Finally got a working VCR and feeling nostalgic, if anyone has any Messyfun/Splosh VHS tapes they would be willing to part with, I would be interested.

I have the complete Messy Fun set, but would probably only be interested in selling it whole. PM me if this seems viable to you.

Would there be a feasible way to convert these tapes to a modern mp4 or mov format using a high resolution transfer? I'd love to see some of the messy fun videos, but the current ones I had from their clip store over a decade ago are of such miserable quality, they don't do the production justice.

What Arch Nemesis said.

The quality of those clips now as just about barrable now.

The Image source from VHS itself (480p max) is going to be the primary issue.

This would probably require Digital up-scaling and enhancement (not just a transfer) and it would still not get beyond a certain point resolution wise.

We're just limited by how the images were initially taken. If they'd been shot on FILM it would be a different story (also somewhat more expensive and time consuming), but alas...

I do have a few of the classic MessyFun VHS tapes. Let me dig around and I'll send you a PM with a list of titles.

Not possible too distribute without the permission of whoever is now the copyright owner. Plus as others have commented, the very low resolution of the source material will always be a problem. What was fine for watching at 240 line resolution on a 21" CRT in the 90s just isn't going to scale to the much closer and higher resolution screens we take as standard nowadays. In theory AI upscaling can help, but that's still in its infancy for now.

Going back to the source and re-encoding all the old MF clips would definitely improve the quality.... Even taking the 480p format into account. (That would NOT be digitizing old VHS tapes, but rather using the original transfer source, which you hope would be uncompressed DVD-quality MPEGs or similar. That's what I've been doing with my old stuff that was originally sold in WMV format. It makes a difference, especially with liquids like slime and water.)

But as DM1 mentioned, the bigger issue is that the only entity that can legally do this is the MessyFun rights holder. I suppose you could petition them, but it's well documented that Rob's life work hasn't really been handled properly by the current folks running MessyFun.

Rob actually did a pretty good job preserving image quality during his editing, mastering and duplication processes. He originally used a compiler and then switched to non-linear editing when he could (sort of) afford it. So the only time the content was relegated to regular VHS was the customer's copy.

The point of this is that capturing the original VHS titles (preferably using firewire) would be better than re-visiting any prior digital renders. The whole upscaling issue is a separate discussion. And as others have noted, it's still a developing technology.

Standard Definition video is still valid for entertainment purposes. I suppose there is a line out there between producers who shot with it early on, compared to producers who came along later and jumped straight into HD. The ironic thing about tech is that many customers now view strictly on their portable devices - where SD looks pretty good.

I think might have some tapes that I bought from Rob Blaine back in the 90s. I know for a fact that I have "Amanda Explains it All" somewhere. I have a few others too but I don't remember the titles. I'll have to look through storage

I have a couple of them that I bought from Rob back in the day, but I will need to see if I can still find them in storage. If I do, I will PM you.