Tape project, what to use? (VHS/VHS-C/MiniDV/Hi8/Digital8)
 

Hello!

I am planning out a rather big project. I have been researching Analogue to digital conversion. Working on capturing old projects and tons of family videos, planning on working with VHS/VHS-c/Minidv/HI8/Digital8.. As you can tell I have a lot to capture haha. I have been looking into professional level decks lately, trying to get something like the SR-VS30 with firewire out. I have also been considering the ADVC-110. My main concern is quality of the video/audio. Is there any quality loss with using a ADVC-110 instead of firewire?
Should I use a capture card instead?
I am also trying to hunt down a really good digtal8 camcorder and a VHS deck for the best possible captures of my tapes.
What about TBC? do i need to worry about this?

Can anyone give me some general advice as to what kind of equipment and workflow I would need?
Thanks.
Looks like it could be a pretty cool forum.

For the mini DV and digital8 you just need firewire and firewire port. You don't actually capture it, instead you're making an exact bit for bit copy of what is on the tape.

Note some digital 8 camcorders are compatible with hi-8 and convert hi-8 to DV.

Also note some digital8/mini DV camcorders can be used as DV capture device, you hook the VHS deck to the cam and it will convert to DV and send it over firewire just like the 110.

I'm not going to get into the arguments about the quality of using the 110 except to say I have always loved mine. It's stupid easy and the quality is more than adequate..... Good deck and a TBC and you're set to go.

True, yes I know about the Digital 8 and minidv. I no longer have a working camcorder to capture them via firewire.

So I would plug in a VHS deck>--analog cables--> TBC--analouge cables--> camcorder>--firewire--> PC ?

And for VHS-C is the best option:
VHS-c cassette adaptor->VHS deck>--analog cables--> TBC--analouge cables--> camcorder>--firewire--> PC ?


No arguments, just looking for advice.
Thanks for the response!

Well you are going to have to get them. :P Whether you are going to use it for converting to DV or not try and find a digital 8 that supports hi-8 so you don't have to get a hi-8 camcorder.

"Best" is subjective. That would be correct if you want to try it instead of of the 110 or some other device. You have to research the model. They don't all support analog input. If you're looking over the specs they usually refer to this as "passthrough".

It's good starting point because you need the camcorders anyway for the mini-dv and digital8. If you don't like the results you can always move onto something else. You're not getting something you don't need anyway.

There is one gotcha here. If you are in the UK forget it because the manufacturers shipped them there with that feature disabled on most or all models. It was considered a recording device and had a tax applied.

TheCoalman has the right idea. I would emphasize two very important points:

First, digital tape and analog tape are different media in many ways. Despite the fact that they might "look" alike played on a TV or PC, they don't really "work" the same way. Where DV tape is concerned, think of it as in some ways similar to modern digital cameras. DV tape and DV from a digital camera are copied 1:1 to another device, not re-recorded. There are DV transfer devices optimized for that purpose. Analog is a different story: good analog capture devices are designed for the nature of analog video. Analog playback is unsteady and noisy -- capturing analog sources to DV imbeds analog noise and defects as digital artifacts, not to mention adding lossy DV compression artifacts that also become a permanent part of the captured image.

An important part of the analog playback and capture process that you mentioned is an outboard TBC. These are frame-level tbc's that correct frame-by-frame transmission timing and help ensure the precise frame rate for audio sync and avoidance of dropped and inserted (duplicate) frames which result in stutter and other anomalies. Another essential type of tbc required by analog tape is a line-level tbc. Just as frame-by-frame play doesn't emerge from a tape player as consistently as digital devices require, the individual scanlines within frames don't emerge "on time" either. This results in ragged edges, wiggles in vertical and angular lines, often ragged, notched, and even warped side borders, and a generally noisy, disruptive playback stream. Frame and line timing require different types of tbc. Timing errors can't be corrected after capture.

