About capturing resolution

[mits]

Before i start i know that this topic has been discussed many times in the past, so one more time i want to believe it will not to be so boring to you. So here is the story.
I want to convert my vhs/svhs recordings from my old camcorder to dvd and i'm considering the following options.

1. SVHS deck -> SONY TRV50 mini dv (for on the fly a/d conversion) -> firewire transfer to pc 720*576 res -> edit -> convert to mpg2 etc.

2. SVHS deck -> Mil II/RRS (yes it is still alive) 352*576 (at around 3.4:1 comp.ratio with doc's registry hack) -> Edit via Lan with the fast pc -> convert to mpg2 etc.

I remember F_D stating that sometimes is better to cap at full res and then resize to half in order to reduce noise.
Any other option/idea ?
Thanks

[bitz4brainz]

Although it takes a lot of disk space (temporarily) and takes 2 steps, I like option 1. I do this with my Sony MiniDV (NTSC). As Dr Mordrid points out, it leavesyou plenty of options before/at the encoding stage, including clean edits when necessary.

[Taliska]

Hi,

I'd thought about using the A/D convertor on my Sony DCR-PC120E - I didn't fancy recording to digital tape then having to play it back out to capture it via Firewire.

Do you know if I can do this on mine - I've read the manual a few times, but don't remember whether you can...

How do you think the quality will compare with a PC-based analogue capture card - e.g. RT.X10?

Taliska

[Ted222]

I seem to get a little better sound sync when I copy from SVHS to mini DV then transfer to computer via 1394/firewire. You also end up with a nice time track on your mini DV tapes for future captures of individual scenes.

Ted

[Brian Ellis]

Or you can use an ad hoc analogue>DV converter such as the Canopus ADVC-100, which I've been doing for the best part of a year. Great piece of equipment and doesn't tie up a camcorder.

[Technoid]

Originally posted by Brian Ellis
Or you can use an ad hoc analogue>DV converter such as the Canopus ADVC-100, which I've been doing for the best part of a year. Great piece of equipment and doesn't tie up a camcorder.

Going to buy one of these devices as soon as I can afford one

[bitz4brainz]

Taliska,

I have a PC110 (earlier model) and you can do passthrough (skipping tape) with mine. You got to dig through the menus for the setting to connect A in directly to D out. The capture is excellent. But you get over 12GB per hour of a DV compressed AVI and full 48KHz PCM (uncompressed) sound. These files are very editable. You can compress over night, not have to deal with whether your CPU is capable of MPEG on the fly.

Works best on XP where you don't have to worry about 4GB file size limitation.

[Taliska]

Excellent news that being able to pass straight through.

I guess that together with an RT.X10 that there won't be any dropped frames as it wouldn't be able to rewind the tape!

Will just have to burrow into that manual again!

Cheers,

Taliska

[bitz4brainz]

Taliska,

Based on my PC110: Turn on the cam in "VCR MOde". Bring up the menu. Scroll down to "VCR Set" menu and select it. Scroll down to "A/V-->DV Out" and turn it ON. Exit.

(Your cam is a PAL, so mileage may vary.)

Now, whatever comes in through the A/V connector (analog) will get digitized and fed out through the Firewire.

I use Scenalyzer to capture. It can control the VCR (both with or without tape). http://www.scenalyzer.com/ It works so well for me that I have never even tried Premiere's capture.

[mits]

bitz4brainz,
i also use scenalyzer that controls my TRV50 but when i connect my svhs vcr to feed the dv camcorder then scenalyzer still controls the camcorder and starts the tape in the camcorder, so in this case i resort to aviio with mainconcept's codec. I don't understand how scenalyzer can control the vcr. Can you give me a hint or something? I haven't tried it though without a tape in the camcorder.

[bitz4brainz]

I missspoke and badly.

1. I meant that Scenalyzer controls the camcorder in VCR mode.

2. You are right, there is nothing to control when there is no tape!

Late night postings...sheesh

[Taliska]

Thanks for the info, will be armed now for when I buy my new PC that will have a Firewire port on it!

I don't have to convert many old tapes, but this will make it much easier and better by the sound of it.

Cheers,

Taliska