Restoring Old Viedotapes

[dowkeith]

I bought some videotapes in the 1990s. When I tried to covert them to DVDs it was too late to save them. The picture is fine, but there is an annoying buzz on the soundtrack. Does Roxio make anything to fix this? I am used to restoring sound on audio products with Diamond Cut software, but this is a new area for me.

[cdanteek]

I bought some videotapes in the 1990s. When I tried to covert them to DVDs it was too late to save them. The picture is fine, but there is an annoying buzz on the soundtrack. Does Roxio make anything to fix this? I am used to restoring sound on audio products with Diamond Cut software, but this is a new area for me.

 

Post a small sample at a file hosting site like upfordown.

 

http://www.upfordown.com/

 

We can then download it and see.

[Jim_Hardin]

...and it would be nice to know HOW you converted them?

 

The problem could have been in the 'process'

[ogdens]

I bought some videotapes in the 1990s. When I tried to covert them to DVDs it was too late to save them. The picture is fine, but there is an annoying buzz on the soundtrack. Does Roxio make anything to fix this? I am used to restoring sound on audio products with Diamond Cut software, but this is a new area for me.

 

Do you get the same "buzz" when the VCR is hooked up to your TV?

[dowkeith]

...and it would be nice to know HOW you converted them?

 

The problem could have been in the 'process'

 

It wasn't in any conversion. The videotapes play badly, before any transfer, on an ordinary VCR. It is a common thing in many VHS tapes for the soundtrack to go before the video. You get a repeating (on and off) buzzing sound. There was really no conversion. The VHS tapes were played on a VCR whose outputs were wired to the inputs of a Magnavox DVD recorder. This process works well as long as the source material is good. I was hoping there is some problem to fix bad soundtracks on VHS tapes the way Diamond Cut fixes bad audio tapes.

 

dowkeith.

[dowkeith]

Do you get the same "buzz" when the VCR is hooked up to your TV?

 

Yes. It's a common thing I have experienced with old VHS tapes many times. The sound seems to be the first thing to go. This happens not just on homemade videotapes, but professional ones I have bought. I would think someone would have a program to address this issue the way Diamond Cut cleans up audio tapes.

[dowkeith]

Do you get the same "buzz" when the VCR is hooked up to your TV?

 

Yes. The hum was on three of five videotapes in a set I bought when I decided to transfer them six months ago. Now four out of the five have the hum when played on a VCR. Soon probably the fifth one will go.

 

It's a common thing -- for me at least - with older videotapes. These tapes date from the early 1990s. The soundtrack seems to go before the video does. I've seen this happen on professionally made videotapes as well as ones I recorded myself. The hum is on the source material. I transfer the videotpes to DVDs by hooking the outputs of the VCR to the inputs of a Magnavox DVD recorder. If the source material is clean, this method works perfectly. If the track is bad to begin with it becomes garbage in, garbage out.

[dowkeith]

...and it would be nice to know HOW you converted them?

 

The problem could have been in the 'process'

 

Hi Digital Guru,

It's not in the conversion process. The hum is there when the tapes are played on an ordinary VCR. It is a common thing in my experience with older videotapes. If the source material is clean the transfer from VCR to DVD recorder works fine. Otherwise it is garbage in, garbage out.

[bimicher]

Yes. It's a common thing I have experienced with old VHS tapes many times. The sound seems to be the first thing to go. This happens not just on homemade videotapes, but professional ones I have bought. I would think someone would have a program to address this issue the way Diamond Cut cleans up audio tapes.

 

If you have C2012 you could extract the audio from the video and then be able to "clean up" the buzz with some audio editor (perhaps Diamond Cut could do this). You would then have to add the "cleaned" audio back to the video while muting the orginal audio track

[dowkeith]

Post a small sample at a file hosting site like upfordown.

 

http://www.upfordown.com/

 

We can then download it and see.

 

I'll get a sample for you tonight or tomorrow. But it is a common thing to hear if you listen to an older videotape. These are professionally recorded videotapes that I bought and which date from 1992. I just got to them too late. This soundtrack issue has happened to me many times on older tapes. It's not the transfer. These tapes play badly on an ordinary VCR. If the source material is good the process of recording them on a DVD recorder hooked to the VCR works great.

[Jim_Hardin]

It wasn't in any conversion. The videotapes play badly, before any transfer, on an ordinary VCR. It is a common thing in many VHS tapes for the soundtrack to go before the video. You get a repeating (on and off) buzzing sound. There was really no conversion. The VHS tapes were played on a VCR whose outputs were wired to the inputs of a Magnavox DVD recorder. This process works well as long as the source material is good. I was hoping there is some problem to fix bad soundtracks on VHS tapes the way Diamond Cut fixes bad audio tapes.

 

dowkeith.

 

 

Hi Digital Guru,

It's not in the conversion process. The hum is there when the tapes are played on an ordinary VCR. It is a common thing in my experience with older videotapes. If the source material is clean the transfer from VCR to DVD recorder works fine. Otherwise it is garbage in, garbage out.

You went from an Analog Source and it was changed to a Digital Source... That IS the definition of a Conversion...

 

We asked because some "buzzes" are from improper grounding resulting in a 60 cycle 'buzz' from the electronics...

 

I would defiantly try playing the tapes on a different VCR!

 

However if it is in the tape there is nothing that can be done! I know you see that sort of thing on TV Shows but this is real life, not some script