Secondly: as TheCoalman rightly stated, quality is subjective. There's little that's subjective about wiggling lines, bad audio sync, or dropped frames -- these are easily observable. More subjective are perceptions of correct color rendition, "sharpness" (i.e, clarity), contrast and saturation levels, playback noise levels, and other imaging factors. Analog source varies in color balance, contrast, etc., from moment to moment. It is just as inconsistent as line and frame timing. A higher-quality player's chief attribute is that it inflicts less damage onto the signal than a cheap or poorly adjusted player. Higher quality VCRs have s-video outputs which eliminate the dot crawl and other luma-chroma noise problems that plague composite outputs (defects, by the way, that are exacerbated by capturing analog to lossy DV encoders). Ideally, analog source is captured to lossless YUY2 media using lossless compressors such as huffyuv or Lagarith to save file space (a huffyuv capture will be 1/3 the size of totally uncompressed lossless video). Lossless media is used for repair and restoration, as well as editing and applying all those fancy special effects that people like to play with in their editors. As far as initial quality goes, a lossless capture is about as close as analog will get to the 1:1 character of a DV copy -- even if the capture does contain the usual VHS tape problems, at least it won't have compression artifacts to contend with. Another advantage of lossless media is that it can be filtered, color corrected, chopped up into new working files that don't lose data thru added lossy compression stages. The only lossy encoding step is the final delivery format, which can be DVD, standard definition BluRay, mp4 or other formats and containers, progressive video for web display, or whatever you want. The original capture and working files remain intact. The working files can always be discarded later, and the lossless capture can be archived as-is or encoded to high-bitrate codecs to save space.

The best VCRs have s-video outputs and built-in line level tbc's. No, those players aren't cheap. A workaround for the absence of a line tbc would be a very few legacy DVD recorders used as pass-thru devices whose circuitry can correct line timing errors and y/c crosstalk (aka dot crawl, cross-hatching patterns, and or some level of edge buzz and color bleed). To use a pass-thru device, connect the player's output to the pass-thru's input, then connect the pass-thru's output to a capture device. Rather than record the signal, the signal is simply "played thru" the device. Many users have old DVD recorders which, even if their optical drives no longer work, can still be used for pass-thru. Recording directly to the pass-thru unit isn't a great idea -- the results would have the same or worse compression problems as analog-to-DV and would be unsuitable as an editing format.

You don't need any kind of device, just a firewire port. It's no different than something using USB*. One thing to note is there is 4 pin and 6 pin firewire ports. Generally speaking for the computer you want a 6 pin port. Most camcorders are 4 pin with the smaller connector, you can use 4 pin to 6 pin cable. The other two pins carry power, for example with the 110 you don't need an external power supply becsue it can be powered from the firewire cable.

*Some of these camcorders have USB that will stream video however this video is typically a low quality MJPEG video.


I've done two hour captures with 110, no dropped frames and perfect audio sync. This is one of the reasons the 110 (the 100 at the time) was so popular early on. Plug it in and it just works. There is also one very cool feature that is not utilized much, you can stream from the timeline to it and it will output analog to a TV live from the timeline.

While on the topic there is no difference between the 100 and the 110 I'm aware of except one. The 100 had a very simple hack that would allow you disable the macrovision protection, if I recall you had to hold the power button down for 6 seconds or something like that.

Difference ADVC100 ADVC110 to.
The 100 was black and walked only with a 5 volt power supply.

The ADVC110 is white and comes with 5 Volt power supply and with the 6-pin power supply when stranded bring 5 +6 power.

Recognizes the 110 MV - .. then the red LED lights up [under the name "status"] .......... well 12 Sek.die silver button no longer lights up red until the Led.
Now rewind tape and re-capture.
But ..... as already written here in analog DV AVI is just not the cleanest.
------------------

German=
Unterschied ADVC100 zum ADVC110.
Der 100 war schwarz und ging nur mit einem 5 Volt Netzteil.

Der ADVC110 ist weiss und geht mit 5 Volt Netzteil und mit dem 6-poligen Netzteil,wenn Litze 5 +6 Strom bringen.

