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Old video


RichardB

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Well, I can't do it because I don't know how ... but someone must know how to convert old video footage to erm "stuff" that we can watch on here.

Anyone willing to volunteer for this task ? Multiple people would be nice, those with video to share but don't know how or don't have the knowledge/ability would appreciate it, I think.

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Well, I can't do it because I don't know how ... but someone must know how to convert old video footage to erm "stuff" that we can watch on here.

Anyone willing to volunteer for this task ? Multiple people would be nice, those with video to share but don't know how or don't have the knowledge/ability would appreciate it, I think.

If its on VHS its not such a problem to convert to digital and post, depends on the quality of the original though. I'll help.

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If its on VHS its not such a problem to convert to digital and post, depends on the quality of the original though. I'll help.

I have an old vhs of Linda Lovelace, will you do that for me, please .... he hehe he he he

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Naughty............! Believe it or not, one regional TV station came within 5 seconds of playing the aformentioned lady to air, at peak viewing time. Not saying which one as, frankly, I've forgotten which.

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I have a video player connected up to the computer via an ordinary ariel wire and record through Home Theatre, then tranfer to disc.

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If its on VHS its not such a problem to convert to digital and post, depends on the quality of the original though. I'll help.

Yes VHS to digital is relatively easy, it just needs a video capture card which can be obtained quite cheaply and are even available as external devices which connect to the computer through a USB port and to the VHS recorder through either a SCART connector, an S-VIDEO connector or that other system that has red and white and yellow coloured plugs. With the provided software you play your tape into the computer where it appears as a video file which can then be edited and written to a DVD.

A much harder question.

As well as my collection of old photographs and negatives which I have started to make available on SheffieldHistory I also have a collection of equally old 8mm film, some on standard 8mm, some on Super 8mm, mainly silent but some with sound.

How do you get these into digital form?

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Yes VHS to digital is relatively easy, it just needs a video capture card which can be obtained quite cheaply and are even available as external devices which connect to the computer through a USB port and to the VHS recorder through either a SCART connector, an S-VIDEO connector or that other system that has red and white and yellow coloured plugs. With the provided software you play your tape into the computer where it appears as a video file which can then be edited and written to a DVD.

A much harder question.

As well as my collection of old photographs and negatives which I have started to make available on SheffieldHistory I also have a collection of equally old 8mm film, some on standard 8mm, some on Super 8mm, mainly silent but some with sound.

How do you get these into digital form?

Hi Dave,

there are two ways of doing that, one is to use a capture box, of which I have.

The other way is to record onto digital camcorder off the projection screen

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You will be wondering what i meen by a capture box

There are companies on the internet offering this service

eg Digital Copycat

Seems quite expensive but if it is a oneoff might not be to bad

Disclaimer

This is not a reccommendation just a random Google search

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Hi Dave,

there are two ways of doing that, one is to use a capture box, of which I have.

The other way is to record onto digital camcorder off the projection screen

Both of these methods seem to use a digital camera to record a projected image, in the case of the capture box the image will be bright and the projector and camera axes will be aligned, although it would appear the image would have to be laterally inverted as it is effectively viewed from the back of a screen (easily done with a mirror). With the second method the image will be darker and not in perfect alignment as the camera and projector lenses can't be in the same place at the same time. I wonder how well either method copes with flicker caused by the difference in frame /scan rates (If film is being shown at 18fps and video scanned at 25 fps some of the video frames will be blank or partially blank while the projector shutter is closed to move the film to the next frame) and how these systems cope with the "texture" of the screen (presumably the capture box will have a ground glass screen). I also assume that if transfering a sound film this is done electrically from projector audio out to camera mic. or audio in otherwise the camera would pick up a lot of projector noise if you were forced to use the microphone.

I know the quality of 8mm film isn't fantastic but I wonder how good the digitised copies are. If SteveHB has experience of using such a device perhaps he could comment on this.

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I know the quality of 8mm film isn't fantastic but I wonder how good the digitised copies are. If SteveHB has experience of using such a device perhaps he could comment on this.

Never possessed a 8mm projector or films, so It's something that I haven't tried with the box.

Write ups on the net regarding using one of these boxes don't seem give them a very good report,

I used it for transferring photographs onto VHS tapes and then added music to make a slide show.

That was all before I owned a computer and scanner

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Never possessed a 8mm projector or films, so It's something that I haven't tried with the box.

Write ups on the net regarding using one of these boxes don't seem give them a very good report,

I used it for transferring photographs onto VHS tapes and then added music to make a slide show.

