Need to recover a home movie

[Eternally]

Have a home movie on VHS and it was used to record a TV show.

Isn't there a way to get the original data back?

I have started searching th Net to see if I can find a company that does that.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Maybe I should ask the FBI?

:scratch

[dynamicrealism]

u need this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815144025

A device that converts analog video and inputs it into the computer to encode into digital. The one problem you might run into is owning a slow computer. Having 3 yearold or newer computer is mandatory :thumb

[TeachMe]

Ray did that on "Everybody Loves Raymond."
He recorded a football game over their wedding video.
It didn't sit too well with Deborah.

[ghetto guy]

u need this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815144025

A device that converts analog video and inputs it into the computer to encode into digital. The one problem you might run into is owning a slow computer. Having 3 yearold or newer computer is mandatory :thumb

I don't think that could really do anything if the source (the VCR) can decode the tape that well.

[Hootmon]

Have a home movie on VHS and it was used to record a TV show.

Isn't there a way to get the original data back? I dont think that is possible. The analog method of recording that an old-school VCR uses fills the tape sequentially.

[Eternally]

I dont think that is possible. The analog method of recording that an old-school VCR uses fills the tape sequentially.

:yikes

[dynamicrealism]

listen people, those devices do exactly what i said earlier. They come with the a/v converter box, and software to load on your computer. You open up the program, hit record, go to your vcr and put the tape in and press play, and it records to your computer as an avi file in various codecs. I've done it my self. Check out your local bestbuy to see if they have any.

[Eternally]

listen people, those devices do exactly what i said earlier. They come with the a/v converter box, and software to load on your computer. You open up the program, hit record, go to your vcr and put the tape in and press play, and it records to your computer as an avi file in various codecs. I've done it my self. Check out your local bestbuy to see if they have any.


And once you get it saved as an avi file you can see what is underneath and recorded over? :hat

[fracturedInfinity]

listen people, those devices do exactly what i said earlier. They come with the a/v converter box, and software to load on your computer. You open up the program, hit record, go to your vcr and put the tape in and press play, and it records to your computer as an avi file in various codecs. I've done it my self. Check out your local bestbuy to see if they have any.

Eternally was not asking how to get the contents of a VHS tape from the tape to his comptuer. He's asking how he can restore what what on the tape after it has been taped over.

The link you posted is for an item that only takes what's on the tape already and puts it into a file on your computer.

A bit of searching turned this up on another forum:
QUOTE(Writerpatrick @ Mar 16 2008, 10:12 AM)
...
Old disks are another matter; initially only the filename is erased and the actual data isn't erased until something is recorded over so in some cases it's possible to recover at least part of the old data.

VHS recordings are in fact digital but they are stored and accessed sequentially. I'm not going to get into the technical aspects but they use basically the same magnetic material as floppy disks...

__________________
No, no, no, no. Just because it uses the same physical medium, it does not mean VHS VCRs record digital signals! Traditional VHS tape recorders do not store information digitally, they store it as analog information (video and sound frequencies). There is now something called digital-VHS, but that should not be confused with the machines you used to record-over your brother's graduation tape with first season "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes.

Analog tapes use magnetic frequencies across different heads to record analog video and audio signals. Digital recorders record onto essentially the same media, but instead of frequencies, they recored digital binary information. That's why there's such a difference in quality between the quality of VHS tapes and digital tapes (such as mini-DV tapes), especially when it comes to making copies (VHS degrades generationally). Analog has a lot of extra information that is not visible or audible, and digital video filters that out in favor of displaying more of what we can see and hear.

As for recovery of audio or video that's been recorded over? No, you can't really do that. Patrick is at least correct about that. You can see ghosts and noise that are remnants of prior recordings, especially on lower quality recorders or at lower quality recording speeds; but you will not be able to make a full sample-by-sample or frame-by-frame recovery of the audio or video.

Further complicating matters, video tape sheds magnetic particles. That's why colors seem to bleed and get softer or fuzzier on older tapes over time. The real life expectancy of a video tape is about 25 years. Tops. My own experience is 15 to 20 years.

And yes, I am a bit of an "expert," in case anyone is wondering. It's the business I'm in.

Eric


I couldn't find anything company wise that offers VHS tape restoration, so I think it's safe to say that what was there is gone. Sorry I don't have better news for ya.

[dynamicrealism]

it took me rereading the original post 4 times until it clicked and made sense that it was overwritten. my apologies for giving misguiding advice. i was halfway there lol