help me preserve my Haysi Fantayzee and ebn-ozn videos!

February 28, 2006 1:25 PM

DVD/VHS dual deck suggestions? Previous threads haven't really answered my specific concerns.

I have a metric tonne of old videotapes which I want to digitise before it's too late. Some of them are over 20 years old and showing their age.

I fully admit I'm a n00b to this whole concept.

After researching and asking around for what seems forever, I finally bit the bullet and picked up a Panasonic DMR-ES40VS since it seemed to have the most bang for the buck and wasn't Sony.

Once I unpacked, installed and started kicking the tyres I noticed a few things which I'm less than happy with and was wondering if that's just how things are or if a model more suited to my needs exists.

The first thing I noticed is that it seems to really very much prefer DVD-RAM, which I don't have and would prefer not to have to get. I already have several hundred blank DVD+R discs and would rather use those. I understand that some things can be done with RAM that can't be done with other formats (still pictures, etc) but functionality seems very limited with +R, moreso than I would expect. The main problem I noticed here is chapter breaks; it doesn't seem to want to make them with +R discs. At all. Is this just how it is?

For the full-length movies and so forth that's OK, I guess, but the majority of the tapes have lots and lots of videos on them and fast-forwarding three hours to get to that one single Blancmange video would be quite frustrating.

Worst case scenario is that I dub the tapes to DVD and then later use reauthoring software to create the menus, chapter breaks, etc. I'd prefer not to have to do that, though, since it would waste a disc for each one I create.

I don't expect to find a full authoring studio-in-a-box for the $300 I paid, but I'd have thought that chapter breaks and a few assorted other things (doesn't play DVD-Audio?!) would be pretty standard. I'm also really not happy about the macrovision protection (I consider this to be a prime example of fair use) but understand That's Probably Just How It Is.

Any suggestions? Resources? Brands/models which are designed for old VHS restoration (image enhancement, etc) would be a bonus (I wholeheartedly welcome any suggestions there; some of these have -terrible- image quality). I've tried googling and looking at brand comparisons but I get overwhelmed by the more technical specs (I don't care much about things like aspect ratio and upconverting and so forth).

A standard DVD recorder (no VHS) is also doable but I rather like the idea of a combined unit, and for the testing I did complete, the one-touch dubbing is a nice feature.

posted by geckoinpdx to technology (6 comments total)

NO AUTHOR FOUND NO BACKLINK FOUND "I'd prefer not to have to do that, though, since it would waste a disc for each one I create."

No brand suggestion but you could cut down on the disk waste with a few DVD+RW disks.
posted by Mitheral at 3:04 PM on February 28, 2006

I reviewed a few similar units for PC World here . The editing capabilities do vary, and DVD-RAM is a format that's more designed for editing after copying. The Samsung DVD-VR325 may be a better bet: it allows for editing and chapter creation on the disc afer you've copied the video. A model with a built-in hardd drive may also be easier: you can then copy the video to hard ddrive, edit it and then output it to DVD-R. However, you may be better off doing this on a PC: that will make editing much easier..
posted by baggers at 3:46 PM on February 28, 2006

Completely off topic, but when you're done, can I be your off-site backup for those Haysi Fantayzee videos? I seem to recall that woman had incredible legs!
posted by kimota at 4:01 PM on February 28, 2006

kimota, once I've successfully archived them, you'll be the first in line.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. This is looking to be more complicated than I'd anticipated, but still worlds easier than using my capture card.
posted by geckoinpdx at 4:40 PM on February 28, 2006

I bought a refurbished Toshiba from Overstock last summer, and have been very happy with it. It can deal with DVD Ram and DVD-R, and many others, not +R. i got it over one of the others that Consumer Reports recommended because i found reviews saying the instruction manuals was a nightmare, and this one is very good, clear, etc..

I'm not expert with it - it makes chapter breaks after each separate recording, and then you enter items in the 'titles list', pretty tedious with the arrows and enter/select button.

if you want more info, say so here or email me. It's not in front of me, so I can't remember features.
Judy
posted by judybxxx at 8:34 AM on March 1, 2006

p.s. I don't have my model number, but it didn't have a hard drive, and isn't the full featured one reviewed in the link referenced above.
Judy
posted by judybxxx at 10:59 AM on March 1, 2006