Noob question – vhs transfer to DVD for Ewok telemovies

Here’s an overlooked piece of Star Wars nostalgia.  I actually own the Ewoks telemovies ("The Ewok Adventure" a.k.a. “The Caravan of Courage” and "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor") on the official DVD release.  Let me get that out of the way.

Listening to a Now Playing Podcast review of these two movies the last couple weeks, I recalled I still have a VHS tape from the original airings of these two movies.  I’ll have to dig it out and check that tape.  I’m pretty certain at least the first movie is a first generation copy (directly from TV).  There’s a good chance the second one is too.  I don’t recall if they are complete with all the commercials intact or not, but I will verify.

If they are in decent condition, I’d like to preserve these turkeys to DVD.  What is the best way to do that?
I am familiar I could do the quick & dirty transfer from a VCR to my DVD recorder.  I’ve browsed the forums and I read a bit on the transfer of the Star Wars Holiday Special.  What would I need to do in order to preserve these in the best condition possible?  I’m just curious if I need a special capture card or software or what the best equipment and procedures are.  I realize my source material is limited by the capacity of the VHS tape (most likely recorded in SLP too).  But, these are from my childhood and recorded from my local station and with the original commercials (I hope) and there’s something nostalgic about that I’d like to preserve before VCRs are totally extinct or the tape becomes unplayable. 

With a bit of input, I’ll give it a try myself.  If anyone out there is interested in taking this on as a preservation project, please PM me.

Thanks.

Tbird97

What are you looking for exactly? Just a clean transfer to a digital format, then burned to a DVD?

I did end up getting this project done (or at least done for now).
I used many of the same techniques that Tasjo used for the WHIO version of the Holiday Special.
My Panasonic AG-1980 S-VHS video deck seems to be on the fritz, so I used a lesser VCR and regular coaxial video cable rather than S-video.

I tried to use the VirtualDub program to capture, but I never could get the audio and video to sync. I ended up using a program called AmarecTV to capture from the vcr using a Hauppauge USB Live 2 video capture card and it worked like a charm and provided a nice lossless .avi capture using the Huffyuv codec. I was able to capture both movies and stored them to dual-layer DVD9. My skills at creating them are not up to Tasjos, so I did have a background photo (title page), but no fancy menus. I inserted chapter stops which matched those of the commercially released Ewok Adventures DVD with these two telemovies. I did not make chapter selections available from the menu, though that would be a nice addition at some point.

I ended up with decent captures, given the source material. My Ewok Adventure movie (AKA “The Caravan of Courage”) is missing 3 or 4 commercial breaks and the end credits. It starts with the ABC Saturday Night Movie “stars” intro. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is complete with all commercials, missing only the end credits. It has the ABC Sunday Night Movie intro and it aired in place of MacGyver that night.

The picture (and sound) from the commercially available DVD are much superior to my captures, without a doubt. However, it’s still fun to pop in my disc and revisit them just as they aired on my local tv channel in 1984 and 1985. We hoped to do that as my son and I watched everything Star Wars leading up to The Force Awakens and our mission was accomplished in that regard.

If I’m ever able to obtain another VHS copy which aired, I’d like to splice in the missing commercials and the end credits. At that point, I’d probably tinker with the menus to add chapter selections as well, but I was able to make the capture and it was a good learning experience with some tips from members of this community.

Which version of the first movie do yo have? Caravan of Courage or The Ewok Adventure?

The one I have on vhs which I just transferred is “The Ewok Adventure” as it originally aired on my local channel, I believe on November 25, 1984. Mine was recorded on VHS (extended mode). It begins with the ABC Saturday Night movie intro. It’s missing 3 or 4 sets of commercials which my dad cut out as he recorded it (some of them were still recorded). The movie is complete except for the end credits.

So it may be interesting also for other people? If I remember correctly the DVD contains the “Caravan of Courage” cut, correct?

EDIT Looks like I remember it correctly - see Adamwankenobi’s post here : http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Battle-for-Endor-and-caravan-of-courage/id/3129

That is correct, the official DVD contains the title “Caravan of Courage.”
I’m not sure if there are other changes, aside from the title. I’ve never compared the two.

Just what you’ve all been waiting for, the Ewoks telemovies!
Ha ha.
I have copied my vhs recordings of the original airings in 1984 and 1985. I have a DVD of each. I’d like to upload them to Myspleen, but I’ve never done one before and having some difficulty. I’d appreciate any assistance.

Also, I have the raw files. I’m copying them to a flash drive. If someone is more skilled than I, I would be willing to provide the raw files in order for someone to insert nicer menus and chapter selections than my meager abilities allowed. I can be contacted here, and I believe my PMs are turned on.
Thanks for any assistance.
May the Force be with you.

tbird97 said:

Just what you’ve all been waiting for, the Ewoks telemovies!
Ha ha.
I have copied my vhs recordings of the original airings in 1984 and 1985. I have a DVD of each. I’d like to upload them to Myspleen, but I’ve never done one before and having some difficulty. I’d appreciate any assistance.

Also, I have the raw files. I’m copying them to a flash drive. If someone is more skilled than I, I would be willing to provide the raw files in order for someone to insert nicer menus and chapter selections than my meager abilities allowed. I can be contacted here, and I believe my PMs are turned on.
Thanks for any assistance.
May the Force be with you.

can I have the files for battle of endor? I want to reinsert the removed scenes back into the disney plus version.

Darth telly said:

tbird97 said:

Just what you’ve all been waiting for, the Ewoks telemovies!
Ha ha.
I have copied my vhs recordings of the original airings in 1984 and 1985. I have a DVD of each. I’d like to upload them to Myspleen, but I’ve never done one before and having some difficulty. I’d appreciate any assistance.

Also, I have the raw files. I’m copying them to a flash drive. If someone is more skilled than I, I would be willing to provide the raw files in order for someone to insert nicer menus and chapter selections than my meager abilities allowed. I can be contacted here, and I believe my PMs are turned on.
Thanks for any assistance.
May the Force be with you.

can I have the files for battle of endor? I want to reinsert the removed scenes back into the disney plus version.

Were there scenes deleted from the Disney+ version? I’ve not yet watched it on D+.

I’m going to have to find a way to host or post these to share them. I’m kind of working on a little project to restore the missing commercials and end credits and maybe that would be the ideal time.

A much better source than my recorded from television onto vhs would be the Ewoks double feature dvd which was released in either 2004 or 2006.