Best format/compression for archiving old VHS home videos?

To those who have digitized old VHS home videos: what format/compression did you choose for them when archiving? I have been experimenting with all the different choices when exporting from iMovie, and the tradeoff between size and image quality. Just curious to see what others have decided on.

Thanks for the responses. Is MPEG-2 the best choice for VHS footage? i.e. is it sufficient for the relatively low quality of VHS? I thought MPEG-4 was superior to MPEG-2. Or is MPEG-4 for HD videos? I have been importing from a VCR through a Canopus ADVC-55 (i have eyetv but i think the imported video was blocky...it was a long time ago). Editing in iMovie 09 and exporting to QuickTime movie H.264 on the "high" quality setting, just below "best". Anyway, now I'm wondering if i can just export to MPEG-2, have the same quality image, but a smaller file size.

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Archiving old VHS home movies

I have a Canon MV500i camera and I am finally getting round to a project of getting all my old VHS home videos into digital format. I have turned on the AV To DV Out, and I have no problem showing the film on the camcorder, but how do I get iMovie show it? If I have no tape in the camcorder, iMovie does not allow import. If I place a tape in and click import - it imports the tape and doesn't show the av import. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Gwyn.
I have just started transferring my old VHS home movies using a Canon MV830i. I don't know if yours will have exactly the same buttons as mine but I assume they are similar.
I recorded the VHS footage onto the DV tape in the camera. I then imported it separately into iMovie. It takes ages but it was easy to do.
My camcorder was set to VCR. The AV terminal was connected to one of the scarts on the back of the video. We had to buy a scart adapter with an input/output switch to connect the cable to. (The adapter only cost a couple of pounds.) There is a button on my camcorder (under the LCD screen) marked "rec pause". We pressed that and it said "pause" on the LCD screen. We set the video playing and then pressed the play/pause button on the camcorder and it started recording. This all sounds terribly complicated but was actually quite easy.
I recorded an hour at a time (as the DV tapes are an hour) and then transferred that into iMovie. I transferred 7 hours of VHS in total so the whole process took 14 hours!
Unfortunately I hadn't set iMovie to limit the length of clips as they were imported and some of them were very long. It made editing difficult and it ended up using huge amounts of my hard drive. I have now reduced my 7 hours to one hour with some heavy editing and we've produced our first DVD.
I'm now about to start on the next batch. Fortunately there will be less this time. (Child number one had 7 hours of her baby years. Child number 2 has 3 hours. And poor child number 3 seems to have hardly any!)
Rachel

Whats the best way to transfer VHS home video's into IMOVIE '11 for exporting/editing?

I have been reading about this subject online for a while now but need assistance/guidance before I go out and buy adapters etc. to begin my project. I am attempting to put home-videos of mine from VHS-C format onto my Macbook Pro.....Is it possible that if I use VCR adapter cables that go Red, White, Yellow, to USB I can directly import these VHS home videos into my computer?
I am going to have to buy a new VCR to do this and I would like to find out if this is going to work properly if I buy a VCR and use these Adapter cables I mentioned above.
Throughout my reading on the topic I've ran across a lot of different suggestions for a million different Video Conversion programs etc. although I would feel most comfortable using Imovie '11 on my brand new Macbook Pro because I have faith in Mac Programs for this type of a procedure.
I'd truly appreciate the help I've been wanting to work on this video project for quite a while now and I'm anxious to get some material in digital format to work with.

The VHS tape deck is analog. You have to convert these signals to digital format before you can edit them with iMovie.
There are a couple of ways to do this.
1) You can get a device called a DAC (Digital Analog Converter). Grass Valley makes a series of these. They are pricey, but give good results. They attach via Firewire, so make sure your Mac has a Firewire port. They produce a file in the DV format. You can import directly into iMovie with this option.
2) You can get a device called an EyeTV Hybrid. This will accept your RCA red, white, and yellow on one side, and attach with USB. This produces a file in H.264 format. You import the VHS into the EyeTV software, and then send it to iMovie through a menu choice.
3) Some camcorders have "passthrough" capability, meaning they can take the RCA Red, White, and Yellow in and output digital DV through Firewire. You can import directly into iMovie with this option.
Once converted, iMovie is a great way to edit your movies.
Personally, I use the EyeTV Hybrid. It also lets me view and record over the air HDTV on my Mac.
Here is a sample of my results with the EyeTV Hybrid.

Get an old VHS home movie over to iBook and iPod ?

i have an old VHS home made movie i like to get in to my iBook and so over to the iPod.
is there a program to do that?
anyone here who have done that before?

