I have the 1991 South Carolina game, including Nitz's call, on VHS. The copy isn't the greatest in the world, but I do have it.
I also have the coach's film on VHS from the Mississippi State game in 1996 (no sound).
If you're interested in editing either of these down and posting them or posting them in their entirety, send me pm. I would love to get Nitz's play-by-play of the MSU game and sync up the biggest plays of the game. The final score of that game doesn't reflect how badly we blew them out.
If this happens as separate videos, or combined, or with all of the other highlights let’s us know please.
Here's the private message I sent the Historian.
To convert it to digital, I think there are 3 routes to go:
1. Get both converted at CostCo for $20 https://ordercostco.yesvideo.com/products/videotapes
2. Get both converted at Walgreens for $70 http://order.imemories.com/video-to-dvd
3. Send them to me, and I'll convert them myself. I've never done it before, and my VHS has a tape stuck in it. If I can successfully unstick it, I'll look into getting an analog-to-digital converter.
As far as the price of choices 1 or 2 goes, I (and, I suppose, others) could pitch in for the conversion. I don't have a CostCo membership. Do you? Maybe someone else in the group would.
Please let me know what you think. And if you haven't, please consider popping out the tab on the label side of the tapes that prevents the tapes getting recorded over.
Once they're converted to digital, we can upload them to youtube and add them to the playlist.
Since I haven't heard from the Historian, I've had time to think about this little project, and I've revised my plans.
Basically, since these videos will likely be for all posterity, we should try to get these videos in as high a quality as possible. So, how do we that? Well, first, we need to minimize the number of conversions the video goes through. There's going to be one inevitable conversion from analog VHS to a digital file. There will be another inevitable conversion when the file is posted to youtube. So to get these files to youtube, we're locked into a minimum of two conversions. If we get the digital conversion in DVD format, we'll have to convert from DVD format to a youtube-accepted format, a third conversion we should avoid.
These are the file formats youtube accepts. Of those, according to this article, the best file format is AVI. (If someone knows better, I'd welcome your input.)
So we should convert the VHS to an AVI at the appropriate resolution. Also, if the image is washed out, it would be good to be able to adjust saturation, contrast, etc. Likewise, it would be good to be able to apply an audio equalizer to minimize any hiss or buzz in the audio and boost the voices if necessary. It seems like the ideal step at which to make these adjustments is at the first step, the analog-to-digital conversion.
So I'm now leaning against going through CostCo and Walgreens. If I can get my VCR working, I'll do it myself.
Once the games are converted, my intention is to post them in their entirety to youtube. I also intend to post the original digital file to a dropbox location for public download. There, anyone can get the digital file without the youtube conversion. If anyone wants to, they could edit the games down to a ~10-minute highlight video (something I don't foresee doing right away).
So if anyone knows the Historian, please ask him to follow up. Thanks.
Jharris,
I've bought a device that will convert the video directly from VCR to computer. It should work.
What I'm working on now is cleaning the VCR and tapes.
Give me a week or two and lets see if it works.
Thank you from all Tech fans.
Great! Thanks for taking care of that and following up.
That article recommends converting at 640x480 resolution at 29.967fps and then de-interlacing the video using the software VirtualDub which is free. Also, please try to get the converted file in AVI format.
Let me know if I can be of assistance. Otherwise, I'll look forward to those videos. Thanks!
Jason at Bob Sale Camera in Monroe does a fabulous job on scans and conversions.
Louisiana Tech University
Flagship of the University of Louisiana System
Anyone heard from the Historian (or anyone else) about the scans of those games (or any other footage)? Thanks.