Good setup for converting video and audio tapes?
 

First things first, thanks to everyone for having such a great forum. I've been reading through the pages for the past week, and it seems like a great place.

-goal

The first thing I would like to do is create playable pc files for a coworker. We have a lot of vhs tapes used for training. And some audio tapes. I would like to put these all on a computer and set up a learning center. I haven't been asked to do this or nor will I be paid. Its just one of those proactive / good vibe deals.

Other potential projects are making home movie dvds for my mother and grandmother. Maybe putting weird 80s things on youtube. And making mpr3s of my records for the car. Maybe even recording guitar work.

-equipment

PC
1440 27 inch CrossOver monitor
Windows 7 Ultimate
Intel Core i7-3770k cpu @ 3.50GHz
16 GB of memory
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB 192-Bit Video Card
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP5 Motherboard (has USB and thunderbolt ports)
60GB SSD hard drive for OS
1T internal second drive and 1T external drive via USB

-equipment to buy

we have two svhs and two beta players in storage. If the heat has killed them I will probably need to buy something from this list

I'm not sure on the next part. I would think an S-vhs player would already have a tbc but it seems like a lot of people buy an extra one and put it between the player and the capture device. Kind of clueless with this one. DataVideo TBC-1000 or AVToolbox AVT-8710 are suggested but look pricey.

Lastly, some kind of capture device. The internet seems to like DV units and dongles. You guys seem dead set against them, mostly. DV sounds like it is bad for many applications. And most dongles sound like cheap garbage. From what I gather, the ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB seems like the favorite dongle. The other favorite seems to ATI All in Wonder cards and devices. It doesn't sound like many of them will work with my newer motherboard, but maybe I'm reading old threads?

Budget

Aiming for under 500. But I could go up to 1000. I probably have over 600 records. A quality way to digitize the audio would be worth a little extra for the capture device.

It boils down to how much time, energy, and money do you want to invest into this project?
How "good"is "good enough" for you and your consumers expectations?
How much video do you intend to convert?
What is the condition of the source material?
Do you plan to do any editing or add effects?
What audio and video editing software do you already have?
What make/models are your VCRs, and are they in good repair?

The folks at this board generally have very high standards for video capture and restoration - standards that far exceed what it may take to make Joe and Jane Six-Pack happy as they sit on their couch glued to the tube between sessions of Dr. Phil and Judge Judy.

Capture to DV, and dongles, provide basic capabilities, but the output has limitations. Whether or not they will be an issue for you depends on the answers to the above quesions.

Modern motherboard audio capability may be sufficient for caprture of old vinyl, especially for listening in a car environment. But youwill want decent audio editing software (e.g., like Audition) for clean-up of the captured sound.

The training videos that I want to start with probably don't need a lot of fixing. Someone training for a new position will mostly care about clarity. Clear audio and clear picture.

Personal stuff later down the road will require more work. I would like to put something nice together for the folks for the holidays. The training vis would be used as practice for this.

It all goes back to how involved you wan to get into the processes and how good is good enough.

If you watch the used gear markets and auction sites you can often find bargains. If you are a player (buyer and seller) you can recycle items you try and do not like or that you outgrow as you progress in the restoration vocation.

As you no doubt have already read here not all S-VHS players contain TBC capability at any useful level, and there is a very real pecking order as to quality and reliability. Buying used gear is always a crap-shoot.

BTW, analog video mixers (e.g., the Videonics MXPro and MX-1 and others) typically provide TBC/frame synchronizer functionality and perhaps some other useful functions.

DVD Recorders can provide quick and usable (although not optimized) conversion of existing tape to DVD. It generally will look about as good as the signal out of the VHS/8mm tape player. Not a good capture method if you plan to do some restoration or more than very simple cuts editing.

Capture via a DV device (e.g. ADVC110) gives a file that is good for editing in a NLE, but is not great for doing serious restoration, and may suffer if the source material is noisy. Also, it will need to be transcoded (often as a NLE output) and perhaps authored to a distribution format.

Some products are "point and shoot" simple; e.g., pick a filter (and maybe adjust its settings) seeing the result on screen in real-time). Some require sophistication scripting/programming. You have to pick what fits your business model, individual skill set, and/or love.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

One of the guys at work brought up the digital back ups again. Showed me the locked cabinet full of vhs tapes. They even have a laser disk player.

I pulled the trigger on a AVT-8710 TBC and ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB.

If I outgrow the TV Wonder, what would be a good internal capture card? I have 2 PCI Express 3.0 x16, 2 PCI Express x1, and 1 PCI Slot and I'm running 64 bit widows 7

See the sticky threads above for board recommendations.

I decided on running a JVC SR-W5U into ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB

I have a AVT-8710 TBC but haven't used it yet. The SR-W5U was a pain to get going. Tracking was all messed up. I ended up cleaning the heads 4 or 5 times. I have a feeling the head cleaning had nothing to do with it working again. There is probably an intermittent connection that I bumped while cleaning.

Now the problem is audio that won't sync when captured.

I originally tested the TV Wonder with an old Nintendo. Audio synced fine.

I think I might have changed the frame rate in capture settings.

-- merged --

I got the audio to sync back up by switching audio latency determination to fixed.

That VCR was "good", but easily fell into disrepair. It needed regular servicing, and any that you buy used online oprobably did not have the right treatment. At this late date, repair parts are completely unavailable. The scarcity of the units also makes cobbling (making one good unit from two non-working units) equally impossible.

That TBC is excellent, assuming it has no known issues.

The NES puts out a non-standard signal. It's not a good test.

Be sure the frame rate matches the source, either 29.97 NTSC or 25 PAL.