Have I made the right choices (buying equipment/vhs restoration)
 

Hello Digital FAQ, admin, smurfs etc. :-)

Let me first say, you have a wonderful and informative forum here. Even if premium didn't give any advantages, I still would have donated.

I'm at the first step, buying equipment, and next is capturing and learning how to use the tools available with filters and so on (already been practicing and reading your guides).

note: I'm European (Denmark) and a PAL B user. Using S-video all the way.

This is what I've acquired so far:

JVC HR-S9600EU (replacing my JVC HR-S8600EU, settings: Norm, TBC on. Rest off. Like new from ebay)
TBC AVT-8710 (Picking it up monday from delivery. I used your aff. link)
ATI TV Wonder HD 600 PCI Express (NTSC/ATSC) (on the way from ebay "sealed/new". From what I understand, I can capture PAL avi with Virtualdub. I read the USB version was able to do that and some replies to threads, made me believe the pcie version could do the same .. not mpeg2 PAL though)

Also bought a:

canopus advc-110 (I read it had "fair" results when being a PAL user and it is newb friendly. Fully aware of pros/cons from reading this forum). Been doing some recordings while I wait for the rest of the equipment. A big step up from what I was used to. Can't wait for the ATI card to get here :)

Software:

Scenalyzer
WinDV
Virtualdub (official)
Virtualdub (package from digital faq with huffyuv and so on)
TMPGEnc

My primary system (and only system):

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Processor: Intel Viiv processor technology Intel Core2 Quad processor Q6600
Frontsidebus: 1066mhz
Ram: 3 GB DDR2-SDRAM (667mhz)
hdd: 3 x 320 GB sata (7200 rpm) - no raid - one dedicated for capturing
gfx: GeForce 275 GTX 896MB DDR3 XXX Core Edition
Other: IEEE 1394 FireWire® Interface

Unfortunately I finally decided, before new year, to clean out old equipment, and all my AGP based motherboards and stuff, went to computer heaven. I could've made a perfect grabber machine with XP and so on. I'm not gonna invest in new/old gear again, although I was tempted .. you are very convincing here ;)

Purpose of this thread. I need a pad on the back, or a thumbs up to my choices so far. Am I on the right track?.

Will probably start a new thread, when/if I need help to filters and so on (after reading guides) and link to it from this thread.

Hope I didn't leave out any information.

Thank you.
Automan :)

I just added a new smiley to the forum, just so I could do this: :thumb:

Yes, although it's not obvious. That guide is going to appear on the new site, which will finally be finished and going live this month. It's 95% done at this point. We didn't want to launch it until it was truly complete as we had envisioned so many years ago -- but only recently (in the last year or two) was finally technically possible to do.

That is a logical assumption. I would tend to agree. Let's hope it actually pans out.

Thanks. :D

I finally picked up the AVT-8710 last night from ups. I mistakenly assumed it would be ready for 220v, since it was a ntsc/pal device. Doh (Homer Simpsons), I should've investigated it so I could have bought a 220v > 110v device, while I awaited it to arrive hehe.

I guess it something like this:
45W STEP DOWN CONVERTER 220V TO 110V
(these are available to me locally from different places)

My brand new ATI TV WONDER 600 HD pcie, also arrived today.

Ah new toys.

Given that the AVT-8710 / CTB-100 is designed and made in Asia, I would be surprised if it did not use a 100~240 power supply, rated for worldwide use. And in that case, all you'd really need is a plug shape adapter, not a step-down/step-up transformer. Read the text on the unit, in the unit, and in the various documentation that came with it.

The power supply for the AVT-8710 from B&H has these specs:

ac adaptor
Model: AD48 - 1500600DU
Input: 120VAC 60Hz 250mA
Output: 15VDC 600mA

I got it solved by going to a local electronics/gadget store and I bought this:

https://www.elextra.dk/main.aspx?pag...e&artno=H29230

Attached the correct plug and made sure +/- was correct and the TBC started blinking like a happy gadget.

