Opinion on my VHS to Digital workflow thank you?
 

Hello Everyone
I notice this is the King site when it comes to the whole VHS to digital world. So I been reading some of the post and just wanted to get your professional opinion. My Grandfather let me use his JVC HR-S9900U. He asked if I could transfer some of his old VHS family videos and memory's to a computer so he could watch them. He got worried cause one of the tapes with my Grandmother birthday got messed up by his dog. I'm the so call Tech guy so he came to me haha. So this would be a really big help. If I'm asking the wrong way please let me know and thank you for your help.

The workflow that I have setup is like this:

From a JVC HR-S9900U S-video and audio out to a -->

Panasonic DMR-ES15 S-video and audio in then out to a -->

What was suppose to be the Elgato Video Capture card but it sounds like everyone thinks it is garbage.

So I was thinking about picking up a ATI ALL IN WONDER AIW 8500DV and trying to us it with Windows 10.

So if I can get the ATI ALL IN WONDER AIW 8500DV to work with windows 10 I will us Virtualdub to capture the VHS footage thank you for the help.

PC windows 10 Home
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
RAM: 8 GB
HD: 500 GB

Tapes being used are SVHS, VHS, VHS-C with adaptor

Thank you for the help with reading so many post I have a little understanding!

A few comments to get you closer to "on the right track".

1. ATI/AMD All In Wonders ONLY really work in 32 bit WinXP for video capture. You can get "display drivers" for later OS versions but ATI/AMD never developed or supported the video capture function of the cards (WDM drivers) beyond WinXP. A few brave souls have had some limited success getting them to work in 32 bit Win 7 but they are all Windows "Gurus" who know the ins and outs of Windows drivers, inf files, etc. and can basically "roll their own" drivers packages using the WinXP stuff.

2. The ATI AIW 8500DV is an AGP card. It requires a motherboard that has an AGP slot. Be wary of quasi AGP slots that appeared on some AGP/PCIe transition motherboards. For working video capture functionality, the AIW must be the only video card in the system (or at least the primary, but even that is asking for trouble...). The 8500DV may also not be the best candidate because they often come without the required (and unique to the 8500DV) cable that connects all of the analog I/O to the card. If you are looking for the DV functionality the card provides, it is said to be a flawed implementation on the 8500DV. There are cheap PCI Firewire (IEEE 1394) cards readily available.

3. The HR-S9900U is one of the better/best options for SP VHS playback but is said to be less adept at handling SLP/EP tapes. It is also said to have a tendency to "eat" VHS-C tapes even when using a "good" VHS-C adapter (which is needed). But this seems to be a bit of a YMMV thing as some seem to get decent results. The other possible issue with the 9900 is that (I believe) it is has a Dynamic Drum system. These are not aging well and when they fail, put the machine out of use until it is repaired (no new parts available) or modified mechanically to lock the drum. As long as the one you have is working, count yourself lucky, but know it is a potential problem.

There are PCIe ATI AIWs that would probably work in your system. They are not considered as desirable as the AGP and very rare PCI AIWs, mostly because they require the latest WDM drivers to work and ATI removed some features from the later MMC software that then hinders direct to MPEG-2 capture. However, if you only intend to capture lossless, they are convenient in that they work in later, faster, more available PCIe motherboards. Sadly, while the PCIe cards themselves are quite available, they often do not include the required cables to connect the analog I/O.

If you decide to go the AIW route do your research to understand exactly what you need including the "breakout" cables, dongles, etc. to make it all work.

I yield the floor to the more experienced to provide more guidance...

BW

Thank you so much for the info BW37. With the info you just gave me I looked at my mother board and found out it would not work with it so thank you for saving me money on that. Guess I'm going to just have to use the Elgato Video Capture card that I got. I will cross my fingers and see what I get. I was thinking about buying an JVC HR-S3600U for the VHS-C tapes or buying a Camcorder that plays VHS-C so they don't get destroyed and letting it passthrough the JVC HR-S9900U. The JVC HR-S9900U was my Grandfathers and works like new. Even his remote looks brand new so I hope it will last into I'm done. Thank you again for your help.

A few more comments based on your last post:

It's my understanding that the S9900U won't provide any benefit as a passthrough device. It will be a great player with it's built in TBC, etc. but I don't think it processes line inputs through it's 3D DNR/TBC circuits.

The ES15 on the other hand should be handy as a passthrough device as it does process line inputs through it's digital processing. Read here and here. Note that the NTSC and PAL versions of these Panasonic DVD recorders seem to have somewhat different properties and pros and cons so read carefully to be sure you know which format is being discussed.

The ES15 might be somewhat helpful in making the Elgato a bit more tolerant of the video it's fed. Its' worth a try. I suggest you play around with what you have to see how it all interacts. The ES15 has both "line TBC" functionality and a "frame sync" function that might help the Elgato cope.

I believe you could/should also try different capture software than the Elgato provided stuff. VirtualDub and AmarecTV are possible options. A somewhat relevant discussion here

If you haven't realized it yet, you've started down a potentially very deep rabbit hole... :eek:

BW

Correct. It does not.

Correct, similar, but different. (I own both PAL and NTSC units.)

Elgato earned the nickname "Elcrapo" for their video capture cards. Cheap junk. Even with the best input, the cards has known issues that make it unacceptable. Not much different from Easycaps.

Eh. I can be arm's length deep, for a straight-fordward project. The main issue is trying to be overly cheap, using junk hardware. Accept the this DIY projects costs some money. Spend it. Use the gear. Then resell it. Buy it, use it, resell it. You'll just waste time AND get lower quality, by farting around with almost-kinda-sorta (not really) gear, and/or outright known cheap junk gear with issues.

Sorry I forgot to mention the E15 I got is NTSC. Thank you so much everyone for helping me with this. I am just having a problem with picking out what capture card I should use that would work with Windows 10. So I think I'm going to try to use the HR-S9900U and the Elgato to capture the video. Into I figure out the capture card idea. Every capture card I hear about is really old to where I would need to build a old PC or just not good. I will definitely be using Virtualdub for the software because of what I read and how fun it was to use you all for your wonderful help.