Hey y'all,
I've been a lurker of the site for some time, preparing for the time that I'd have the hardware necessary on hand for transferring tapes, and I'm basically there now, but would like some advice from some of y'all that really know what you're doing.
For starters, the hardware I'm working with:
- Windows XP SP2 32-bit install
- Intel Pentium 4 HT 3.0Ghz
- 2 GB RAM
- 500GB SATA drive
- ATI AIW 9600
I'm mostly looking to transfer Video8 tapes for now, as I've got dozens upon dozens of tapes on hand from different family members that recorded events and such in the past, and for playback I got a Sony DCR-TRV840. I'll worry about external TBC later on when I can actually afford it, but until then I at least want to iron out the rest so once I'm ready with everything, I can fire away and get all these transfers done. I also got a JVC HR-S9800U for VHS once I'm done with Video8, but for now I'm just focused on Video8.
I worked with a friend yesterday to complete the PC build, then today I've been working on the software side of things. I followed the guide
here to acquire and install the
VirtualDub software and codec which went fine, and the guide
here to configure it.
I'll attach a sample video so y'all can let me know what you think, I don't know that I have the trained eyes to judge accurately. One of my main concerns was that switching between Overlay and Preview in
VirtualDub, it makes sense that Overlay is the direct feed and that Preview is the preview output to the file, but the Overlay to me looks a lot better, Preview shows a lot more jaggedness from the interlacing and seems to playback at a slower framerate, but maybe that's normal. I'm also curious if there might be any recommended filters to apply, or any settings to adjust to improve the output. I pretty much followed the second linked guide to a T, and I'm using the
Huffyuv codec, but I can answer any questions for sure.
Sincere thanks for any and all help!