Advice about transfers from VHS to DVD

[jajsage]

Hi It's been a while since trading and taking care of my collection.

The question is this. Most of my collection is still on VHS tapes. For a while their were multiple DVD releases hitting the market. However, it seems this has slowed way down over the last few years. The shows being released seem to be new series as opposed to retro shows. From reviews it seems that a lot of the retro shows that are being released are being edited. Such as music scores, or scenes from the shows. Some I don't think I'd mind, because it's possible I never saw the show or have forgotten what might be missing. But for example, Tour of Duty, I don't want to hear a Taylor Swift song playing in the background, not that that actually happened.
But for some of my rarer shows, if I'm going to transfer VHS to DVD, and I have the original commercials still on the tapes, the question is keep them or edit them out? Four hour speed or two hour speed? Keep in mind most of my VHS are off air first generation at the 2 or 4 hour speed. Just wondering what people are more apt to collect now as opposed to almost 20 years ago.
Let me know your thoughts!

Jeff

[SamBonzi]

Here are my suggestions. Keep the commercials as they are important for trading. Also, I recommend SP speed.

[jajsage]

Thanks. Happy New Year.

[darkrage6]

Do you have a trade list? If so could you please send me one?

I'm definitely a fan of original broadcasts with the original soundtrack intact(commercials I can take or leave but I won't ask you to edit them out for me), there's one guy I know that's done amazing fanedits for shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Everwood, Sister Sister, Dawson's Creek that restore the original soundtrack(he's the guy doing that big Felicity Restoration Project that the New York Times talked about).

There's definitely some TV recordings i'm looking for in particular.

[cloggedmind]

Always use the highest bitrate (such as SP speed, 2hrs per disc is good depending on the material, 1hr per disc at highest encoding may be preferable for shorter programs).

Whenever possible, keep the original commercials, especially from the 90's backwards for the nostalgic collectors. Anyone else can skip them or edit them out themselves.

Also, it is wise to keep a spare VCR or two (of more modern to older vintage) lying around to make adjustments to for hard-to-track tapes, especially ones in EP made with machines that were out of alignment. Sometimes you might need to adjust the input/output tape guides (usually white rollers with "split" slots on top) to eliminate static at the top or bottom of the screen, respectively. This should be done with an oscilloscope for pinpoint accuracy, but just eyeballing the playback for the cleanest picture can make all the difference. Lots of guides on youtube to show how to do that for problem tapes.

You also want to consider whether the recordings have hi-fi soundtracks, or linear mono or stereo for compatibility with the playback deck. Would be a shame to lose, say, a stereo hi-fi track from a one-time tv concert when all you have to play it back is a linear mono machine! Always go for the best results.

Plus, keep the heads clean with as close to 99% isopropyl alcohol dabbed into a folded piece of copier paper held gingerly against the head assembly, and gently turn the drum in the direction of tape travel only to avoid damage.

Always make redundant backups in case of media failure.

Lastly, you need lots of time and patience. Real-time transfers eat up a lot of time, and it can be frustrating if, for instance, you have to restart due to recording media failure or a head clog.

[Spiny Norman]

Originally Posted by jajsage

Hi It's been a while since trading and taking care of my collection.

The question is this. Most of my collection is still on VHS tapes. For a while their were multiple DVD releases hitting the market. However, it seems this has slowed way down over the last few years. The shows being released seem to be new series as opposed to retro shows. From reviews it seems that a lot of the retro shows that are being released are being edited. Such as music scores, or scenes from the shows. Some I don't think I'd mind, because it's possible I never saw the show or have forgotten what might be missing. But for example, Tour of Duty, I don't want to hear a Taylor Swift song playing in the background, not that that actually happened.
But for some of my rarer shows, if I'm going to transfer VHS to DVD, and I have the original commercials still on the tapes, the question is keep them or edit them out? Four hour speed or two hour speed? Keep in mind most of my VHS are off air first generation at the 2 or 4 hour speed. Just wondering what people are more apt to collect now as opposed to almost 20 years ago.
Let me know your thoughts!

Jeff

Here's my advice:

First, use common sense. Make a "master" of 2 hours maximum, with commercials. You can always make a different DVD without, but you can never get back what you lost. (I once got someone's large James Bond collection of interviews and TV specials... and sadly he had copied his VHS tapes at the long play setting = low quality... that was a real pity. You really could tell the difference.)

Second: That said, 2024 is relatively late to start with DVDR. Some might say, just go straight to PC.
Nevertheless, if you've got a good "deck" (standalone) setup, and you're less at easy with computers, then you should just do it that way. It won't be expensive anymore. (And if people insist that you should use something called "h264", well that's not an archive format!)
But remember that discs can fail. So at least you should keep the tapes, and/or copy each disc to a hard drive/cloud. (Copying DVDR is not difficult.)


Feel free to ask more questions.


It's not part of your question, but... a funny detail is that original tapes may sometimes still have optional subtitles hidden inside the signal, the so-called "Closed Captions" for the hard of hearing.
Sometimes that's even still on the DVD - IF you know where to look. The computer converts these to modern subtitles in seconds. If you have an example, I can check. I'm always a little bit amazed if get a copy from a 1992 VHS, and it brings forth subtitles just like that. Anyway...

[darkrage6]

Originally Posted by Spiny Norman

Here's my advice:

First, use common sense. Make a "master" of 2 hours maximum, with commercials. You can always make a different DVD without, but you can never get back what you lost. (I once got someone's large James Bond collection of interviews and TV specials... and sadly he had copied his VHS tapes at the long play setting = low quality... that was a real pity. You really could tell the difference.)

Second: That said, 2024 is relatively late to start with DVDR. Some might say, just go straight to PC.
Nevertheless, if you've got a good "deck" (standalone) setup, and you're less at easy with computers, then you should just do it that way. It won't be expensive anymore. (And if people insist that you should use something called "h264", well that's not an archive format!)
But remember that discs can fail. So at least you should keep the tapes, and/or copy each disc to a hard drive/cloud. (Copying DVDR is not difficult.)


Feel free to ask more questions.


It's not part of your question, but... a funny detail is that original tapes may sometimes still have optional subtitles hidden inside the signal, the so-called "Closed Captions" for the hard of hearing.
Sometimes that's even still on the DVD - IF you know where to look. The computer converts these to modern subtitles in seconds. If you have an example, I can check. I'm always a little bit amazed if get a copy from a 1992 VHS, and it brings forth subtitles just like that. Anyway...

Wow that's really cool, didn't you could get subtitles from old tapes like that.