Is there a program to do that?
While software is required for the actual "capture" of the video data, this problem primarily requires a hardware solution. To start, you need some sort of an analog-to-digital converter. This can be a dedicated device or something as simple as a digital handicam you may already have laying around your house. (You have to check owner's manual to see if such an option is available on your particular model.) Dedicated devices tend to come in two output formats -- compressed DV and MPEG. Connectability is usually via FireWire for DV and USB for MPEG. If you plan to edit the material, the DV format is generally preferable. Capture software will depend on the format of the converted output. iMovie, FCX, and FCP will handle DV. If you don't already have one of these applications, then Vidi (free) is a good alternative. USB devices usually come with their own proprietary capture software and may or may not include compatible MPEG editing software.
Hope this helps.

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Old VHS music videos to digital life

Hi,
I'm capturing my old VHS music videos to FCP. The idea is to export them later so I can watch them in my iPod, PowerBook or Apple TV.
My questions are:
1. My Tv has a wide screen, and I love to watch productions in that way, but as 100% of my VHS videos are in 4:3 fomat, I want to know if it is possible to crop them giving an anamorphic look so they can fill my tv screen but keeping a good quality in the resolution?
2. When I capture my VHS music videos in FCP, I noticed the video captured is interlace. I don't know if it is beacause that's normal for a analog source or it is because my capture settings are wrong.
3. I've tried to export the video using, in QuickTime Conversion: iPod format, Apple Tv format, MPEG-4 format and iPhone format but I have not been able to find the quality that I've watched in videos bought from iTunes store. Which is the best prescription to export videos in FCP for my digital life?
4. Finaly. Do Apple Tv or iPods have a favourite format (4:3 - 16:9) to play videos for the best resolution?
Thanks.

I want to know if it is possible to crop them giving an anamorphic look so they can fill my tv screen but keeping a good quality in the resolution?
No, not really. VHS was a supremely low quality recording format ie by todays standards its already a load of mush. Bring that in and scale it up so that it would fill a wide screen (whilst cropping off the top and bottom) and you'll be left with even mushier "widescreen" mush.
I noticed the video captured is interlace.
Your VHS recordings are indeed interlaced.
I have not been able to find the quality that I've watched in videos bought from iTunes store
Nor will you. GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out
Do Apple Tv or iPods have a favourite format
Yes ... I couldn't tell you offhand what they are, but the recommended formats will all be prescribed by choosing the Apple TV / iPod export formats in Export Quicktime Conversion, or from the presets available in Compressor

The BEST format to use with iDVD is .DV video from QT Pro ?

The BEST format to use with iDVD is .DV video from QT Pro ?
Hi Jon
If you remember my video (640x480) NTSC in iMovie Project.
Someone told me that exporting movie to DV video QT from iMovie share option, for burning in iDVD, is the best quality possible.
Is this true ?
If so what are the parameters ? Again is for seeing in a widescreen TV

Someone told me that exporting movie to DV video QT from iMovie share option, for burning in iDVD, is the best quality possible.... Is this true ?
As usual, this is really a matter of individual opinion. I personally prefer the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). It is newer codec specifically designed for use as an "intermediate" editing compression format. It is slightly more efficient than DV-25 (18-20 Mbps for audio + video vs. 28.5 Mbps) and is less restrictive (i.e.,the user has more control over certain settings). On the other hand, the very nature of having a highly standardized (few user option) compression format does appeal to many users since there are fewer things the user can mess up.
If so what are the parameters ? Again is for seeing in a widescreen TV
Bit rate, frame rate, and encoding dimensions are part of the standard and do not have user parameters as such other than selecting the NTSC or PAL standard. With regard to the aspect ratio, you simply select which you want to use—4:3 or 16:9. However, as I've previously mentioned, it is possible to distort your output by either entering the wrong aspect or to actually "lose" the embedded flag/value in some work flows. (I.e., a 4:3 aspect movie displayed at 16:9 makes the people an objects appear short and fat while encoding a 16:9 aspect movie as 4:3 will make them look tall and skinny.) Movies should always be encoded in their original aspect ratio since any modern digital TV will allow the user to disport—i.e., force a 4:3 file to fully fill a 16:9 display screen. In fact, some will even allow you to spread the distortion evenly across your screen or to the spread it proportionally. (On my set these features are called "H-Fill" and "Justify" respectively.) If you were to use the AIC video compression format rather than DV, then you would have to manually enter the display dimensions for the "standard" and/or "definition" format you are targeting.

I have old unedited home video doesn't seem to recognize it. What process or software or both do I need to do this?

I have old unedited home video doesn't seem to recognize it. What process or software or both do I need to do this?

