Best way to compress VHS to use in a pro project

M

maltess2

Well-known member
Hello


I need to use some old VHS footage in a documentary , I would like to get the best quality out of this footage in order to do some color correction etc. I see the cheap converters around 50 dollar I see around are generally compressing to MPEG4. This documenatry is mainly shot with red and I am using FCP to edit. so, what would be the best codec or format I should get the VHS? I have seen a device that converts to H.264, cost 200 dollars, although I would not like to spend too much money in this VHS conversion.


I got a Mini DV camera with a minijack analog input, I though converting to MINI DV tape and then capture that from the camara with firewire in FCP. would be that enought or at least better than MPEG4 or H.264?


Thanks a lot
 
The firewire capture would be many orders of magnitude better then a MPEG4 or H.264 option. The real weak point is the VHS deck. Try to rent a pro deck that will play your tape in a consistent manner and have better control over your source tape.
 
The DV encoder in your camera is much better than cheap aftermarket encoders. There can be issues with tape stability with old VHS tapes.
A VHS deck with built in time base correcter or image stabilizer will produce the best results. I have done this with my JVC VHS deck and my GL2 with very good results via the S-video link to the camera.
 
Thanks, I will look for a proper deck then, the thing is that my camera only have a minijack input, it would be nice to have the super video. I have also heard about thunderbolt device, is this an specific product for capturing , or I have to look for a device with this technology?
 
I keep an old Panasonic AG-1970 around for this same reason, you could do the same with the 1960 or 1980, they are pretty inexpensive now, around $50.

Forget the cheap converters, and try to find a used AJA ioLA on ebay, expect to pay around $100 They offer composite, S-Video and analog component in. But it really shines because it can capture in just about any format from DV, ProRes and 10-bit 4:2:2 uncompressed analog and send it to your computer as a DV stream directly into FCP.
 
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