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Solved How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Is there a way to digitize or render old videos from the 1950's to 1970's to clear them up so that when I enlarge them to full screen they are not distorted?

I have Pro 14; my computer has 64 gigs. I am downloading a lot of old Creative Commons clips from the 50's, 60's, and 70's from YouTube and converting them into .mp4's before putting them into my project. I used Wondershare for the conversion. I also have one .vob clip, originally 8mm, that I converted to .mxf through Vegas, as Dr. Zen suggested. There are also some clips in this project shot with our own cameras in 1920x1080.

The project will be uploaded to YouTube and other websites, so I will need all the clips to be 1920x1080HD if that is possible, without distortion. I am experimenting with some higher than 1920 res render settings. Is it advisable to then re-render the resulting .mxf into an .mp4 to upload to YouTube?

Am I asking the impossible? Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated. Thank you!
Last Edit:03 Jul 2018 11:49 by Nashville Side Streets
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Replied by ericlnz on topic How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Posted 29 Jun 2018 18:11 #2
Two questions:

What do you mean by distortion?

What image size are the downloaded clips?
by ericlnz

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Replied by DoctorZen on topic How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Posted 29 Jun 2018 18:13 #3
Videos are only as good as the originals, especially when it is very old film that someone has uploaded to YouTube.
Most older videos on YouTube, will be a maximum resolution of 360p to 480p.
There really isn't much you can do to improve them.
It is OK to render to 1920x1080, but it is going to be blurry.

You shouldn't be having to convert any video that has been downloaded from YouTube.
If you download the correct version from YouTube, it will be ready to import into Vegas without any re-rendering.

Which program are you using to download videos from YouTube ?

There are literally 100s of different downloaders on the internet.
I use 3 different programs, depending on which website I am downloading from.
I often user WinX YouTube Download free edition.
www.winxdvd.com/youtube-downloader/

Always download the .mp4 version and it will work in Vegas.
Render your video exactly like you normally would - do not convert any videos that have just been rendered with Vegas - that is pointless and will reduce the quality.

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Last Edit:29 Jun 2018 18:15 by DoctorZen
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ClipGrab is another excellent downloader and convertor. It's quick and it's free.

Richard
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Replied by Eagle Six on topic How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Posted 30 Jun 2018 00:13 #5

Nashville Side Streets wrote: Am I asking the impossible?


I think the question is one of practicality, rather than impossibility, because it depends on your expectation of the end results. If you shoot for 720 HD, I think you may have a chance at getting something that is reasonable for the enjoyment of watching determined because of the content, rather than the end quality. If you do an internet search on up-scaling/enhancing old video/film you will discover endless means and methods of which many are extremely expensive and time consuming. To take 360 and enhance the quality to 1080 will neither be quick, easy or inexpensive. but if your standards are not too high, you may be able to obtain reasonable results that are rewarding.

As the others have pointed out, anything you download from Youtube (provided you follow Derek's suggestions) will be ready to add into Vegas without any conversion and will be progressive. If the original was interlaced (mostly is with old original media that was digitized), the deinterlaced conversion has already taken place in the Youtube download and it is either good or bad, and you are stuck with the resulting flickers (if any). If you are converting from DVD interlaced or analog tape, the deinterlacing will be up to you in Vegas. This can be challenging, but there are also some inexpensive tools available to help, although most of the good ones have a step learning curve, at least it was challenging to me.

It's been many years since I tried to bring old resolution source media up to HD, and the workflow has long be forgotten, but I do remember trying several of the upscaling software programs that promised magic, and they were all very processing intensive and expensive, and I was always disappointed in the results. I didn't get any results I could live with until I lowered my expectations. But none of this is a reason not to try. Wish I could provide a step-by-step how-to, but the process I used probably wasn't the greatest and there are most likely better tools available now to try which may provide much better results. Good luck on the project and I would be interested in hearing and seeing your project progress.
Best Regards......George
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Thanks to all for your replies! We are experimenting with different render settings within Vegas. We are trying MainConcept Internet 4K 2160p. The old clips are only slightly better, but the ones shot in 1920x1080 look terrific! So, for the time being, we will be using this setting. When this current project is completed and posted on YouTube, I will reply again with a link to it. Thanks again; this forum is a really cool thing. Thanks especially to Dr. Zen.
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Thank you again for all the responses. So we have not re-invented the wheel with our experiments. The old clips still look old, though some are slightly better after rendering the project in 4K. The new stuff turned out better than the original 1920x1080, of course. If you'd like to see the results, visit:

Again, thanks to Dr. Zen and everyone else who took the time to respond.
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Replied by ericlnz on topic How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Posted 13 Jul 2018 20:35 #8
Very good, and very moving.
by ericlnz
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Replied by DoctorZen on topic How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Posted 14 Jul 2018 12:38 #9

ericlnz wrote: Very good, and very moving.


I just watched your video today Ronnie and feel the same way as Eric.
Beautiful music and lyrics, and an incredible synchronicity.
You've really opened my Heart today and I thank you for that :)

I was born in October 1968 and can remember seeing the Vietnam war on black and white TV.
There were a lot of Australian Vietnam vets who came back from the war (all terribly damaged physically and emotionally) who lived where I grew up, in Western Sydney.

I don't normally talk about my own personal beliefs on this forum, but will break my rule just for today.
I've been praying for the good energy of 1968 to return to Earth, so a healing can occur - a big injection of flower power, beyond and above binary left/right thinking. Before new things are born, before consciousness shifts into a higher level, the old "lower ways" of thinking have to die once and for all. What/who supports that lower consciousness (war, greed and a total disregard for nature), will try and hold on to the very last minute. That's what we are experiencing now - the death throes of the darkness - everything that has lost it's connection to the heart is trying desperately to increase chaos, but they will not succeed.

I truly believe that something beautiful and unexpected will happen in our lifetime - hopefully sooner, rather than later.
The signs are definitely there, because every time I hear about something terrible, I know that something beautiful must also be happening at the same time, otherwise we would have blown ourselves up a long time ago.

Thank you for your song Ronnie.
It's exactly what I needed to hear right now.

Cheers :)
Derek

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ℹ️ Remember to turn everything off at least once a week, including your brain, then sit somewhere quiet and just chill out.
Unplugging is the best way to find solutions to your problems. If you would like to share some love, post a customer testimonial or make a donation.

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Replied by Robbie on topic How to render old clips from the 1950's to 1970's into 1920HD

Posted 14 Jul 2018 23:10 #10
+1
Music and video are great media to express ideas and emotions – in combination the effect can be greater than the sum of the parts. As a semi pro muso and hobbyist videographer myself …. nice work on both fronts Ronnie and Nancy. The track has something of a 60’s vibe and the imagery complements nicely.
Cheers, Robbie
PS. Apologies if I confused with my response to your original (separate) post. When you spoke of digitising old video from the 50’s to the 70’s I thought you were looking to capture from original film stock or tapes – something I might have been able to help with. Anyway, you got great advice from the Zen experts on how to work with those old clips in VMS.
PPS Plaudits for inhouse concerts - wonderful initiative! "Music is an interesting thing - you can change lives with it ... you can play music and all of a sudden it touches somebody ... its a great thing even if it one person" :-)
Last Edit:15 Jul 2018 09:23 by Robbie

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