Erkennt der 110 -MV-..dann leuchtet die rote Led [unter der Bezeichnung "Status"]..........gut 12 Sek.die silberne Taste drücken bis die Led nicht mehr rot leuchtet.
Nun Band zurückspulen und neu capturen.
Aber wie schon hier geschrieben.....analoges direkt in DV AVI ist nicht das Sauberste.

How about the 300? Is that one any good or even better?
Do I need to disable macrovision, is that an important feature?

Thanks for the info. Yes my pc has a firwire port built in and I have a 4pin to 6pin cable.

Thanks for this informative post!
I will look into capturing to huffyuv.
Around vcrs, S-video is better then a firewire transfer in terms of quality? Correct me If I am wrong, but for most of my career in DV work, I though of firewire as the closest possible to the quality of the original tape.

Are you saying, to capture video S-video when firewire is not an option (such as working with old VHS and VHS-c?)

s-video is far cleaner than composite.

I can only write for Pal.

The whole thing is quite simple.
Canopus NX Map [PCI, or PCI-E]
or if an old PC with Win XP is available this also with the Canopus DV Storm via Y / C [UYVY]

With the NX card Edius must be installed ... version. 4.xx or 5.xx or 6.08 or 7.50

With the DV Storm can be capturt with VirtualDub.

As a player for VHS-C + S-VHS-C receives a models of JVC BR-S 522/525/622 + to 822 ... but only in SP [Standard Play]

VHS-C + S-VHS-C in SP and Longplay [LP] the Panasonic NV V8000 can be used without adapter.

This setter there are also safe for NTSC.

and another thing...
S-VHS is recording format
Y / C or S-Video is transmission type.

Not true. Firewire is a 1:1 copy of DV tape. Firewire with VHS/VHS-C source is not a 1:1 copy of the source, it's a lossy digital encode that's not very friendly to VHS noise, defects, and color storage matrices. And there's not much you can do with it as far as cleanup goes, you will have to decode it to lossless video for anything except plain cut-and-join -- and lossy re-encode it again in any case for a final delivery format. Don't assume that all video media are the same thing and work the same way. They aren't, and they don't.

Don't confuse "s-video" with "SVHS". Not the same. SVHS, VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, are recording formats. S-video is a type of signal transmission, just as composite and component are transmission types. S-video cable can be used for tape, DVD, SD tv broadcasts, etc. S_video circuitry can't transmit HD, it was designed before HD appeared.

[EDIT] Oops. Goldwingfahrer has already posted a correction about SVHS and s-video. I guess he types faster than I do.
:)

I believe that has a line TBC if I remember correctly, if you're getting full frame TBC which is better you don't need it.

If you want to capture commercial VHS it's important, macrovision is the common name used for the copy protection on VHS. It's actually the company name. Also some devices are prone to falsely detecting regular errors as copy protection. Never had any issues with that with 110.

A full frame TBC will also remove it.

Any source material that is already digital like miniDV or digital8 should be transferred with firewire. It's a bit for bit copy of what is on the tape.

If you want to try converting your VHS to DV you can do that with some digital camcorders. Instead of buyin a 110 you can use the camcorder. You already have to buy camcorder if you expect to transfer mini DV or digital8 so you might as well get one you can hook a VHS deck too.

If you find the qulaity is not that great with the VHS you can move onto getting something else.

theCoalman will be happy to show you how to clean up what DV compression does with your noisy VHS. Mosquito noise, buzzing edges, and clipped brights will be the toughest part. Then there are those occasional and subtle color posterizating effects, especially in skin tones......

And I'm the one that shows him. :P

My suggestion will cost him $0 since he needs to buy camcorders anyway. If he is satisfied with the results it will save him the cost of buying a 110 or whatever device.

You consider this poor advice?

You're just better at it that I am and that's a special tape, I don't have the time either. I've been more than satisfied with the home movies I've captured on the 110. They look fine to me.

Noted. I dont think there are much other options besides S-video for decent VHS from that era..