Thank you for your help :)

edit: the AVT-8710 that I got is black and not green .. I read in another post that a guy had a black version too. Kinda hoped I would get a black one too. Awesome.

I just want to add that the ATI TV Wonder HD 600 PCI Express (NTSC/ATSC) is able to record PAL with Virtualdub. What a relief. :thumb:

1: File > Capture AVI > Video > Capture filter... > Video decoder > :Video Standard - PAL B (drop down menu) > OK.
2: Video > Compression > Huffyuv v2.1.1. - Multi- Threading Patch v1.0.
3: File > Set capture file... > Capture > Capture video.

No dropped frames so far, running on my primary machine with all the bells and whistles turned on, and surfing the web at the same time (just testing). Impressive.

Also tried to install the provided ATI software (I was curious) and as expected, it wasn't able to record PAL material. It's horrible anyway, so no big loss.

One question, before I let the thread go. When I record with "(No compression: YUY2)", I'm not able to see the changes with filters in TMPGEnc on the preview window. The preview window is black. When I record with "Huffyuv v2.1.1. - Multi- Threading Patch v1.0", I get to see the preview, when playing with filters before encoding.

Is this expected and should I settle with "Huffyuv v2.1.1. - Multi- Threading Patch v1.0"? It seems pretty good.

edit: corrected my spelling error: Huffyuf to Huffyuv :-)

Nah, ATI Catalyst Media Center (ATI CMC) is pretty decent for NTSC MPEG recording. It's not as good as the older ATI Multimedia Center (ATI MMC), but it's quick to setup NTSC MPEG-2 captures. Not very advanced, no. Not a lot of features, no. Just the basics, just MPEG, just NTSC.

Excellent. :)

It may simply be an issue of processing power required to render the preview. Remember that TMPGEnc Plus is about a decade old now, and does not use more than 1 CPU core for internalized functions (only the encoding uses more cores, if set in the prefs). YUY2 is overkill anyway, HuffYUV is lossless (the same visually as uncompressed) and a smaller file.

Feel free to test HuffYUV normal vs HuffYUV MT vs HuffYUV 64, to see which does actually give the best performances. I've often found the original non-MT version can go faster, even when the system is a dual-core AMD or quad-core AMD. So I tend to think the MT part only really works on an Intel. But even then, I have a dual-core Intel laptop where the MT is slower.

Nevermind .... I think I just wasted my typing. :o

That applied to encoding to HuffYUV, and not capturing to it, or decoding it into an MPEG encoders. I left it up, striked through, in case you want to read it anyway. It doesn't apply to your situation. For now, let it exist as trivia.

Thank you very much. I like to do it right the first time :)

I feel like I'm geared to take it to the next level now. You've been helping me in so many ways you can't imagine. I've been reading and reading, before I made my purchases.

Finally I can save my precious vhs recordings.

Oh and thanks for the trivia :D

I found my booklet that came with the TBC some years ago. It was in the file cabinet. On my AVT-8710 documentation, the "Power" specification is blank. So I can't say for certain what the unit will allow. True, the "AC Adapter" specs are listed as "115 VAC to 15VDC" -- but that's just the power plug. It's not the same as the power rating of the TBC itself. It may well work with something else.

I notice that the SECAM spec is blank, too. I wonder if this was an intentional oversight?

Given that these devices are originally native to PAL territories, under the original Cypress Tech (CTB) brand, I find it rather hard to believe that it only functions with North American (NTSC land) power. That just doesn't make any sense to me.

Not that I want to risk melting, burning, exploding a $215 TBC.

I wonder if anybody out there has the official documentation for the CTB-100 TBC, or if those docs are somewhere online.
Hmmmm... Something to hunt down.

The new AC Adapter was cheap (about 30 USD) and the TBC runs perfectly, so no worries :)