What equipment to purchase for VHS to DVD conversion on Win7 PC?
 

I'm trying to determine what equipment to get to convert my set of VHS
(and a few 8mm .... i still have the camcorder) to DVD. I currently
have a Windows 7 Dell XPS8300. I was just about set to order
a Grass Valley (Canopus) ADVC110 Bi-Directional Analog / Digital Converter
and a Firewire PCI card since it seems like the perfect solution
(when compared to things like Honestech VHS to DVD or Diamond
Video Capture devices - but I decided that I needed to get some
good advice first (so I signed up for premium membership - the
advice is definitely worth $20!!!)

I want reasonable quality (maintain audio synch) since this is a home
project but I'm not willing to bring the bank (spend over $500).

So, where do I start in this journey?

(Also I have Corel Video Studio Pro X5 - I was planning on using
that for capture and editing)

Thanks!!!

I prefer VirtualDub - its not only free but it seems to work best out of everything I've used.

I am doing the same thing and spent $690 - $120 BlackMagic shuttle for capture, $220 AVT-8710 TBC for stabilization, and $350 JVC HR-S9800U for best play quality.

I bought these items because I read on this forum and videohelp that these were the best prosumer items for capture. I only have 30 - 50 tapes, and after I will have no use for the TBC or VCR, so I will resell them for almost what I paid and someone will buy them.

The Canopus isn't bad, but you make permanent sacrifices in quality that you won't with a good TBC or VCR. It is less expensive, easier, and can still look good, so if you do end up going down that route, I would download the posted VirtualDub and start capturing.

If you are open to the stuff I am using, I would research different options. If you don't have a good VCR, you are strongly limited to the quality of capture you can get, regardless of what you use to process the video.

find a good JVC or AG1980 VCR and either an AVT-8710 or TBC-1000
get a Sony Hi8 cam with TBC for the 8mm's

the ATI600USB can be found cheap - like under $50
some Blackmagic and Hauppauge cards are good too and work with windows 7



stay away from canopus/grass valley - that stuff is DV which has crappy 4:1:1 colorspace

I have a similar device, the only reason I went with the blackmagic was because usb 2.0 bandwidth is limited, my shuttle with usb 3.0 is faster than firewire and will still capture full uncompressed.

Thanks much .... I can't seem to find the ATI 600 USB (No longer available on Amazon
and I didn't see it on ebay). I've noticed some favorable posts about the
ATI 750 USB (which is still available). Any opinions about whether this is a reasonable
replacement (considering that I purchase a Time Base Corrector ... most likely
the AVT-8710).

Regards

The ATI 750 USB has an AGC (automatic gain control) issue. You may not encounter it, depending on what you capture.

This box is from the Pentium III era of the late 1990s. It's extremely overpriced for what it does.

In NTSC, the DV format throws away at least half of the chroma data when used for converting old tapes. It's 4:1:1 vs 4:2:2 or 4:2:0. The codec was never designed for this, and was made only to shoot video -- not convert existing analog video. This has been discussed many, many times on this site, and is worth a read. Search for those part threads.

The Canopus box does work, and if you:
- already own it
- and have a just a few tapes to transfer/capture
- and refuse to spent more money on another card

.. then I suggest just using it. It's not the best, but not the worst. If using the 300 model, turn off those horrible Canopus filters. Those filters just butcher video by vastly overfiltering them.

I'd also make exceptions for the older DV NLE workflows of the early 2000s, when using Matrox and higher-end Canopus cards. Those were the Blackmagic and Aja of their day.

And we definitely prioritize the Premium Members. If nothing else, it gets me out of hibernation. :)

Use VirtualDub for capturing. Use the editor (the Ulead-now-Corel software) for editing only.

Don't temp fate. Not worth it.

I have no problem with this device. In fact, I suggest this card quite a bit.

These are circa 2009. Not sold new. They show up on eBay and Amazon regularly. If there's none there right now, check back in 5 days. They'll show up. Do not use the 750; it has issues.

No. Nothing replaces the external TBC, or the internal TBC. You need both, and both have separate functions. The external cleans the signal (not image), the internal cleans the image (not signal). These two items are unavoidable. Without the external TBC, the capture will drop tons of frames. Analog signals are chaos. Without the internal TBC, the image is cruddy.

Thanks .... If I find one, do I need the software with it or just the ATI 600 USB dongle and cables? I see that there are drivers available on this site.

All you need is the stick, and the "breakout" bundle of cables that has s-video/composite/audio.
- The antenna is useless.
- The remote is useless.
- The CD can be downloaded here.