Perfect, well if I am going to invest in this, might as well get both the 300 and a good TBC

At this point I think that the 110/300 + a really good "pro" vcr is a better choice for VHS from what I am understanding.

thecoalman, goldwing, lordsmurf and sanlyn, thank you all for weighing in, valuable info here. This is a great forum so far.

So here is my 'final' plans for this project.

HI8 = Digitize with Digital camera (probably TRV 840 if I can get one, it seems like on of the best Digital8 camcorders around). Have to buy the camcorder.. $$$

VHS/VHSc = Buy a really good S-VHS player (considering the VS10/VS10u for 1394, just incase). Either get a Canopus 300/110 (I will go for 300 if I can) and buy a good TBC box. Go S-video (is there anything better? I don't believe so..) to Canopus.

Please feel free to critique or add anything you might think I can do better with this.

You don't need both and preferably you want the full frame TBC.

Not sure but I think you missed my point about the passthrough ability of some camcorders. This is fundamentally the same thing a 110 does so you don't necessarily need a 110. A quick search says the TRV 840 has that feature.

You can hook your VHS deck to the camcorder and use that instead of 110 to convert to DV. Since you need to purchase the camcorder anyway give it try and see if the results are acceptable.

The ADVC300 has a Panasonic chip for line TBC but it doesn't actually correct errors, for some reason. According to some, it even introduces certain issues not present with the cheaper ADVCs. It does have the advantage of Proc Amp controls, whereas with the others and camcorder passthrough if blacks are crushed or brights are clipped you're stuck with it.

Still, I agree with the advice of buying the camcorders you need and trying them before deciding whether to throw money at a Canopus box. You might even decide you don't want to deal with the DV conversion artifacts.

Yeah, don't use the ADVC-300 for sure. If you insist on DV conversion, then the ADVC-50/55 or 100/110 is better.

And as mentioned, DV itself has artifacts. You need to realize that DV was a compromise to quality so it would work on Pentium III computers of the 90s. That was as fast as CPUs were back then. DV is an ancient format by computing standards, and always had subpar issues. (MPEG is older, but was not yet realtime, hence still modern.)

You need a DV camera for the DV tapes, a D8 camera for the D8 tapes, and a good capture card (non-DV) for the analog tapes. Yeah, that's a lot of tools, but you can always resell them when done.

Depending on the number of tapes, we also offer video services, as the DIY method is sometimes not worth the cost and hassle. (We do DV, VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, but not D8.)

Alright, I have been looking into capturing to huffyuv. So are you saying that the better thing to do is use a AIW + TBC for capture? Like I said, I dont NEED DV, just looking for a best quality capture and a good workflow. (thats the only reason I was biasing firewire)

Isn't svideo better? I don't know if the TRV has Svideo in. (or if many other cameras do)

So now the better method is to possible do this:

ProSVHS Deck->line TBC->full frame TBC-> Svideo -> AIW card?

DV/D8 = use firewire
VHS/VHS-C = Line TBC, FullFrame TBC, AIW card?

The AIW + TBC is for analog capture.

You seem to be thinking that anaolog-to-DV is somehow superior than analog to lossless. Not so. Analog capture devices and lossless media are for analog sources. Firewire is for DV.

For analog, yes.

What do you need with analog s-video input on the TRV? Whats the TRV for ? (so many formats mentioned here, I think I lost track!).
s-video isn't used for Firewire.

I'm not sure I follow that breakdown. It works like this:

DV/D8 = use firewire.

VHS-C needs a VHS-C player. Sometimes an adapter works in SVHS machines, but it's a crap shoot. If you can't get a VHS-C player, try digitalfaq's services for a capture to lossless media. It'll likely be quicker, easier, and even cheaper than looking for a VHS-C player, most of which hardly work any more.

VHS-> ProSVHS deck w/built-in line tbc -> s-video out -> frame tbc -> AIW -> lossless media.

