I've recently started digitizing my mother-in-law's collection of home movies. What I would love is some recommendations or tweaks I can do to improve the quality and remove any combing or minimize static. I am not particularly concerned with audio quality, but I'll list it below as well.
And so far I'm enjoying the processes. It's really fun to see old videos and to learn a bit about video formats and encoding. I'm an amateur when it comes to these kinds of things so I'm learning as I go along. Each tape I make the picture clearer and the file size smaller!
Recording
- Sony Handycam (DCR-TRV27)
- Various DV 60/90 cassette tapes
- Seemingly ran in standard recording mode (tapes are 60 minutes)
VCR
- Elgato USB Analog Video Capture Device
- Handycam's VCR mode connected via S-Video Cable and 3.5mm audio jack*
* I have ordered a A/V to RCA cable which is the manufacturer's recommended connection, but unsure about the effects on quality
Software
- OBS for recording the VCR feed
- Downscale Filter: Bicubic (Sharpened scaling, 16 samples)
- Deinterlace - Linear 2x
- 720x540 @ 29.97 FPS (NTSC) (upscaled from 720x480)
- "Indistinguishable Quality, Large File Size"
- .mkv format with H.264 encoder
- Audio Encoder AAC
- Audio 48khz steroe
- Handbrake for re-encoding
- 720x480 @ 29.97 FPS
- H.264 (x264) MKV format
- No additional deinterlacing
- "Constant Quality" set to 20
- Audio Encoder AAC
By chance does the camera have FireWire or usb? That way you may be able to rip cleaner files.
Manual says it has mini USB, but may require software...
I'd look into that a bit, it's Sony so the software may be out there somewhere. But you may run in to driver or windows version problems.
I'll check and see if I have a Mini-USB lying around somewhere and plug it in and see what happens. Ideally I'd prefer not to have to install software to record but I suppose if it results in the best video quality that may be the best option
Update: Found the cable, but connecting to the computer results in an unrecognized device. Sony stopped hosting the drivers in 2019, so I fear I may be out of luck in terms of a USB connection - unless I risk downloading a driver off the internet which I'm not inclined to do...
Archive.org would probably be the one place I'd trust if you can find it there
Unless there's something very unique about the camera, the USB is only going to transfer still images off the memory card (and possibly supply a low-res webcam function) - you won't be able to transfer video through it.
There should be a mini-firewire/mini-DV/iLink port hidden under a flap - that will connect to a firewire port on a desktop, or an older laptop.
If you don't have access to a firewire port, your existing S-Video/AV cable is still your best option.
Unless anything magical has happened recently, a firewire to USB will not help you for video capture.
Use a VM if you're concerned.