Proc amp. which one to chose ?

[monks19]

Hi, i'm looking for a good afordable proc amp unit for analog to digital conversion. Any advice for a beginner will be appreciated.

Thank you

[admin]

The lowest cost proc amp, that still does a really nice job, is one of the older 1980s Vidicraft units. The only caveat is that these are mostly composite in/out devices, and not s-video. For some, that's really not an issue. The general advice is always "s-video is better than composite", but you have to work with the gear you can afford. So dropping down to composite connections may be the best solution.

You can find these easily in the $25-100 range, depending on condition, if it's been tested, if the seller knows what it is, etc. Your best bet for one of these is eBay. Maybe craigslist, but not likely.

This is assuming there's not one in the digitalFAQ.com Marketplace forum (and currently, there is not one for sale).

[monks19]

ok, but the SignVideo and Elite Video ones, what do they have more except the s-video in/out ?

thanks to answer

[admin]

The SignVideo proc amp has a meter on it. Some people like it. Personally, I don't care. I use my eyes and look at the TV and/or computer monitors -- not a meter. Meters are blind, whereas I am not. If color needs to be darker/lighter than the meter, in order to look good, then so be it.

And then s-video, yes. To me, that's worth having. Of course, my use is business, not personal. I'll find ways to allocate budget, and will later recoup costs with projects.

[Steve(MS)]

I'm definitely not a pro like admin but I have both the elite and signvideo as well as a vidicraft and 2 others.

Here's what I notice as far as using composite vs S-video. With using S-video connectors, it seems to me to give much better control as far as correcting color, etc. Maybe there is too much blending going on with composite? But if the vidicraft is all you can afford, it can help where some corrections need to be made. The Elite has more control over colors, etc than the Signvideo IMO but the Signvideo is a good unit and would serve you well.

I had one tape that had horrible color smear and wrong color and the Elite was the only one that got it corrected to my satisfaction. Perhaps you can get by with a vidicraft if it needs minor to moderate correction. But I always run S-video if I possibly can since the overall quality of the transfer looks better, at least to me.

[lordsmurf]

The new conversation, unrelated to monks19's original question, has been moved to its own thread.
New thread here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...p-correct.html

Thanks.