Note that Pro/high-end SVHS players have built-in line TBCs and s-video output. If your tapes were created with 6-hour or 4-hour recording speeds, you'll need a Panasonic player. JVC never gave much support to slow-speed tape. If a built-in tbc player isn't available, get the cleanest, well-maintained player you can find and use a Panasonic ES10 or ES15 for a line tbc pass-thru device -- not quite the power of built-ins, but still effective, and pass-thru units have some level of frame sync at work. Better than nothing. In fact, a lot better than nothing. A forum thread testing pass-thru's that's been going for 5 years now: http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3...hat-do-you-use. Plenty of commentary there, and test shots to demonstrate what a line tbc does and why you need it. That thread also has a 4x slow-mo blowup to demonstrate the effect of no tbc - vs - tbc on: http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3...=1#post1882662.

Hey thanks for the reply, sorry about the confusion. I will start numbering my question to aid with that.

1. Thanks to you guys I belive my question around DV/Hi8/D8 are done. I will simply use firewire for that. (still best right?) For the HI8 tapes, just use a D8 Camcorder and should be good to go.
SO I am going to try to get a higher end Sony TRV series to deal with Hi8/Digital8 tapes. (again open to improvement)

2. Now I am focusing on my VHS and VHS-C cassettes. I see the recommendation for a Panasonic player (I have slower tapes..) I have money to invest in this.. So please commend good VCRS for capturing VHS/Svhs/vhsc tapes. I am also going to buy a AIW card and a TBC device. Should I get a VCR with built in TBC and use an external box too?

My condolences...slower tapes

for slow tapes I put on Panasonic NV V8000.
Do I need a third device, simultaneously, I take a Panasonic AG4700 and an S-VHS-C adapter.

I was young, didn't know any better, I thought SLP would just give more recording time :P

Is there any particular reason you like those models? Are they just the ones you have or do they have amazing quality or a special feature?

Yes, of course I have 2 Panasonic NV-V8000.
But these are models for standard PAL + LP [Long play]
Possible that there is this Panasonic also in NTSC format.
The larger setter here JVC BR-S-522 + 822 can indeed without adapter S-VHS-C but only play in SP [Standard]

VHS-C tapes with NTSC SLP I've never seen here.
Since I had a consumer playback devices of SP + LP + SLP play can access.

The quality in SLP but is very bad sein.Ich've got shots of customers on VHS-C in LP ... What I get tears in my eyes.
Too bad ... would fond memories.

www.ww-consulting.ch

Those will be fine, but you miss the point about the Hi8. Hi8 is analog, not digital. D8 cameras output DV, not lossless. So if you have no other way to play those Hi8's, you have to live with the way DV encodes noisy analog. Lacking a Hi8 player, you can have those tapes capped losslessly using a pro service.

TBC's have been covered, too. tbc VCR's have line-level tbc's. Outboard tbc's are frame-level tbc's. Each handle different analog playback problems.

Those are PAL Panasonic models.

I had a ton of EP and SLP tapes from 25 years back (now I'm down to maybe 1/4 ton, LOL!). The first time I used a high-end JVC on those tapes, I knew I was in trouble in the first minute of capture. Since then I collected or used a few Pannies that gave far more workable results with EP:
- The AG-1980, works magic with many tapes, quirky with some.
- AG-5710, twin of the 1980 with no tuner, same results. Borrowed.
- AG-1970 (weaker tbc, hardly any dnr), noisy but tracks tapes others can't handle. Rugged. Borrowed. I've been thinking of getting a rebuild, but I don't have so many old tapes now.
- PV-S4570 and PV-S4670, both SVHS Dynamorphous from 1995-96, rebuilt, no tbc but some minimal noise reduction, no over sharpening, excellent tracking), ekes out detail from really crappy noisy tapes that dnr machines often over filter.
- PV-4566 circa 1995 (no s-video, but plays like the other '95-'96 guys), somehow manages to play tapes smoothly that were bruised/damaged earlier by JVC players.
- Still have a SONY SLV-585HF circa 1990, a costly rebuild, great for EP tapes originally recorded on it. Made in the era when premium VCR's were built like tanks. SONY never made a better player. Each new SONY after that got worse.

