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VHS Video Tape Conversion to Digital Media needed


ACLakeside

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Does anyone know anyone at Lakeside that has the equipment and talent to convert a 35 year old VHS video tape to a DVD format or even better...  MPEG format??   Just found a long lost, 70 minute wedding video tape.   Will make my wife very happy... I hope😀     Thanks in advance. 

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If it helps, even the pros all use the same method: Essentially all the methods out there play/project the image on a screen, TV or even a wall. Then they place a digital recording device in front of the image being played...slides, old 8/16 mm home movies, VHS tapes....basically whatever!

Simply find a VHS player (easy) a nice TV with good quality screen and then simply set up a digital recording device, camcorder, cell phone etc on a tripod or propped up on a box...whatever you have, and press record.

After you have it recorded on a digital device, you covert it to a DVD or any of the formats of digital files...MP4 etc...this last step frequently requires a teenager or younger.

I have never checked YOUTUBE but the smart money says there are dozens of instructional videos.

Easy...it has always been a super low tech industry.

If folks only knew how easy it is considering most people already have what is needed.

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31 minutes ago, ComputerGuy said:

What?? Are you sure you're not talking about kinescope? That technique went out many decades ago. There is lots of software available to convert video tapes to DVDs and various digital formats. eg: https://10techy.com/best-vhs-to-dvd-converters/

These look like great options...pretty inexpensive too!

VHS only though...slides, 8 and 16 millimeter home movies and old photos will need the old fashion way. But since you have a VHS tape these look great!

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23 minutes ago, Ferret said:

🤣 I have only TWO short VHS tapes to convert and they were converted from reel to reel. So, I ask again... Doesn't LCS still do this?

 

Isn't reel to reel audio only? Did you record just sound onto a VHS tape? Wouldn't any sound recording device work? Probably the best folks to ask about LCS is maybe LCS. Here's their number:

(376) 766-1140

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No reel to reel is not audio only. These were both converted about 25 years ago with one of them being video only from 30+ years before that. Thanks for the number though.

And, fyi, old photos can be scanned into your computer and "fixed" if there's over exposure or damage. I would suggest a scanner that is capable of scanning more than one at a time but putting each photo into it's own file otherwise it is VERY time consuming. I did family albums for all the kids about three years ago with very old photos going back 70 years. The most difficult part was labelling to get the photos in date order. I ended up using the alphabet and then numbers (only up to 10) and the alphabet. Then put each album on a flash drive for each family member.

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There are places online that do helical scan (open reel) video tape of different widths, because the equipment is far too expensive for a hobbyist. For video cameras (different formats: 8mm, Beta, VHS-C, etc), if you can still play back on the video camera, you can hook it up to a computer with either hardware or software modifications. Typically what the business refers to as "reel to reel" is audio, either 1/4" or 1/2" tape. There are also 1/2" video cassettes from the old days, that were professional transfer quality.

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I'm obviously using the incorrect terminology. The one that I had converted to VHS was from around 1945. It is black and white (no sound) and shows hubby, his brother and cousins riding horseback at their grandfather's farm. 8 mm ? that required the old fashioned projector and went from one reel to another.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_movies

 

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I remember the 1 inch Ampex video spools, and 1 inch tape commercial carts from back in the seventies when I worked every summer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. One summer they lent me to the United Nations to help ship these big boxes of 1 inch tape from reporters to all over the world! All these things were quirky, as they still are today. Records became scratched, audio tape dried and crumbled, needing splicing, likewise projector film. Now I am finding cds and dvds become pitted from just air. I guess solid state drives, with no moving parts is the way to go. Flash drives are good but they are not recommended for long term storage, this according to their manufacturers

I have used the technique described by DR to convert super 8 to Sony digital8 tape. I used a lot of splicing tape, but luckily I am (was) good at this.

It is really tragic to learn how much of these audio and cinematic gems have been lost forever. The studios see no profits in this, and do not archive properly, or maybe not at all.

Back to your original question, again I would try the fellow in front of superlake. He must have a pretty up to date studio given the amounts of bootlegs he produces every month. He did a good job for me converting a VHS to DVD. The tape was "Tina in Mexico", an excellent documentary about Tina Mondotti's Bohemiam life in 1920's Mexico, as a skilled photographer and ex-silent film star. I would have bought the DVD but they would only sell it with a public broadcast license $180 U.S.

So what is now considered to be the best method of long term, archival, storage? Let's say 100 years?

It looks like a lot of people much smarter, and much richer than myself are trying figure out the same thing:

https://blog.longnow.org/02008/03/29/worlds-largest-audio-visual-archive/

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I also remember when I did the super 8 conversions they had no sound. They were mostly travel videos. Mx Chillin was merciless, she said why are all these videos of playing with dogs? Then she walked in on a segment with my Father going up the steps of the Vatican in Rome, wearing a snappy cardigan, smoking his "moderne" style pipe, and carrying his attache case which looked like something from James Bond. Mx Chililin pipes up laughing, and then saying "Whoop dee doo dee doo, off for a secret meeting with the Pope". We both forgot that the Sony was also digitising audio. Oh well, this is what happens in families. I love that movie the Royal Tanebaums.

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David, To answer your question...Tom, who used to run the Video at the LCS and did the copies, no longer works there. The copying equipment is still on hand and could be used. You can either call Tom Keane or the LCS to see if someone will do it for you. As I no longer work there, I cannot be more explicit.

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