The easiest and cheapest way is to use HandBrake to convert your DVDs to H.264 that FCP X can use.
Download Handbrake free here http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
Put your DVD in the Mac, launch HandBrake and let it rip your DVD to H.264
You can then import the files into FCP X.
Professional editors will be apoplectic about me recommending HandBrake but for what you are doing the quality will be fine.

Codec to use for archiving PAL VHS source

I want to digitise a whole lot of PAL VHS home movie stuff. What do you think are the best settings to convert it to?

this is a straight forward call. with your source of VHS at 256 lines at best + either SP or worse LL
P recorded mode and as hasbeen already recommended to preserve and edit in an economically efficient way, I'd also recommend PAL DV.
at 720x576 resolution to map those 256 VHS scan lines at 4:2:0 At 25Mbs is way more headroo
thAn you u might use for this footage.
as an I-frame format u can get it it easier with standard or mainstreAm codecs.
moreover u can ingest the vhs via your encoding device (dv camera or dv encoding box) and catch it on mini-dv media as DV for later ingest to something like fcp.
u must consider the ramifications of maintaini g your family jewels to the charge of spinning disk storage at roughly 11.75GB/hour as well. it is wise to consider how much storage on disk you need for a small amount of 100 hours of DV with only one instance.
this capturing directly to disk may not be economical for you.
also the trAgedy of losing this stuff on disk should be of concern as well.
so a big box of mini-dv media for use as a stop gap for your act of reclamation and preservation is a good way to stArt I think. (this is what I did some 4 years back)
I ditched all my VHS, hi8, dv, hdv and other guages and maintain all my psersonal and commercial content on LTO4 ultrium data tape. this may be more than u want to do however the concern of the access (future) and longevity of your family jewels should factor in greatly in any workflow and archive u wanna do.
I expect like most of us you may have 100's of hours of stuff that probable run and gun and uneditted and you wanna pass this to your grand kids. if so due to the digital world of cmf (contemporary media formats) that are outdated or superceded each 2 years (LOL) consideration for migrating your daily jewels every 8 to 10 yearsneeds great attention
yep stick with dv pal for the present maybe avc-infra may be worth a look inthe future or my personal favourite lossless motion jpeg2000.
also consider use of h.264 proxies and some shot or scene logs and any metadata scheme for your stuff. u can use a simple numbers / excel spreadshheet to tie the footage essence and proxies (on disk)
I use a OSX based MAM caLled CATDV. worth a look.
done this a lot so pm if u need help

What is the best lossless compression for video?

I have a large amount of captured video, which is saved in uncompressed format.
I want to archive this video and I need to figure out what the best compression choice is.
It's video only and I want the archived materials to be compressed as losslessly as possible and as small as possible. Losslessness is more important than size. The original material was captured in FCP from a video camera using Firewire. It is NTCS DV.
Multiple angles of this source material were edited in FCP and rendered to make the final, uncompressed files. Those are what I need to compress and archive.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

There is no such thing as lossless compression.
This is not really true. There are many ways to compress - just google "compression algorithms" and you'll find some. Two basic schemes are either lossless or lossy. Lossless seeks to remove redundant or repetitive information, this is like Run Length Encoding or LZW encoding. Lossy throws away information that is generally "not perceived". JPEG, MPEG, H.264, DV are examples of lossy compression.
YUV "lossless" is 4:2:2 and is considered uncompressed, yet it takes up less space than RGB 4:4:4 encoding. Simply zipping the file compresses it (uncompressed codecs squeeze better, but DV does compress, indicating redundant information) - a TIFF sequence might have run length encoding or LZW. Both are lossless.
To get back to the question, Patrick:Losslessness is more important than size.
H.264 is a fantastic compression - it is, however, FAR from lossless AND it is not directly editable. You'd need to convert it back to an editable format, ensuring even more loss. Not within the parameters of your desired solution...
Patrick

Device for importing old VHS tapes into Mac to edit and make DVDs

Having tried one device unsuccessfully, we're looking for a device that we can use to convert old VHS tapes so we can edit in iPhoto/ Movie and store on DVDs. The one we tried came from the Apple retail store, but the Genius Bar was not able to get it to work. Thanks.

Here is how I do that (this only works with non-copy protected videos):
Connect the VHS tape player via RCA cables to an analogue-to-digital converter like, for example, the Canopus ADVC110.
Connect the converter via firewire to your Mac.
Import into iMovie as DV stream (I use iMovie 6). Edit out irritating commercials (from TV programs) and other glitches.
Convert to standard DVD format of mpeg2 in iDVD and burn to reliable media like Verbatim DVD-R.
Job done!