I went thru several non-AG Pannies from the later 90's and a couple from 2000-2001. Don't bother. Except for high-end VCR's, everything made after 1996 went downhill. By 2000 they were useless junk.

A used Panasonic ES10 or ES15 and sometimes a Toshiba RD-XS34 are used for line-tbc/frame-sync pass-thru for VCR's with no tbc. Their tbc's aren't quite as powerful as bullt-in's but they beat a cheap or defective tbc every time, have decent y/c comb filters for composite input, and they don't tie me down to any single player.

I have used high-end JVC's on SP tapes. Too bad they didn't last very long, but I ran out of old SP tapes anyway.

The post-processing tools you'll need for lossless and DV are Avisynth, Virtualdub, and patience. All free.

I captured VHS to DV once. Never again. A nightmare to clean.

Great info, thanks! Looking into buying a AG-1980
So I should capture the Hi8 and digital 8 using a similar method as the VHS tapes? (using a AIW capture off S-video to lossless)

I only need a TBC (player or external box or both) when using VHS/VHS-c, correct?

Don't confuse us by using the wrong terms, LOL!. Again, just to be sure:

-VHS is analog. Capture analog with devices designed for analog source capture to digital media, preferably using an AIW capture or ATI USB off S-video to lossless huffyuv or Lagarith YUY2.

-Digital 8 is already in DV format. DV isn't captured. It's copied 1:1 via Firewire to the same DV format (which is lossy, but not as much as some other codecs). DV devices are designed for direct transfer of DV source to DV files. Many DV cameras have onboard tbc's.

- Hi8. Here you have a slight problem. Hi8 is analog, not DV. Some DV cameras can play analog tape, but they output lossy DV. Analog -> DV = not the friendliest combination, difficult to clean compression artifacts and buzzy edges. But it can be done, especially if you have no other choice for Hi8 except having a pro shop cap to lossless for you.

You will always need a line-level tbc for analog sources, either built-in or in a pass-thru device. You'll almost always need an external frame tbc as well. You will find oddball tapes that don't behave well with both tbc's in circuit, and tapes that don't play nice if either tbc is missing. Take it one tape at a time.

few D8 camera has onboard TBC.
To play V8 + Hi8 necessarily from CVBS and S-Video output, for example to a Pana DMR ES10 / 15

Here is a small selection ... ... Digital 8
-------------------
Supplement _
why the picture is displayed after upload as small as you can see nothing, not even with a magnifying glass.

Ah sorry, I am not confusing them, I am just not writing very clearly, and talking about multiple formats..
what I am trying to say is since capturing Hi8>DV is not an ideal process, for HI8 should I use a method similar to the VHS capture process? Using the AIW card?

Thanks!

My Sony TRV-840 arrived today! its seems like a very nice camera, it also seems to have DNR and TBC built in.
I orders a AIW card, the ATI All-In-Wonder X1900, comes with the breakout cable and everything

$30 for the ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 and 100 for the trv840.

Yes. If you can find a player. If not, send it to digitalfaq's shop for a losssless capture. Otherwise, hi8->DV is your last choice.

However, be aware that some firewire connections do not provide sufficiently robust power output via the 6-pin connector to reliably power the ADVC55/110/100. In those cases using an external power adapter is necessary. (This was a flaw in the IEEE1394 spec implementation.)

The Sony D8 Walkmen (e.g., GV-D200) provide 8mm/Hi8 and D8 playback, s-video and IEEE1394 output, LANC control, and offer a selectable internal TBC and DNR for Hi8/8mm tape playback. The down side is they tend to be harder to find and more expensive than old Hi8/8mm camcorders.

Consumer capture gear, and VCR's with analog inputs sold in the USA (and likely most other places) are designed to respect Macrovision copy protection on the analog input as a condition of sale. On VHS/S-VHS gear it messes with the recorders ADC. On 8mm/Hi8 and digital gear the Macrovision signal is detected by special circuits rather than relying on the built-in AGC. As a rule the Canopus gear respects Macrovision, although it is possible that some early production models did not.

