Transfer vs. Capture with Canopus ADVC 110 - Final Cut is re-encoding?

[Johntomk]

Hi,

I am currently transferring old home videos to digital. I am wanting to archive them on my hard drive. I am using a Panasonic AG-1980 deck and a Canopus advc110 capture card. My source materials are on VHS-C tapes. I have been messing with Final Cut Express to capture the footage. I have just been experimenting so far. From my understanding, there is a difference between capturing and transferring the DV data from the Canopus. The way I understand it is when I use final cut express to capture the DV from the Canopus, FCE is actually re-encoding the DV signal from the Canopus. Thus, it is encoded twice. How do I transfer the raw DV data from the Canopus to my hard drive? What software should I use? I have seen suggestions for Windows but not for mac. Also, since my source is pretty low quality, would there be any benefit to switching to a lossless format capture (I am not concerned about storage space. It is not a problem.). These tapes are from around 1989-1992 so the video quality is pretty low anyway. Thanks!!!!

John

[volksjager]

you are losing quality both by using a Canopus device and using a Mac.
DV is 4:1:1 which is awful
use a Windows PC and capture lossless with Virtualdub
also you should get a external TBC like the datavideo TBC-1000

[Johntomk]

Thank you! As of right now, mac may be my only option unfortunately. Is there any software that can be used to transfer the raw DV data from the Canopus?