Converting VHS Tapes to Apple TV

Hi,
I'm trying to preserve a lot of footage of ballet stage performances from VHS tapes - about 120 hours worth. I've read through all of the forums about converting to DVD, so I've got that. What I'd really like to do is preserve them on an external hard drive and view them on the TV by streaming through Apple TV -- but only if I can preserve the quality.
I've imported one 50 minute tape through a Canopus ADVC-110 into DV format in iMovie. I've tried exporting to Quicktime or mp4 using numerous default compression settings with unacceptable results in quality (compared to the quality of the DV in iMovie). Now I'm trying to export to Quicktime using H.264 with a max bitrate of 4800 bps (Apple TV max is 5000 bps). I think this is as good as I can get, but the estimated time to completion is at 12 hours and keeps growing (I've got plenty of harddisk space and all other applications are closed).
So I'm guessing that in order to accomplish my goal, I need:
13 GB/hour storage = about 1.5 TB (ouch, but I can deal)
120 hours for analog to digital conversion (acceptable)
12 hours or who knows how much longer x 120 hours to compress? (unacceptable)
Am I missing something here? Is there a better way to preserve video quality as an .mp4, .m4v, or .mov file? Or should I just give up and burn everything to DVD?
Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forums.
A few thoughts about your desired objectives:
a) Will you want to edit the footage in future? (Keep the original tapes and/or use a digital format with very little compression - like .dv, and/or export the converted video to miniDV tape since it is full quality but smaller physical size)
b) Will you want to share footage with others? (DVDs are hard to beat)
c) Do you want maximum flexibility? (see (a)
If you're happy with the .dv option for flexibility and/or editing, then the challenge you look like you're facing is how to view your video. Obviously, Apple TV is one option, DVD is another. For video conversion, I've had good experience (speed and quality) with Visual Hub, Roxio Toast, and the free MPEG Streamclip. Processor speed is important for video conversion, so you probably want to use your fastest computer.
You might check whether DivX format is supported via Apple TV. It's a high quality but very compressed format - good for viewing/not good for editing in future.
To establish a workflow, I'd create a short test video of representative footage and then monitor how much time it takes to convert into the various video format options.
John

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Hello
I need to convert a vhs tape to play in imovie for a client,
it's for voiceover work website - so crisp clear audio is crucial.
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thnx

Hi
Concider the cost and the cost of an A/D-box to do the conversion by Your self.
I use an rather expencive one but get Audio and Video as good as is possibly (I think)
I use an Canopus ADVC-300 (Now Grass Valley ADVC-300) - This has some vital features
• Timecode correction = less baby sitting even if drop-outs on VHS-tape
• Picture enhanzing
• Audio stays in sync. even if tape is in LP-mode eg 8 hour and got drop outs
Yours very happy to do this at own speed and full control.
If I'd use a store to do it I would like to have material back on miniDV tapes
and as streamingDV (as recorded by miniDV Camera).
If result is to be a new DVD then I also would not use iMovie'08 to 11 but
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I did a search on this but was unable to find anything.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1015944
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1284669
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1557705
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1161010
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1809629

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Hi a
or buy an analog to digital converting box like a Canopus.
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convert a vhs tape to digital
I have done lots of that.
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Hi
May be Copy-Protection.
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Sorry.
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Ron,
Welcome to the discussions!
The first step is to convert the analog video on the VHS to a digital format (DV) that iMovie can understand.
Some miniDV cameras allow you to do this using a pass through function. You hook up a VHS deck to the camera and hook the camera up to your computer. The camera then takes the analog signal and converts it and passes it along to your computer and iMovie.
Alternatively, you can purchase a digital to analog converter. This would make it a bit easier if you have a lot of tapes to convert.
Some examples:
http://www.canopus.us/US/products/ADVC110/pm_advc110.asp
http://www.miglia.com/products/video/director2/index.html
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I have done lots of this.
Let me assume that these movies are important to you and that you want the best quality possible.
To get your VHS video into iMovie, use the Grassvalley ADVC300. Audio and Video go in, FireWire comes out. It also comes with a nice Macintosh application that works flawlessly with iMovie 06 and iDVD 08/09 (I have used it a few times with iMovie 09).
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http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 08/09, why?
iMovie 08/09 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
If your primary workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie '06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie '08 / 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination.