DV is what it is, the best format available for consumer/prosumer initial acquisition, linear editing, and non-linear editing on modest power computer systems in the 1990s. Back then the alternatives were multi-generational S-VHS or Hi8, and the quality went south in a hurry. Today things are a lot different.

The bottom line for capture and restoration of old analog material is one needs to decide how good is good enough, and how much time and treasure one is willing to invest in the process. We need to satisfy the customer and and stay within budget. In many cases we are the customer and that gives more freedom to optimize, moving in the direction of perfect from good enough.

Joe and Jane Six-pack are often elated it they can get a copy of their SLP VHS home video dumped on to a DVD they can watch once again. A simple real time process like AG-1980 -> TBC -> Proc Amp -> DVD recorder will likely be substantially better than what they see trying to play that tape directly to their TV using the $49 VCR they have left over from the 1990s.

Thanks for the info, everyone.
I have a few more piece of equipment to acquire, Im build my "Ultimate Video capture XP machine" now haha. It is what I will use the AIW card in. I just need to get a mainboard and a cpu. I am also still hunting for a good vcr.

Can you tell me, how necessary is the Proc Amp?

Thanks

If you're capoturing tape to lossless media using VirtuaLDub, you don't need a proc amp. VDub can hook into your capture driver's proc amp controls. Basically you need brightness and contrast adjustments to keep your incoming signal within safe video levels. Usually you won't use Tint controls (VHS changes color balance every few seconds, so that's a waste of time during capture). You might also need a sharpness control, not to sdharpen but to slightly soften oversharpened incoming video. Don't try to make VHS sharper during capture -- all you're sharpening is noise, making it look worse and impossible to clean later.

If using Firewire for DV sources, you'll have to depend on your capture setup's proc amp controls, if available. If you're going from DV to DV, you're making a 1:1 copy anyway and might not need level adjustments. It's been too long since I used DV, so those who've been transferring DV all these years can help you with that. I don't even remember how I did it (Remember Win98?).

If recording to a DVD recorder, you have no way to control invalid video levels except thru a proc amp. Don't mislead yourself into thinking that a cheapo new or used prov amp from BestBuy/Walmart will do. The vast number of complaints about those budgets jobs over the years has populated many old forum threads. The most popular, successful, and clean working proc amps over the years were the SignVideo PA-100 and Elite Video BVP-4. Even used, we're not talking cheap but you never know what you'll find on the 'net. These are analog devices. TGrantPhoto rebuilds and resells these units, usually PA-100's. The inability to control input levels is just one of the reasons why direct-to-DVD and many VHS->DV capture schemes are not recommended.

We love Hi8 tapes, because they always turn out beautiful when run through our setup here. :2cents:

Awesome! yeah I remeber 98 haha. Also, not going to dvd, I will be using my AIW to goto something losless like huffyuv/etc...

I ordered my TBC the otherday, it set me back 200 [:0] but I got the TBC-1000 by datavideo, So there is that at least.

I'm still working on the pc build, I got a lga775 board, ASUS P5W DH Deluxe. It looks pretty solid, and it is the last piece I needed to complete the pc.

Now the final piece (or pieces..) or equipment I need would be a good VCR. I think I am going to hold out for the AG-1980, or possibly a JVC HR-S9800U.

The project is slowly coming together! :D

So now that my set up is almost complete, I have started trying out captures.

TRV840 (svid)> tbc-1000(svid)> AIW x1900

Sometimes the capture works ok sometimes not.. all the videos have a loud audio hiss, and distortion.

However none of these problems are present while I am watching the video being capture, on the cameras LCD or on the PC screen, it looks and sounds great! but when I finish capturing and watch the video file it has lots of problems...
I suspect the distortion might be from the TBC...


(I will try to upload a sample clip in a bit...)