.nextthing.club/showthread.php?tid=40717

DreamScape wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 7:04 am Does that work? I thought those devices were designed to not duplicate copy protected tapes. Although, I do think there are some particularly rare models that may have been before Macrovision and such.

My bad, I didn’t think of the commercial/protected tapes.

Technology connections also did cover macrovision/protection as well:



Fantastic video by TechnologyConnections (great YouTube channel, I highly recommend his two videos about dishwashers/detergent):



[Image]

DreamScape wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 7:04 amHere is what I was able to rip with my equipment
https://the.nextthing.club/showthread.php?tid=40717

You can't view that page without an account, and registrations are closed.

goku33 wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 7:15 am Fantastic video by TechnologyConnections

Hmmm, S-Video, I know I have those cables but I do not remember if either of my VCRs has the output. I know some of my DVD players did.

DreamScape wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 7:04 amI managed to break my digital converter and had to replace it ($$$). Although the VCR keeps truckin' along. I guess they built devices better back then.

Yes they did! I am constantly griping about that. VCRs still work. So many 21st century appliances are dead in 5 years.

I never objected to picking up OTHER people's VHS rips, but I pretended they did not make a major life investment in order to create them. VHS rips used to be a common thing at the beginning of this century. When I was younger I might have had such an attachment to some film and so little regard for money that I would spend alot to preserve it. Now I am blasé and just watch something else.

Here is what I was able to rip with my equipment

Ahhh, the late 1990s Dark Ages. If studios did not immediately rerelease the movies on DVD, they got lost for all time!

deadman wrote: Wed May 01, 2024 8:03 am You can't view that page without an account, and registrations are closed.

"You snooze, you lose."
I don't think DreamScape will mind that I share the relevant information:

Spoiler: Bayou Ghost (1997) 1.40Gb NTSC VHSrip These seem to be the only links still alive: [Code] [Code] I noticed that the two 7z parts did NOT have quite matching extensions when downloaded in JD2, so I renamed one of them before I even attempted an extraction. Maybe I should have tried it as-is first and it would have worked without taking that precaution. It DID work after my change though. VQ2KtSbb_o.jpg

goku33 wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2024 10:31 pm

Night457 wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2024 5:12 pm A commercial VHS is still an improvement from an over-the-air recorded VHS. Are the pictures of something you HAVE? If so, do you have the equipment and know-how to record it?

I confess that while I had decades of use from videotapes, I never digitized them. In later years when I had tapes that never got commercial upgrades, I kept looking online until I found someone else's rip!

The VHS was listed on Amazon but isn’t being sold anymore it seems. Digitizing wouldn’t be an issue for me and I even know numerous people that could do it with the best equipment possible.

The best quality would be:
1. SVHS VCR with a S-video cable (better build, better heads)
2. A hardware based video capture card. Back in the 90s the one everyone recomeneded was the $250 Matrox Mystique with hardware MJPEG capture (saves each image as a string of compressed jpegs) - but on the highest JPEG quality the loss would be low. It was not mpeg1/2, but a stream of jpg's in a video container. Of course do NOT capture at 320x240 - but pick 720x576/480.
3. Ghost like video editing skills to pull as much out of the video as possible. And do proper deinterlacing.

goku33 wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 10:40 am Ghosts‘ version: https://file.al/zfm0osbwn34g/Lenfant-de ... 4.rar.html

Has anyone managed to use this link ? I can't do it, it stops and it blocks...