The Archive Project: Part 1
I know this is cutting in to my series about my server, but I got inspired to write about this so I figured I should get started.
When I was younger I remember loving to go through my family's old pictures albums and home videos, covering my family's life from before my birth to about when I was 7 years old. I loved looking through the pictures and remembering all the things I did, and I especially loved re watching the various videos my parents made of the family. Looking back, this probably had something to do with my obsession with visual media, but it left an impact nevertheless.
I bring this up because, a few days ago, I had a dream which involved finding those pictures and videos again. That's all I remember, but I woke up thinking about it. All those pictures are videos are all physical media, ranging from printed pictures to VHS and DV tapes. As I've been focused a lot on storage mediums lately, I've realized that if I wanted to protect those memories, I'd need to archive them soon. Many of those mediums are just as old, if not older, than I am.
Yesterday evening, I asked my parents if they knew where all those pictures and videos were. They had to think for a moment, probably since they hadn't thought about them in a while either, but we found them shortly after, tucked away in the corner of a closet we rarely use. Inside a couple dusty shoe boxes they rested, just like I remembered them. About 25 or so tapes, along with hundreds of printed photos.
You've almost certainly seen these cables before, or some sort of variant of them. They're called AV Composite or Component Cables. And they probably the most commonly used cables for any sort of media that plugs into a tv from between 1993-2008. The yellow cable is for video, typically transferring at around 360p quality. The white and red cables transfer left and right stereo audio, respectively.
Why does this matter? Because there's no cheap way to input these cables into a computer. As I pondered how I could go about this, I realized that my current computer set up was not going to suffice. I was definitely going to need to purchase some computer parts to make this work.
The first thing I needed to do before purchasing anything was map out a plan.
When I was younger I remember loving to go through my family's old pictures albums and home videos, covering my family's life from before my birth to about when I was 7 years old. I loved looking through the pictures and remembering all the things I did, and I especially loved re watching the various videos my parents made of the family. Looking back, this probably had something to do with my obsession with visual media, but it left an impact nevertheless.
I bring this up because, a few days ago, I had a dream which involved finding those pictures and videos again. That's all I remember, but I woke up thinking about it. All those pictures are videos are all physical media, ranging from printed pictures to VHS and DV tapes. As I've been focused a lot on storage mediums lately, I've realized that if I wanted to protect those memories, I'd need to archive them soon. Many of those mediums are just as old, if not older, than I am.
Yesterday evening, I asked my parents if they knew where all those pictures and videos were. They had to think for a moment, probably since they hadn't thought about them in a while either, but we found them shortly after, tucked away in the corner of a closet we rarely use. Inside a couple dusty shoe boxes they rested, just like I remembered them. About 25 or so tapes, along with hundreds of printed photos.
Thus raised the question: How can I effectively and efficiently digitize printed photos and tape media for archiving purposes?
This project attempts to answer that question.
Preparation
Or how I spent $200 on things I probably don't need
The first thing on my mind were the VHS tapes. The pictures looked like they were in good shape, so it was important that I get the tapes done quickly. I had no idea as to what their condition was, and considering we used them often in my childhood, I assumed that they were already in poor condition. Which raised the following question:
How can I archive tape media?
It might seem like a simple question at first, but not so. With optical media, such as DVD's, you can pop them into a disc drive and import it there and then. VHS is not so simple.
Why does this matter? Because there's no cheap way to input these cables into a computer. As I pondered how I could go about this, I realized that my current computer set up was not going to suffice. I was definitely going to need to purchase some computer parts to make this work.
The first thing I needed to do before purchasing anything was map out a plan.
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| The course of action |
After some research and online window shopping, I had a plan mapped out as to how I could reliably archive the VHS media. Starting from the VCR, I could plug it into an AC Composite to HDMI converter, converting the AV signal into the modern standard of HDMI. From here, I could plug the HDMI into a capture card that I could install in my computer, letting my computer act as a sort of television that appears on my computer. From here, it's a simple matter of recording the input in a reliable way, which brings me to the next question.
What video format it best for capturing VHS media?
This is a difficult question because it brings video compression into play. And considering we're converting from an analog (VHS) format to digital, I'm still not exactly sure what to do. I could try and capture with little to no compression, but that would result in small video that has a file size as large as a 4K video.
Anyway, I'm writing this at work, and it's nearing the end of my shift, so I'm gonna end the post here. But I'll try to continue it later.
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