How to convert old VHS tapes to digital

I am hoping someone can give me an overview of what kind of equipment/software is necessary to convert VHS tapes into a digital format that could be saved in iMovie. Do I just need the right cables for the VCR or something more complicated? Thanks!

I recommend that you download the free iMovie HD6 for those with iMovie 08 who do not have a prior version of iMovie HD6. You can get it here: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html
And, do this tutorial: http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/tutorial/
It is more capable of creative editing and you have a quite a bit more control over your iMovie with it.
+So, your method worked using just a VCR, a camcorder, and your computer? No special converters?+
Yes, I just used the AV connectors that came with my camcorder to hook the camcorder to the VCR....which was in a combo TV/VCR unit so I could see the footage on my tv, just to make it easier. The AV connector cable has a special prong that fits into the camcorder, and those white/red/yellow prongs at the VCR end. The TV/VCR is a few years old, certainly not anything fancy or new.
I didn't bother with a converter since I just used the camcorder.
My computer and that VCR are not physically close enough to try to import directly, and since I wanted the digital tapes of the original footage, recording first to the miniDV tapes worked for me. Canopus makes a couple of nice converters...they are around $150-250, I think.
Then, to connect to the computer with the camcorder you will need a 4-6 pin Firewire cable.
+I might do it sooner or I might put it off for awhile while I practice messing around with iMovie.+
The benefit of recording from VHS to miniDV tapes is that the tapes are digital, they store easily and the footage will not degrade before you get around to creating your iMovies and DVDs. iMovies can take up lots of drive space, so don't be thinking that you will just import them all and save them for editing later. You would need a huge amount of space for this. Most of my movies are just under 2 hours, and occupy between 25-40 GB each. A couple of my movies were well over 100-140GB!!!! Yes, that is correct. I have a couple of external drives that I use for my movies while I am creating them. I usually have about two or three that I am working on at the same time.
+We want to put them in a digital format that will be easier to store and play and safer from eroding over time, so I guess the end format I'm looking for is DVDs.+
Because DVDs can break/crack/warp/melt/etc, you should consider exporting your finished iMovies back to the camcorder so that you have the miniDV tapes for more permanent storage and as a backup to your DVDs.
That is one of the big reasons that I don't use iMovie 08---it does not permit exporting back to a camcorder.
Although I do not save my created iMovies on my computer after I have made the DVD and exported the edited movie back to tape, I do save all my iDVD projects as disk images. A disk image can be up to 4.7 GB--even my large movies were automatically compressed down when put into iDVD. The limitation in iDVD is the total length of the movie in TIME, not SIZE. I use single-layer DVDs, which can hold up to 2 hours of content. Creating disk images allows you to have an exact copy of your iDVD projects, self-contained so that you can delete the original iMovies and the original iDVD projects. You can use the disk image to burn your disks when you first create them, and any time in the future. It is a good backup for the entire DVD.
Enjoy being creative with your movie projects! Post back with any more questions, and feel free to email me if you want.
Regards,
Beverly

Covert VHS tape to avi or mpeg or wmv

I need to convert VHS tapes into files, not a DVD!
What is the way to turn the captured VHS footage on the PE7 timeline into an avi or mpeg or wmv and have it not fuzzy and the file small enough for one DVD?
My customer wants to edit the files using another software so can't use the DVD files I normally produce by just burning the DVD.
They said they need the files to be one of these:
.asf
.avi
.dib
.fpx
.mov
.mp2
.mp3
.mpeg
.mpg
.pct
.pcx
,.png
.ras
.stv
.tga
.wav
.wma
.wmv
the avi was GIGANTIC I tied, the wmv was grainy

For editing, you may not have both small size and high quality
DV AVI Type 2 with 16bit 48khz sound is the best there is for conversion from VHS for editing
Anything else is HIGHLY compress and designed for playback only, not for editing
Tell your customer to provide you with a hard drive to store and ship the files
Read Bill Hunt on editing a VOB/MPG file http://forums.adobe.com/thread/464549?tstart=0
Go to my notes page at http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith/ADOBE.HTM and click the link about editing compressed files