That was all before I owned a computer and scanner

I thought the normal way of copying photographs on to video would be to use a copying stand. these allow you to photograph a photograph as it were but as the camera is held in position by a standard tripod bush which is also fitted to all cine / video cameras and as these cameras have macro lenses which allow easy focusing at short distances it would be a quick and easy way of getting photos onto video. Makes the capture box look a bit of an over complicated way of doing it.

However, I think you have answered my question anyway Steve with the comment "Write ups on the net regarding using one of these boxes don't seem give them a very good report"

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I thought the normal way of copying photographs on to video would be to use a copying stand. these allow you to photograph a photograph as it were but as the camera is held in position by a standard tripod bush which is also fitted to all cine / video cameras and as these cameras have macro lenses which allow easy focusing at short distances it would be a quick and easy way of getting photos onto video. Makes the capture box look a bit of an over complicated way of doing it.

However, I think you have answered my question anyway Steve with the comment "Write ups on the net regarding using one of these boxes don't seem give them a very good report"

The reason I used the box was that I did not own a digital camera at the time,

so the only way I could get stills onto VHS was via my analog camcorder.

I did try videoing some photographs set up on frame but due to varying light conditions the results were not as good as using the box (the quality was brilliant with the box)

It has a defused light inside that runs off batteries

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The reason I used the box was that I did not own a digital camera at the time,

so the only way I could get stills onto VHS was via my analog camcorder.

I did try videoing some photographs set up on frame but due to varying light conditions the results were not as good as using the box (the quality was brilliant with the box)

It has a defused light inside that runs off batteries

If it has lights built in it would be good for doing what you describe here as a copy stand would require the picture to be evenly lit also. However when copying 8mm film presumably the only light source required would be from the projector itself.

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Went to the Region on film / Norfolk School films by Eric Smith thanks to the help of Karen Marsh on this site and got talking to their technical guys about transfering 8mm to DVD or video file. The general opinion of the experts was.

Having it done professionally is very expensive. It needs a telecine machine and very few of these can handle 8mm film so there is no guarantee they have used one and could have used one of the cheaper methods discussed above.

Filming off the screen is the cheapest method, you do lose some quality and there are problems with it in terms of lighting, texturing, flickering and distortion but there are ways of minimising these. The films they showed were made by this method by these 2 guys and on screen from a DVD you couldn't tell that you were not watching an actual 8mm film as the loss in quality was so little.

Using a capture box is like filming from screen but overcomes some of the problems completely making the transfer easier and the final quality marginally better.

looks like I will have to experiment with these ideas to get the best transfer quality.

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Here you go DaveH,

take a look at this .... 8mm Film to DVD transfer (Do it yourself)

Thanks for that SteveHB.

This is a really good link with lots of detail on how to film off a screen giving guidlines on angles, distances, picture sizes etc. to get the best effect. when I get the time and can pull myself to retrieve my projector and films from the loft I will certainly give it a try.

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Finally got around to giving it a try. Most suprisingly my old Eumig 8mm projector, dug out of the loft after almost 20 years of retirement still works perfectly. Projected onto a screen with an image size of about A5 landscape, perhaps just a bit less and filmed it with a digital camcorder as close as possible to the projector.

There was some rectangular distortion but this can be hidden by filming slightly less than the full picture to make it appear square again, have to be careful with titles and the like not to trim anything important off though.

All the films now have a soundtrack of projector clatter and noise. As most 8mm is silent this can easily be edited off to restore the silence, however I do have some sound films and the noise does now appear on the recorded soundtrack.

The pictures are a bit dark in places, I may be able to correct this using software on the recorded video or refilm it and set the exposure manually.

Some flicker is evident on very bright scenes, but not at all on the darker ones.

Worst problem of all is sharpness and focus, - not that 8mm film was ever that sharp in the first place. Given that I can project a sharp image at short distance to keep it small and bright without the focus wandering, the camera itself seems to object to working at short focus distances in what it judges to be low light levels and with a slightly oblique screen so that not all the image is at the same distance from the camera. Autofocus is hopeless as it constantly tries to search for a better focus, and in so doing loses it for a few seconds at a time. Manual focus isn't much better.

Despite this some of the results were better than I had anticipated and have given me something to work on before I try again.

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Guest skeets

Finally got around to giving it a try. Most suprisingly my old Eumig 8mm projector, dug out of the loft after almost 20 years of retirement still works perfectly. Projected onto a screen with an image size of about A5 landscape, perhaps just a bit less and filmed it with a digital camcorder as close as possible to the projector.

There was some rectangular distortion but this can be hidden by filming slightly less than the full picture to make it appear square again, have to be careful with titles and the like not to trim anything important off though.

All the films now have a soundtrack of projector clatter and noise. As most 8mm is silent this can easily be edited off to restore the silence, however I do have some sound films and the noise does now appear on the recorded soundtrack.

