VHS looking bad

[Figory]

Hi

I made a video using my Canon XL1, put it together in IMovie,
then to get it onto tape for a client I played it back into the XL1
and then out to VHS.
While it looked great on my G4, its not too special on vhs.
My vhs deck is old and tired and used very little, but is there something I can do without spending a mint?
Thanks

 

[7on]

VHS is pretty bad.

If you need to show a client something SVHS or Beta is better

Or a DVD would work too I guess.

 

[Figory]

S VHS

what exactly is SVHS?

My G4 came with a little svhs adapter, but the socket for svhs on the xl1 is a different size and i dont have it (Should I get it?)

Can I run imovie to vhs directly without going back to the camera first?

Where is so much quality getting lost???

Stills from my tiny credit card sized digi camera 2.0 mega Pixels look just as good as my $$$$$ XL1!!!

 

[bousozoku]

You can buy a Super VHS (S-VHS) VCR fairly economically now. You should be able to find models from JVC, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi. The resolution is around 400 lines compared to 252 (?) of NTSC. However, these tapes do not work in standard VHS recorders/players.

A DVD writer is a better option.

 

[crazytom]

You can get a new, decent VCR for under $100. Even the cheap ones ($50) can record decent quality on SP. First off, I'd probably clean the heads on your current one. Radio Shack probably has a tape cleaner for $5 or so...I wouldn't recommend using it a lot, because it's abrasive and can shorten the life of the video heads. I assume you're making the video on VHS for maximum portability. Not everyone has, nor wants to buy a Beta or S-VHS...(I have both)

 

[7on]

SVHS
Beta

S-video adapter not svhs adapter
Can I run imovie to vhs directly without going back to the camera first?

Your video should playback onto the camcorder and your (S)VHS recorder should be hooked to your camcorder. This is the best quality solution.

VHS is just the ****tiest quality in the world. Well, it's a little better than WMV, but not much.

Espnetboy3, you need this,
DV-Bridge
There are others available, but this has TV viewing too.

 

[7on]

You can get a new, decent VCR for under $100. Even the cheap ones ($50) can record decent quality on SP. First off, I'd probably clean the heads on your current one. Radio Shack probably has a tape cleaner for $5 or so...I wouldn't recommend using it a lot, because it's abrasive and can shorten the life of the video heads. I assume you're making the video on VHS for maximum portability. Not everyone has, nor wants to buy a Beta or S-VHS...(I have both)

He's doing it for a client, whom I assume will want the highest quality available.

 

[LethalWolfe]

He's doing it for a client, whom I assume will want the highest quality available.

Unless it's for final delivery and the client requested VHS. Or the client just wanted a preview copy to make notes on or something. Going from MiniDV to VHS is going to look crappy no matter what because MiniDV is just worlds better than VHS.

EDIT: Also, S-VHS and S-Video are both correct terms (which I learned rather recently). S-VHS is just the brand name (kinda like Xerox vs photocopier).

Lethal

 

[Figory]

is there any other way?

Yes the vhs is just a rough, but it kills me that it looks so good on the G4 but so bad on VHS.

So my best option is really DVD?

 

[bousozoku]

Yes the vhs is just a rough, but it kills me that it looks so good on the G4 but so bad on VHS.

So my best option is really DVD?

It's more likely that they'll be able to play DVDs than Super VHS tapes.

 

[evil_santa]

what exactly is SVHS?

My G4 came with a little svhs adapter, but the socket for svhs on the xl1 is a different size and i dont have it (Should I get it?)

Can I run imovie to vhs directly without going back to the camera first?

Where is so much quality getting lost???

Stills from my tiny credit card sized digi camera 2.0 mega Pixels look just as good as my $$$$$ XL1!!!

svhs is Super VHS & is a tape format, higher quality than normal VHS. The S-video adapter outputs the video down 2 wires, Lumanance & croma. Giving a better quality image than if it was came down one wire, such as the rca outputs on most domestic video cameras.

you should use DV to conect the camera to the computer. if you vhs has a svideo in you could use the svideo out of the camera, but if your vhs recorder is old,this is proberbly the problem, have you tried another vhs recorder? Also The tape you used was it new & Hi Grade, It can make a difference. If you get a new machine get a good quality one ( i use panasonic, i have always found them to be good). The $50 vcr may be a waste of money. If you are doing work for money people will expect resonable results.

If you want to output directly to vhs from you g4 you will need a video card, I have an old Miro DC-30 ( you can get them on ebay, only fit the g3/4 towers not g5) and the SQUARED 5 DC30 Xact Driver 1.5.2 it will output video directly from quicktime movies. it may not work directly from imove or FCE, (works with FCP). you may have to export the move to you desktop as a QT file then play it.