Lossless digitization of analog 8mm tapes?
 

Hi all, I've been given the task of converting all of my family's old analog tapes to digital format. I'm trying to do it while maintaining as much quality as possible within my budget (willing to spend a couple hundred or so if it will improve the capture quality). Here is my setup so far:

I have an old camcorder (Sharp Slimcam VL-SE20U) which I am using to playback my old 8mm tapes. I bought a Hauppauge USB Live2 capture card and have my camcorder connected to it using the composite RCA cables. I downloaded VirtualDub 64 bit along with Huffyuv on my windows 10 computer. I'm trying to go for the most lossless setup as possible with this camcorder. Is there anything I am missing for capturing these tapes as true to the original as possible?

Thank you very much!

That old Video8 camcorder will give really inferior results. For Video8, you want a Hi8 camera from the late 90s or early 2000s, one of the models that includes line TBC. Those are not costly, under $300, sometimes much less (depends on supply/demand and availability at the time).

You do not want VirtualDub 64-bit. Use this one: VirtualDub 1.9.x (download from this forum).

Composite can work, if the camera quality is there. s-video will always be better, which is what many of the Hi8 cameras have.

You're missing frame TBC. The Video8 and Hi8 formats drop frames easily, even more than VHS. Dropped frames lead to jerky video, and loss of frame sync, and some other various issues.

Thanks for the reply!

Even if it was the camera used to originally record the tapes? I would assume that the quality of the playback would be limited by the camera it was recorded by. Otherwise I'll shop for a new camcorder with line TBC.

Also, I've gone through capturing a quarter or so tapes and it is reporting 0 dropped frames, so would I be fine not buying a frame TBC?

-- merged --

Also, would HuffYUV 2.1.1 be fine with VirtualDub 1.9.x, or would I need to download the one listed on the link in your reply

-- merged --

For anyone interested, tried the huffyuv and virtualdub downloads on this forum. The same tapes that were getting 0 frames dropped and 50 or so inserted in 1.5 hours of capturing jumped waaay up in both (somewhere in the thousands, ended the capture midway). Switched back to the latest virtualdub and no frames were dropped.

Settings matter.
File > Capture AVI > Capture > Timing

Re capturing 8 and Hi8: Are you saying that a D8 camera with S-video, TBC and DNR is inferior to a similar Hi8 camera?
How bad is the degradaton of the capture?

Video8 = lousy
Hi8 = many good models
Digital8 = several good models

V8 plays V8
Hi8 plays V8 and Hi8
D8 plays V8, Hi8 and D8

I have a 530, D8 with TBC and DNR, S-video, is it inferior on analog capture?

Heres my timing settings.

Also, about video8 being inferior to the other camcorders for playing back the tapes and capturing, would using a good Hi8 model matter if the tapes were recorded on video8 camcorders originally?

thanks

Yes, Even for V8 tapes a Hi8 or D8 camcorder with Line TBC/DNR and S-Video out is what you want, V8 camcorders don't have S-Video out at least I've never come across one.

A recording VCR/camera is only needed when the recording is misaligned. That's not common. The original recording deck/camera is rarely better than an outright better deck.

The main reason for the Hi8 camera is the line TBC.