The pictures are a bit dark in places, I may be able to correct this using software on the recorded video or refilm it and set the exposure manually.

Some flicker is evident on very bright scenes, but not at all on the darker ones.

H Dave Heres the one you never got Skeets

Worst problem of all is sharpness and focus, - not that 8mm film was ever that sharp in the first place. Given that I can project a sharp image at short distance to keep it small and bright without the focus wandering, the camera itself seems to object to working at short focus distances in what it judges to be low light levels and with a slightly oblique screen so that not all the image is at the same distance from the camera. Autofocus is hopeless as it constantly tries to search for a better focus, and in so doing loses it for a few seconds at a time. Manual focus isn't much better.

Despite this some of the results were better than I had anticipated and have given me something to work on before I try again.

HI Dave Heres the one l tried to mail you . looks like you got two ,you can start breeding again Skeets
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HI Dave Heres the one l tried to mail you . looks like you got two ,you can start breeding again Skeets

Thanks Skeets

Not thinking of breeding any more from our remaining birds, they are getting a bit old now and they do take a fair bit of looking after.

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Guest skeets

Both of these methods seem to use a digital camera to record a projected image, in the case of the capture box the image will be bright and the projector and camera axes will be aligned, although it would appear the image would have to be laterally inverted as it is effectively viewed from the back of a screen (easily done with a mirror). With the second method the image will be darker and not in perfect alignment as the camera and projector lenses can't be in the same place at the same time. I wonder how well either method copes with flicker caused by the difference in frame /scan rates (If film is being shown at 18fps and video scanned at 25 fps some of the video frames will be blank or partially blank while the projector shutter is closed to move the film to the next frame) and how these systems cope with the "texture" of the screen (presumably the capture box will have a ground glass screen). I also assume that if transfering a sound film this is done electrically from projector audio out to camera mic. or audio in otherwise the camera would pick up a lot of projector noise if you were forced to use the microphone.

I know the quality of 8mm film isn't fantastic but I wonder how good the digitised copies are. If SteveHB has experience of using such a device perhaps he could comment on this.

Talk about BLINDING WITH SCIENCE

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Talk about BLINDING WITH SCIENCE

Sorry skeets,

Being a science teacher and having being involved with science, photography and cine for over 40 years since I was at school this stuff sort of comes fairly naturally.

At least if some of us can hang on to old and obsolete technology and keep it working then from a history point of view older archive material (like 8mm films and reel to reel tape recordings) will still be available for everyone to access.

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Sorry skeets,

Being a science teacher and having being involved with science, photography and cine for over 40 years since I was at school this stuff sort of comes fairly naturally.

At least if some of us can hang on to old and obsolete technology and keep it working then from a history point of view older archive material (like 8mm films and reel to reel tape recordings) will still be available for everyone to access.

So have you got a reel to reel player Dave?

I've got a reel of 1/4" tape that was on a tape player I bought from a car boot sale. (It didn't work but I just wanted the little valve amplifier) Don't know what's on it. Could be rubbish, could be State Secrets for all I know. Fancy having a listen?

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So have you got a reel to reel player Dave?

I've got a reel of 1/4" tape that was on a tape player I bought from a car boot sale. (It didn't work but I just wanted the little valve amplifier) Don't know what's on it. Could be rubbish, could be State Secrets for all I know. Fancy having a listen?

Not something I currently own vox, mainly because I have no archive of material in that format. However I always look around junk and antique shops hoping I will find a nice Ferrograph or Walther 303 machine for next to nothing just to tinker around with.

I haven't got an 8 track cartridge player either, a fairly short lived mainly play only format from the mid 1970's. Most of these were made to play in cars like having a car radio but the domestic machines are much harder to find and much more expensive and desirable.

I can currently handle all the 8mm cine variations but not 9.5 and 16mm.

With a bit of luck and a lot of cursing I can probably cope with any still film format, plates (contact printable), 120, 620, 127, 35mm easily, and the subminature formats like 110, 16mm and Minox.

I can do VHS tape but not BetaMax.

As you state above, when you come across something which may be of interest in an old format, finding the equipment to handle it that still works can be a bit of a battle.

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QUOTE (vox @ May 17 2009, 05:29 PM) So have you got a reel to reel player Dave?

I've got a reel of 1/4" tape that was on a tape player I bought from a car boot sale. (It didn't work but I just wanted the little valve amplifier) Don't know what's on it. Could be rubbish, could be State Secrets for all I know. Fancy having a listen?

Not something I currently own vox,

Well if anyone else has a reel to reel and would like a listen feel free ----

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