What is the best backup plan for Archive Databases in Exchange 2013?

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We have On premise exchange 2013 servers with 3 copies of primary Database & Single Copy of Archival DBs.
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In 2007 exchange, before migration to 2013, we had policy of DBs - Weekly Full backup & Monthly Full Backup
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That too, especially for Archiving DBs
Our Archiving Policy are - 3 category - Any emails older than 6 month OR 1 Year OR 2 Year should go to Archive mailbox.
Keeping this in mind how to design the backup policy ?
Manju Gowda

Hi Manju,
you do not find best practice different from the common backup guidelines, as there is no archive db specific behaviour. Your users may move items to their archive at any time as well as your retention policies may move items that machted the retention policies
at any time. The result is frequently changing content to both, mailbox and archive mailbox databases, so you need to backup both the same way. You also may handle archives together with mailboxes together in the mailbox db
Please keep in mind that backup usually means data availability in case of system failure. So you may consider to do a less frequent backup with your archive db with dependency to the "keep deleted items" (/mailboxes) setting on your mailbox database.
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keep deleted items: 30 days
backup of archive db: every 14 days
restore procedure:
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Highest compression for archive purposes

Hey Everyone,
I'm looking to compress my videos at very high quality for storage using compressor. (some of my videos are 1-2 minutes others are 5 minutes). I tried a couple of times but my exports were 20 gb...too large.
In case I ever put together a demo reel or something, i'd like for my archives to be at the highest quality with the minimum space being taked up. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

Many institutions use MPEG-2 at very high data rates for archival or mezzanine storage. You can do this in Compressor. Create a custom MPEG-2 setting; set the stream usage to Generic; and then crank the bitrate up as high as you want to go...with the understanding that the higher the bitrate the better the quality, but the larger the file size. If you move the slider all the way up to 40 for SD material you can get around 3 minutes per gig.
You can then choose Program Stream in the extras tab and YUV encoding (Compressor 3.5) for higher quality muxed files.
bg

Getting the best quality out of capturing old VHS tapes?

I want to capture some old VHS tapes using a ADVC55 and Final Cut 6 or maybe 7. The VCR I have does not have S Video.
1. Will using S Video make any difference with visual quality?
2. Are there any settings in FCP that I can make that will improve visual capture quality?
3. Any other general tips?
Thanks!

A TBC will correct timing errors that are inherent in analog tape playback. You'd probably recognize timing errors visually as wavy-ness (i.e.; not straight) in vertical objects in the image. Most of the stand-alone TBCs also have proc amp controls that would allows for phase, contrast, luma and chroma adjustments.
Thinking about it more, using an S-Video cable will help eliminate Y/C delay, which has the affect of shifting chroma slightly to the right of where it should be. S-Video (aka Y/C) transmits the luminance and chroma portions of the signal separately instead of together like a composite signal would do.
Using a different or newer NLE won't make any difference. It's the capture codec you choose that can make a difference. Most people would use DV NTSC (or PAL, depending on your country) since VHS resolution is only about 240 lines.
-DH

Best format/process to archive raw minidv tapes..

I'm trying to find the best way to archive raw minidv footage to external hard drive. I'm selling the video camera and will no longer have a way to play the tapes, so i'd like to preserve the raw footage so I can later edit it or output in some other way. I'm well aware of the size of raw footage, I'm just not sure of the process of getting raw video off the camera and onto the hard drive.
I've almost exclusively used the camera for viewing and playback of tapes and am just now getting into imovie (getting a new tapeless video camera, so i need to learn the way).
thanks for the help

Hi
There are no good economically reasonable way to do that.
• One tape needs 13-14Gb space to be stored.
• Even if possibly - external hard disks are fragile - tapes 1000 times (or more) less so
A drop -> dead
They get mechanically old - and stops to spinn especially if not used from time to time
To keep movie material up to date on hard disk storage - means a maintenance scheme and DISIPLINE.
If this is a must then the Hard Disk HAS TO BE - *Mac OS EXtended formatted*.
UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange has a 4Gb limit resulting in corrupted movie files.
AND miniDV tapes are interlaced material - not optimal for iM'08 & 09 - they discard every second line.
So if You want to store 100% on hard disk - *USE iMovie HD 6* (or prior) or FinalCut
to do Your safety QuickTime (full quality) .mov files.
My strategy is
• Tapes are easy to store and get a cheap miniDV Camera to use as Playback/Capture tool. (about 300 up till today)
Yours Bengt W

Best format/compression for archiving old VHS home videos?

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