# Clean Up Vhs Footage?



## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

Hi All

I need to clean up some aged VHS footage that has very great sentimental value for my girlfriend and her family.

Part was originally recorded on a NTSC camcorder (Canadian, if that makes any difference to the format?) and the rest is 'off air' news footage, recorded on an NTSC VHS recorder in the US.

The footage was converted to PAL in the US.

The picture was always very poor (shot at sea, at night in atrocious weather), and it obviously degrades a little more every time the tape is played.

I have a Liteon HDD-DVD recorder and I want to digitise the footage to stop further degradation then hopefully clean it up a little on my PC.

Can anyone recommend any simple tools that we can use to clean up the picture and maybe tweak the contrast/brightness to bring out the details of the night-time footage?

Also, I have the original NTSC footage which may be clearer/sharper as it was only played a couple of times, but the tape is showing signs of mould as it was stored on a boat for several years.

Does anyone know if it is safe to even attempt to play that back, or is there a risk that the coating on the tape will have oxidised and it will be ruined. If so, would it be horrendously expensive to get that fixed.


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Andy,

I'd be inclined to take this to a specialist rather than try to do it yourself - if the tape is indeed oxidising, the bill for cleaning bits of oxide off the innards of your recorder could well be more than the cost of a new one, not to mention the risk of the tape breaking. e.g there's a company in Edinburgh that advertise transfer's from/to video, VHS, Beta, DVD, Pal, NSTC etc etc and cleaning up old stuff. A friend even took in an audio wire recording and they managed to salvage that onto CD. Most larger cities seem to have at least one of these companies nowadays. :yes:

What could it cost to take the stuff in and ask for advice and a price? :grin: Anything you'd be doing would be a bit of an experiment compared with Pro's who are doing it every day to and from differing formats?


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

mel said:


> Andy,
> 
> I'd be inclined to take this to a specialist rather than try to do it yourself - if the tape is indeed oxidising, the bill for cleaning bits of oxide off the innards of your recorder could well be more than the cost of a new one, not to mention the risk of the tape breaking. e.g there's a company in Edinburgh that advertise transfer's from/to video, VHS, Beta, DVD, Pal, NSTC etc etc and cleaning up old stuff. A friend even took in an audio wire recording and they managed to salvage that onto CD. Most larger cities seem to have at least one of these companies nowadays. :yes:
> 
> What could it cost to take the stuff in and ask for advice and a price? :grin: Anything you'd be doing would be a bit of an experiment compared with Pro's who are doing it every day to and from differing formats?


Thanks Mel, I thought that might be the case, it's why we've not tried to view that footage. I'll Google and see which companies are listed around here.

'Thankfully' only the 'original' tape (the NTSC version) is damaged.

The 2nd/3rd generation PAL copy is fine (I saw it for the first time the other night), so if anyone knows of any clean-up tools that we can use on a digitised version of that, I'm still interested.

Thanks

Andy


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## sonyman (Feb 9, 2009)

This is a really specialized area and TBH by the time you have spent a few days learning software like Adobe Premiere or others you will never get as good as results as if you just paid someone to do it for you,I would rather pay someone Â£100 than spend hours upon hours trying to do it myself and it still not being as good,Its horses for courses mate and although I am pretty good with music software I tried to add a video to a song I made and it didn't look good and was out of sync and that took me about 5 hours to learn basic things in Premiere even windows Movie Maker is a learning curve and its uses are limited.


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## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

Just off the top of my head - have you thought about contacting one of the major TV broadcasters or a media museum? They may know of professional restoration companies who know how to deal preserve this stuff.

Maybe expensive but it depends on the value you place on the original.

Good luck.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

If the original is NTSC (Never The Same Color :lol: ) then you won't be able to record from it using a normal domestic deck anyway.....they playback to TV but you cannot record the signal.

Even software like Piinacle or Premier is not really suited to restoration projects, the tweaks you get in those are more for just adjusting colour and exposure a bit, you really do need to speak to a specialist, or you could try the Museum of Photography in Bradford for info or even have a chat with the BFI in London, they are always very helpful with old films etc.


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## sparrow (Feb 7, 2009)

Have a google for companies that will convert VHS to DVD - there are several around as everyone wants to save their home movies etc. They clean up the footage as a matter of course.

