Capturing analog tapes and DV transfer?
 

Hello I am a newbie, I am venturing on a project to digitize my family video tapes and have all the camcorders in working order with clean heads
25 tapes in video 8 format, with SONY TR44
75 tapes in VHS-C with JVC GR C7
125 tapes in MiniDV with SONY DCR PC3

I also have 2 decks- JVC HR S9911U which has a digital TBC for VHS tapes and the original JVC adapter and a SONY DHR 1000 with TBC/Timecode for Mini DV

My computer is Surface Studio 2 with CPU @ 2.9GHz and 32 GB RAM plus
a MacAir 2013 13 inch with thunderbolt to firewire connector for DV tapes

My capture devices for 8video and VHS-C are elgato and diamond 500 which are working on windows 10 for capture in my computer-tried it.

For DV transfer I have Lifeflix which allows me to transfer to the computer without compressing and without deinterlacing and retains its original resolution 640x480 still in DV format but adds a .mov Quicktime wrapper to it. Audio remains 16bit linear PCM and data rate is 25Mbps.

I am not looking to edit them right now for which I will use Premiere Pro. Main priority is the transfer to computer, then editing and finally storing and sharing.

Questions to give me some direction

1)For 8Video and VHS-C should I use Elgato or Diamond 500.
Elgato only captures in MP4 and Diamond500 allows MPEG 2
For Record format in Diamond500 choices are DVD, SVCD, VCD, MPG4, AVI, WMV, WMA and MP3
What should I choose if that is what you advice
Do I need to use HuffvUV, ffmpeg, virtualdub or we can discuss those after transfer into computer? They are overwhelming terms at present.

2) should I use camcorders or the two decks? Don’t have a choice with the 8 mm tapes.

3) DV seems to be ok to work with Lifeflix per specifications above?

All your advice will be much appreciated, I have read the forums for the past 3 weeks and am ready to begin the project. Thank you in advance for your guidance.

640x480 is not DV, DV is 720x480, There is a conversion somewhere there.
Capture in PC using ScenalyzerLive or WinDV.

Highly recommend thoroughly reading and digesting these articles and come back if you have more questions:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/editorials...g-workflow.htm

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder...e_video_tapes/

Pay particular attention to lordsmurf's comments on the Datahoarder thread, because as always, he gives some important info that wasn't covered in the OP.

latreche34,
This is what I read, Is this true?

720 x 480 is the DV NTSC standard. It records non-square pixels for display on a 4:3 aspect ratio display (i.e a standard definition non-widescreen TV).

However computer monitors have square pixels. NLEs and software players recognise this and map them accordingly on-the-fly. By exporting to 640 x 480 (square pixels) you will have mapped the pixel aspect ratio correctly.

lingyi,
Thank you for directing me to the correct articles. My issue is I am working on a Surface Studio 2 which is a self contained CPU/Monitor and I cannot add capture cards to it nor a firewire forcing me to use USB capture devices like elgato or diamond500. I have my son's MacAir with thunderbolt which helps me to connect to firewire. The Quicktime or Lifeflix both capture uncompressed DV in 640X480 because of square pixels vs. non square pixels.

Any further guidance is much appreciated.

It's either you capture raw DV data as it is or you convert it to something else like 640x480, You can't have it both ways. It's your choice. Computer monitors are all HD and 4K now, the last monitor existed in 640x480 was about two decades ago.