VHS/VCR question

scorsesefan

scorsesefan

Veteran
Importing some VHS footage for documentary into FCP, but some of the footage is in pretty bad shape. The subject is an R&B singer, and he/his family taped a lot of his performances off of TV in the 80s (Star Search, telethons, etc.) A lot of the stuff is home movies transferred to VHS and a lot of it is irreplacable... My question is this: I want to buy and transfer the stuff using a good quality VCR, with decent heads. I was looking at some S-VHS players, but only the higher end ones seem to have Time Base Correctors and Digital Noise Reducers. How important are these two features, and can they improve already problematic tapes? Am I better off just getting a cheap S-VHS if it's not going to make a difference?
Thanks
 
I'm not 100% sure, but if it was footage from a televised show, you would need to get the rights from the network first. Since you will be dealing with the networks anyways, you should be able to obtain the footage from them, in a better format, and in much better condition. That would be better by far, than trying to pull questionable footage off of stretched, dirty old consumer tapes, with no signal processing.
 
I am going to get the rights, but right now I'm worried about putting it together for add'l funding - or to go to festivals, but the main thing is the subject's personal video footage - any help?????
 
Are you working with VHS or S-VHS footage?

A S-VHS deck will do nothing special over a VHS deck for VHS tape.

- Mikko
 
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