Plus there is the added advantage that if it all went wrong, your girlfriend and extended family can't pin the blame on you


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

Thanks all, I'll check with my girlfriend's family to see whether they want to take the risk of sending it to one of the restoration companies.

From Googling, it seems to be a booming business at the moment.

Andy


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Who. Me? said:


> From Googling, it seems to be a booming business at the moment.
> 
> Andy


Be aware though that any Tom, Dick or Harry can plug a VHS into a capture card in a computer and transfer to DVD (I do it all the time at work) but you need a genuine specialist to "restore" old footage, with some pretty sophisticated equipment and software.


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## scottishcammy (Jul 11, 2003)

I've been meaning to put a few videos and some camcorder tapes on dvd/CD for a while. Any tips on good software (I don't have a computer with a tv card), and costs?

Cheers.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

scottishcammy said:


> I've been meaning to put a few videos and some camcorder tapes on dvd/CD for a while. Any tips on good software (I don't have a computer with a tv card), and costs?
> 
> Cheers.


If you have at leats XP you can use MS Movie Maker to input video and make copies, but you still need an input device, I think there was a thread on here a few weeks ago about video input "dongles" for computers, basically they transfer from standard video signals (composite/"S") to USB so any computer with a USB port can be used, have a quick search on the bay, they should be only around Â£5-Â£10 maximum.

Unfortunately I cannot access ebay from my work comp or I would post a linky.......


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## foztex (Nov 6, 2005)

Andy,

re. your PAL footage. I have had good results using Virtual Dub it's cross platform, free and has a ton of filters you can download. For instance I am sure that as its VHS and converted you are going to want to look at Hue and Gamma for starters. VirtualDub also has some great noise reduction filters too.

cheers

Andy


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

That looks interesting Andy, think I might have a play at work tomorrow.....if I get time! :cry2:

Cammy, try this kind of thing, item 350234617575.........although I notice the postage is where they claw back profit Â£5 for bascially a jiffy bag from HK  .........anyway, its a solution if you have no capture card.


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

Boxbrownie said:


> If the original is NTSC (Never The Same Color :lol: ) then you won't be able to record from it using a normal domestic deck anyway.....they playback to TV but you cannot record the signal.
> 
> Even software like Piinacle or Premier is not really suited to restoration projects, the tweaks you get in those are more for just adjusting colour and exposure a bit, you really do need to speak to a specialist, or you could try the Museum of Photography in Bradford for info or even have a chat with the BFI in London, they are always very helpful with old films etc.


Agree; NTSC is 425 lines, I think, you'd need a TBC to generate a recordable signal.

Cor, takes me back... PAL/SECAM/NTSC...

Take it to a specialist for a 'standards transfer' duplication.


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## scottishcammy (Jul 11, 2003)

Boxbrownie said:


> That looks interesting Andy, think I might have a play at work tomorrow.....if I get time! :cry2:
> 
> Cammy, try this kind of thing, item 350234617575.........although I notice the postage is where they claw back profit Â£5 for bascially a jiffy bag from HK  .........anyway, its a solution if you have no capture card.


Thanks mate, much appreciated.

I've borrowed one of the pics from that, and I've a wee query:

If I want to connect a vhs video player to that, where would the cable go?

Looking at the back of my video machine (other than scart), there is only an RF out cable that I could have coming from the machine (Pic 1)










to the gizmo that processes it to the computer (pic 2)

It doesn't look like it would connect?

Thanks,

confused of Edinburgh.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

chris l said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> > If the original is NTSC (Never The Same Color :lol: ) then you won't be able to record from it using a normal domestic deck anyway.....they playback to TV but you cannot record the signal.
> ...


525.......well it was until the advent of HD over the pond.

I still have a Folsom "Otto" standards converter tucked away in my railway shed........if I remember rightly it cost around Â£15K about 10 years ago......and was only used on one job  :lol:


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

scottishcammy said:


> Boxbrownie said:
> 
> 
> > That looks interesting Andy, think I might have a play at work tomorrow.....if I get time! :cry2:
> ...


You just need a SCART to composite/S converter "block"...something you get with most camcorders and available in every Dixons/Currys I would think, they look just like a normal scart plug but with sockets on the back and a little switch to enable either in or out signals. If your desperate I can send you one, think I have a couple knocking around in the cupboards at work.


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