Should I daisy chain S-Video to DV for best quality?
 

Hi all, I am new to the forum so just wanted to post what I am trying to do and if I can possibly get any better quality capture. I have already copied my first few tapes via DV so I have learned quite a bit, but always looking for anything more I could or should be doing for the next 200+ tapes..

I have the gargantuan task of making digital copies of all the family tapes over the years. I have a mix of Video8 Hi8 and Digital8. My testing of quality seems to be that Digital8 recordings are great via DV Firewire to the Mac but Video8 / Hi8 doesn't look as great (and this is documented in the forums suggesting better S-Video recording options.)

I am not opposed to finding a better way but wanted to share one method that seems to already have made a much better capture quality - again curious if I should pursue any other options.

I have a Sony TRV-520 using S-Video out to a Sony GC-D800 to DV out to the Mac. This daisy-chain process seems to be getting a much better picture so far, so I wanted to share my experience if anyone has considered this method. It's certainly giving a sharper image, not as blurry and a bit cleaner too. For reference, I am using mostly Final Cut Pro or Quicktime capture when FCP doesn't want to cooperate.

My question though, is if this is good enough or if I am still losing some of the original details. These are really great memories so I would like to get as close to source quality as possible.

I have some other S-Video to Digital capture tools but they have other issues. One of them provides the most garbage capture so it's going in the trash. The other is using a Retrotink2x Pro to a 4K gaming HDMI capture unit and this looks good when it's working but the video cuts out randomly thus it's not stable/reliable for this already time-consuming project. I have read about the AIW cards and I do have some old PCs I could potentially set up for that kind of capture if that is the ultimate recommendation.

One thing I thought I'd try is if I should re-record the Video8 over Svideo to a Digital8 format - and then DV out from there but I assume I'd get the same or similar result just daisy-chaining straight through. This would also double my work and probably burn up the camera before I got close to done...

It's been fun so far seeing all these old memories and faces I haven't seen in so long.

Thanks all, I appreciate all I have learned so far on the forums!

First you have to understand how the signal path inside your digital camcorder works, Basically when an analog tape is played back the TBC takes the analog signal digitizes each scan line and stores it in a memory inside the camcorder, each scan line is then time based and DNR applied (if ON), from there it goes to the DV encoder chip for firewire (iLink) output. If using S-Video, the digital signal is converted back to analog for display. Unlike Hi8 camcorders, as far as I know there is no 100% analog path for analog tapes inside a D8 camcorder even when the TBC is turned off (which it must be kept ON anyway).

Now if you don't have a way to capture S-Video out using a lossless method such as USB or PCI and DV is your only way, I'd suggest you capture from the camcorder iLink port, Converting S-Video to DV externally is another extra step to what has been done inside the camcorder already, It may look sharper but that's maybe due to some sharpening filters somewhere in the workflow.

If you mean by GC-D800, GV-D800 then why don't you use it to playback the tape, Though most of those players have little life left in their video heads so may as well use the D8 camcorder.