[WanMan]

You know, my wife was trying to watch Episodes 4,5, and 6 of Star Wars, and then Episode 1 before going to see Attack of the Clone. So, she popped her VHS copies of episodes 4-6 into the VCR (one at a time, thankfully, hehe) and it looked like crap upon crap on our Mitsubishi Diamond 65" HDTV.


Now, the VCR is not S-VHS, and it was average technology when we got it 5 years ago, never been cleaned, and only has coax & composite outputs. Yeah, a real POS.


Aside from possibly getting a JVC D-VHS when the price drops another $500 from what I can already get it for ($1200), I'm wondering if I can clean the signal up and feed it into the DTV inputs on my RPTV using DScaler.


Heck, if I am going to do that I mine as well rip it to my hard drive and wave a magic wand around it, burn it as either a DVD-R under MPEG-2 or create a bloody VCD of these episodes and use my Panny RP56.


Thoughts?

 

[Larry Davis]

These questions belong in the Home Theater Computers Forum. Moving there now...

 

[AlMark]

That's something along the line of what I want to do - I just got a Creative Video Blaster and Pinnacle Studio, and the guys who initially tried the card seem to think it's pretty good. There's a lengthy thread already about it already. I want to archive my irreplaceable tapes (like weddings) before the quality disintegrates.


Al

 

[WanMan]

AlMark, I just replied to your thread about networking issues. Enjoy. Maybe we can bump heads about this topic, too.

 

[DMan]

VHS is going to look like VHS, doesn't matter what you do to it, it's going to look bad especially when blown up to display on a 65" television.


My suggestion.... buy a used LD player and get the Star Wars trilogy LDs used on eBay. Not only will you have them in their proper aspect ratio, but you will have them in a much higher resolution format.

 

[ramick]

Very good advice from DMan. (just wanted to post the phrase, but it is true ).

 

[RTK]

how were they released on LD but not DVD ?


hows the quality of the trilogy on LD?

 

[ramick]

I have to post this (also). Lucas (most probably) will not create the DVD incarnations of this series until they get the most money out of the movies. Then, they will release ONLY the whole series for big $.


Edit

Please see:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=141964

 

[bergie33]

The laserdiscs were released when video tapes were updated. The original movies were released on laserdisc when it gained popularity. The remastered THX versions were put on laserdisc when they were also released on VHS. Then there was a definitive edition that was THX and included a book and TONS of behind the scenes documentaries and interviews.


Finally, the special editions were released on laserdisc when the special edition was released on VHS. This version is the only one that was released in Dolby Digital (AC-3).


For about $400 you can have the best quality Star Wars viewing available:


$150 for a good laserdisc player with RF Output

$150 for an RF Demodulator

$100 for the special edition laserdiscs


Or you can wait 3-4 years for the DVD's.

 

[DRS]

$400 for 3 movies, makes sense to me


Personally, I can wait.


FWIW I borrowed a LD player and ran it through D-Scaler. I have the THX LDs without AC3 so I cannot comment on the last release of starwars on LD but it still looked like crap to me.

 

[vstesting]

I was thinking of converting the VHS copies I have, but then I just broke down and bought the VCDs . The quality is as good as I could have produced from VHS anyway (probably better).


Edit: Sorry about that link--it's to the PAL versions. The NTSC ones are out there, as well.

 

[DRS]

But they are pan & scan!

 

[vstesting]

Quote:

Originally posted by DRS But they are pan & scan!

That's why they're cheap

 

[Homer J]

Upgrading your VCR to a S-VHS or a D-VHS isn't going to make a bit of difference, since the source (your tape) is just basic VHS. The only possible hope for you is if you happen to have a 2 head VCR, and upgrade to a 4-head. Of course, cleaning your existing unit couldn't hurt either.


But I feel your pain. I have the widescreen VHS set (pre-special edition) that I tried to watch recently on my 55" widescreen, and it looked horrible. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

VHS just doesn't have the resolution capability to give a good picture on that size display. In addition to that, VHS tapes degrade with time and become worse.


It's getting the LD's, buying DVD's created from those LD's or possibly downloading DivX copies made from the LD's that are your choices. The latter two are of course illegal and I wouldn't recommend either... but I would certainly understand why someone would choose to go those routes with the original versions of these movies gone forever as far as Lucas is concerned, and a waiting period to get the special editions of the special editions of several years still...

 

[WanMan]

I'm beginning to think George Lucas IS the dark side of the force!

 

[WanMan]

Quote:

Originally posted by DMan VHS is going to look like VHS, doesn't matter what you do to it, it's going to look bad especially when blown up to display on a 65" television. My suggestion.... buy a used LD player and get the Star Wars trilogy LDs used on eBay. Not only will you have them in their proper aspect ratio, but you will have them in a much higher resolution format.

DMan, this is an excellent idea. Actually, any idea involving me buying electronics is good!

 

[pmohajer]

You can purchase the trilogy on DVD from ebay. There are several versions with DTS and Dolby Digital. They are not the best dvd's, but the quality is equal to the SE LD's.

 

[WanMan]

BTW, I will never conduct business on eBay. Until they provide a discussion forum for consumers to help protect other consumers from scammers, or just bad sellers/resellers, its not worth the hassle.

 

[Rgb]

re: "Cleaning up old Star Wars VHS movies "


I find that mild detergent works wonders on my Original Cut and Special Edition Star Wars Trilogies ltbx LD's