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Originally Posted by ThirteenDaysAgo
I discovered this great site in my quest to convert my VHS tapes to digital.
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Welcome.
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My current setup is anIntel Core 2 Duo machine with one HDD for Windows XP and another for video storage, and a PCIe slot for which I’d like to get an ATI All in Wonder card. I’ve read the AGP cards have fewer issues, but I’m not going to look for an AGP mobo unless I have too many problems with this one.
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All fine.
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1. My understanding so far is there’s no big differences between the PCIe AIW cards for VHS capture.
Is that true? Are there any significant differences in compatibility, quality, or efficiency?
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It's nuanced. The drivers for AIW PCIe are very different from the AGP/PCI/USB era. The chip also has optional onboard audio for capture, but is awful quality. The captures will be hard justified left or right, not centered within an overscan. So anything you capture must be restored, processes (ie, lossless AVI in
VirtualDub. Not allowed to just capture as-is and watch (ie, using the MPEG in MMC).
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2. It seems like TBC’s are very difficult to come across these days
Is it worth watching and waiting it out for a TBC (like the Datavideo TBC-1000) to become available?
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Yes, at this exact moment, TBCs can take some time to acquire. But you do want to acquire known good units, not just random units (often junk, inferior, weak, bad). The bigger issue is getting a non-flawed unit, not a unit needing repair. TBC-1000 is actually a bad model to randomly buy now, as those almost always have issues now. You need to only buy refurb'd units.
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3. I’ve seen the recommended VCR lists.
Which are the most viable at this point in time? i.e., which have held up the best and are not near-impossible to acquire.
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Condition matters more than the exact model, for models on the suggested list here. Functional condition, not cosmetic. Some models potential issues to watch for. For example, D-VHS decks overall poorly perform with non-SP modes, and then the dynamic drum (DD) units have known shutdown issues. Condition is heavily based on where you get gear, aka not from random recyclers and goobers on eBay. There's a few of us that refurb gear, for example myself for NTSC, VCRshop for PAL.
