VHS quality

gaypraha2

I don't remember that VHS tapes were this bad to begin with

probably because you were watching them on an standard low res. CRT screen. ;D

mcondor

I don't remember that VHS tapes were this bad to begin with

probably because you were watching them on an standard low res. CRT screen. ;D

There are limitations of the VHS format no matter how good the VHS rip is, but
here are three that I think are pretty good - I did RIP each of them, so I have
some bias, and I spend a lot of time of making them the best they can be, considering. . .

Mark
Takin' Care of Mike (1992)
https://www.gaytor.rent/details.php?id=0dd9ee74a4d00052eca3c72c00219918e1b30552ee472763

Le Salon - Eric Dahl in Big Favors (1986)
https://www.gaytor.rent/details.php?id=69bf0d47f709b708eca3c72c00219918acb3453af6140d70

(Sierra Pacific/Sharpshooters) Sex Shooters 1990 ~twinks
https://www.gaytor.rent/details.php?id=e3dba42defccac36eca3c72c00219918de111973316a3b7c

Nietzsche58

http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/capture-understand-sources.htm

Frederick

@mcondor:

@gaypraha2:

I don't remember that VHS tapes were this bad to begin with

probably because you were watching them on an standard low res. CRT screen. ;D

There are limitations of the VHS format no matter how good the VHS rip is, but
here are three that I think are pretty good - I did RIP each of them, so I have
some bias, and I spend a lot of time of making them the best they can be, considering. . .

Mark
Takin' Care of Mike (1992)
https://www.gaytor.rent/details.php?id=0dd9ee74a4d00052eca3c72c00219918e1b30552ee472763

Le Salon - Eric Dahl in Big Favors (1986)
https://www.gaytor.rent/details.php?id=69bf0d47f709b708eca3c72c00219918acb3453af6140d70

(Sierra Pacific/Sharpshooters) Sex Shooters 1990 ~twinks
https://www.gaytor.rent/details.php?id=e3dba42defccac36eca3c72c00219918de111973316a3b7c

One of the VHS movies I downloaded and was disappointed with was "Takin Care Of Mike".. not the one you posted but a smaller version. Could you reseed yours?

mcondor

I am seeding the three vids I listed. I see from the up idle time in Vuze
that someone got takin; care of mike over night.

Mark

SemenDemon

It's worth keeping in mind that getting the very best quality digital transfers of VHS is pretty involved (meaning, it requires some research and spending money on the appropriate equipment if you haven't already got it). You can have a tape in great condition and still end up with a transfer that looks like complete trash. Most of the VHS transferring tools the average person chooses are the equivalent of one of those shitty Crosley USB turntables for "digitizing" vinyl. The average person will just search for products on Amazon ("VHS ripper" or something like that) and opt to buy the simplest, cheapest made in China crap available (usually a device like this), doing little research into how to do things the best way. I'd be willing to bet money that a large portion of VHS rips on this site were recorded through the composite output on a VCR, for example.

My point is, it's often less about the format (VHS is perfectly adequate) than it is about the average person's transferring techniques, assuming the source tape isn't an nth generation copy, or one used/abused heavily and in a poorly maintained VCR to begin with.

gaypraha2

e used/abused heavily and in a poorly maintained

gay porn vhs are usually in bad condition because they come from sexshop who sold for nothing all their stock when switched to DVD. ( I bought like 25 vhs , 1 or 2 euros each, they were all in use as pay per view in cabins of sexshop so read, reread hundreds of times) because the price of gay porn in the end of 90's was enormous. Like I paid the equivalent of today 150 euros for a vhs of german MAn's Best. Also people usually dont use any device to clean and amplify the analog signal between the capturing A/D device and the VCR. One should always use that ( also to get rid of macrovision protection or any other form but very unlikely in gay porn) ( any Velleman kit will do to eliminate noise and enhance color/brightness/contrast). Its also a good thing to pass the sound through a mixer to correct it ( usually too much high or too much low, boost it a little remove noise again.)

mcondor

Yeah sometimes tapes are pretty much worn through or have
very bad sync problems.

But without good equipment and techniques even a pristine
tape can be RIP-d to a steaming pile!

I use what was then a high-end JVC SVHS deck which can stabilize
many tapes that are normally beyond hope. I capture at a high
bit rate, using the S-Video connector to a very good Hauppauge
capture unit. I try to get the initial contrast/brightness/hue
from the capture s/w.

I then import the capture into a freeware program called VirtualDub.
I fix up the overscan issues, tweak any more issues that are apparent,
and often have to fix the aspect ratio to the correct 4/3.

There is a limit to how much effort I will expend - on tapes where the
hue changes virtually every scene I just try to find a happy medium for
the entire tape. I don't want to spend the time correcting each scene.

I then save to a more friendly bit rate for posting.

Mark

MrMazda

If it's of any value, I have access to a professional recording studio where I can digitize such things with high end equipment that is designed for optimal quality. There is literally NO VHS tape that said machine cannot read if you play with all the available settings.

Also, it's not just VHS that I can rip from. I can also import from Sony Beta, as well as 12" vinyl, or cassette tape. There really is no media format that I cannot convert to digital format of some sort.

klkornt

@mcondor:

Le Salon […] Sierra Pacific

Gay porn studios used to have really unapologetically gay names, didn't they?