Conversion steps and equipment of VHS tapes

I have seen on the forum several different (but usually old) references for converting VHS tapes. What I would like to see listed is a professionals explanation of the steps and equipment that will yield the best results. Specifically here is what I want to do with a lot of family VHS tapes of reunions, vacations, etc.
What is the best file format to store the new digital movies if you are going to further edit them using FCP X? When playing the tapes through a VCR and going through a converter, what are some possible converters to use now days? Is it best to use a Time Base Corrector? I know some of these things probably don't matter but if a person can afford to purchase a decent converter and TBC why not? Especially if it will yield better source files to work from. If some of this is overkill and it is just as easy to cart the tapes to a local Video store that will convert the VHS to DVD should this be done?
Again, after converting the analog VHS to digital, is there a preferred file format or file type to use?
Before I start editing the raw files I would like to have the best possilbe file and then I will select clips from within and make a more watchable home movie.
Its a big project but I would enjoy the process and learning more about FCP X in the process.
Any thoughts you have would be helpful.
Many thanks,
Greg

VHS was typically half-resolution broadcast, that is: 580 to 640 x 240. Some high quality units had 480, up to 520 lines of vertical resolution... but those were a long time ago and you really can't find any players today that support that resolution. If you have one of the older high-end players that still function well (I always wore mine out every 2 - 3 years) check the documentation and see how many "lines" of resolution you get from it.
I have an ADVC-55. It works with FCPX directly. It shows up in the Import media window as a directly connected camera. These units do not require "driver software" - they work "right out of the box." Quicktime Pro 7 can also import/record video from the ADVC-55 directly: just set QT7 to record and play your source. [Select the Video Source: ADVC-### in Preferences > Recording.] Quicktime X can record from the ADVC-55, and surprisingly, exporting (saving) preserves the framerate and codecs [click the disclosure triangle in the record window on the transport controls and select the ADVC unit from the Camera portion of the menu.]
The input (into FCPX) from HD sources (camcorder) is 720x480 (29.97 interlaced) and necessitates setting the Anamorphic Override to Widescreen.
The documentation does not specify whether timecode is supplied by the unit, but it does. Selecting Get Info for the saved recording shows the codecs used as: DV/DVCPro - NTSC; Linear PCM; Timecode. These are the codecs which the converted video will be saved. These are all perfectly compatible with FCPX and can be used natively or you can opt to transcode optimized/proxy media if you wish. You won't have much trouble editing SD video in FCPX. It's actually "smaller" than HD proxy media (which is 960x540 prores 422.)
The docs also do not specify whether TBC is used... it just states something about its ability to apply video "gain". I can state that it does a pretty good job of stabilizing video (from VHS decks). The fancier units probably do a better job. These converter units also seem to improve the video quality (as opposed to playing directly to a television set) -- a little more "vibrant."
The difference in price between the ADVC-55 and the 110 right now is about $31 US. If your budget is tight, get the 55, otherwise, don't skimp. I will offer this caveat as well: the 55 does not require an external power supply AS LONG AS you have FW400 connections (6-pin Firewire.) If all you have is 4-pin (FW800) then you will need to buy the "optional" power converter AND a FW400 to FW800 converter "cable" (or just the FW800 male/FW400 female plug -- phantom power is not transmitted through these converters cables). For the 55, you can connect anything that has *composite* connectors AND/OR S-Video (use S-Video if you've got it.) With the 110, you can connect a DV cable directly.
I have also used USB converters... two different kinds -- the kind you can buy from Roxio (they're all rather generic and specialized for just this one purpose), and the EyeTV Hybrid adapter set... don't waste your money -- there is no way to "clean up" the video from a VHS player -- they're cheap for a reason. At least the EyeTV Hybrid is an awesome tv receiver.
Here is a sample from the ADVC-55:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH7QeY__jCI
The VHS tape was about 10 years old and recorded on another recorder (tapes play best on the player they were recorded on), and I believe it was 2nd gen (a tape from a tape, aka, a dupe). The Player I used was a rather recent Sony VHS/DVD recorder combo thing (not "great", but adequate -- if you don't have a good transport, you won't get a good playback, you'll have tracking problems you can't fix.) Post was in FCP7.
Here's another sample that was in much worse condition starting out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvtrDwLkbPI&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL706EBF3 00562916B
Good luck!

Converting VHS Tapes to Apple TV

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