Converting home movies -- need advice
 

Hi everyone, I am in the process of finding/going to convert old SVHS/Mini DV/HDV home movies and I need some advice.

For VHS tapes, I am unsure of the original recorder but they are Panasonic tapes from 1980. What would be the best deck for these particular tapes. Also, my Aunt has VHS-C tapes that were recorded on a Panasonic camcorder circa 1999. Would the original camcorder be best for converting these tapes? Can someone suggest a good VCR for converting these tapes?

For the SVHS tapes, they were recorded with a JVC GF S10000HU from 1989 to 2001. I currently still have that camcorder, and it works completely fine. My first question is, should I convert these SVHS tapes using the original camcorder or is there a better machine I should use? Just for some info, some other machines I have in my possession are JVC HR S8000U, JVC HR S10000U X2, JVC HR S6900U X3, JVC HR S7100U, JVC HM DH30000U X2, JVC HM DT100U X2, JVC SR V101US, Panasonic AG 1970, Panasonic AG 1980. My guess is that these tapes would play back best on the original camcorder, or a JVC VCR.

For the mini DV tapes, they were recorded on a Sony DCR TRV30 from 2001 to 2006. I currently no longer have that camcorder. Would it pay to hunt down the original camcorder model off ebay for these Mini DV tapes? I also do have a JVC GR D870US that plays strictly Mini DV.

Lastly, for the HDV tapes, they were recorded on a Sony HDR HC3 from 2006 to present. I currently still have this camcorder. Is this the best HDV camcorder in order to convert these HDV tapes?

No. Standard advice applies: JVC S-VHS decks (with TBC), and/or Panasonic 1980P decks.
For the VHS-C, only use the Panasonic deck. The JVC often eats these tapes.
Only use the original deck if the tape is fubar, and refuses to track correctly in any better deck.

Standard advice applies. See above. ^

The non-C tapes may work best with the JVC. Since you have them both, try both. (Both JVC + Panasonic)

Any DV cameras should work.

Any HDV camera should work.

Sounds like quite a project you have head of you. Good luck. :congrats:

Alright, an update: I have finished the VHS-C portion of my conversions, so I might op to do the Mini DV next. I don't like the controls of operating a camcorder to playback the Mini DV tapes. Is it possible that a standalone Mini DV deck would do a better job versus the camcorder?

Also, one more question for the VHS side. I recently found my parents wedding tape, circa 1983 recorded on a Panasonic part vcr/tuner/camcorder machine? That machine is long gone, but might have the manual somewhere. Is it worth hunting down that original deck? Also, since it was recorded on a Panasonic, would it be better to use a Panasonic machine or a JVC machine?

MiniDV is easy to capture. Open up WinDV and hit capture. The firewire connection does the rest as the source deck can be controlled by the computer. Tapes are saved as one continuous file even if there are breaks in time code. Using the camcorder is fine for this task.

30 year old VHS tapes if they are SP are rarely a problem in JVCs. If its LP/EP, an AG-1980 might be a better bet.

Yeah, it was recorded in LP mode So, the mini dv stand alone decks are no better than the camcorders in terms of capturing to the computer?

MiniDV being digital isn't prone to being fussy like analog formats. If the recording deck was properly aligned, the tapes should play fine in whatever deck you use for the transfer. The professional decks usually offer features like timecode and advanced jog/shuttle operations, stuff you really don't need for tape transfers. There aren't too many pro MiniDV-only decks out there as the larger tape format decks usually play the tapes with adapter, or directly (a few Panasonic DVCPro decks took the mini tapes directly).

With the VHS tape, considering that it is 30 years old I would recommend that you fast-forward the tape two or three times (same goes for any tape if you've had them sitting for years). This will help to reduce dropouts.

On some of the tapes I've encountered, which are 30 years old, the beginning of the tape shows some snow in my AG 1980. Fastforwarding and rewinding does nothing to improve it. I've put the same tapes in my AG 1970, SR V101US and the DT100U and I've seen the same snow. It was worse on the SR V101US than the other decks. Is there a way to remedy this? Should I try more machines or clean the heads of my machines?

the AG-1980 and DT100U are 2 of the best decks ever made
i doubt you will be much improvement with other decks
possibly an SR-W5U / SR-W7U - but i still doubt it

the 101 is probably the worst of the the JVC TBC equiped decks -

I have had similar experiences with tapes recorded in LP and SLP,plus if the video was started right at the beginning of the tape (or the end) it gets more wear than the tape in the center and might be stretched more from the stopping and starting action of the VCR.

Sometimes you need to FF/REW a tape to overcome tension issues or "sticky" issues. It happens, and that's the only way to fix it.
You want to avoid FF/REW oxide shedders, however.

A DV camera and a DV deck have very few differences. I'd use a DV camera.
The DV decks were mostly for studio work, where DV was in the workflow for lossless write-back and editing.