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  1. Member Quadzilla's Avatar
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    Feb 2003
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    Greenwich, CT
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    A while back I bought a Pinnacle DC 30 to use to transfer a bunch of VHS to DVD and maybe do some light editing. It took a while to set up properly (had to install Win 98 on my Win 2k PC and try different drivers and "wrappers"). Finally got it working well but hadn't had time until recently to actually transfer the tapes. A family member recently gave me a Pinnacle Studio AV/DV sys for Xmas. It includes a Pinnacle capture card and Studio 9 software.

    I'm curious as to which one of these cards would give the best quality conversions. Also, which has best SW tools available for it, there didn't seem to be a lot for the DC30 IN wIN 98. Problem is my sys is not very fast, P3 1 Ghz. When I tried using the AV/DV card to capture in MPEG I got a warning that my PC was too slow and I may get dropped frames and sure enough I did. I have been considering buying a faster PC and if I knew I'd get better results w/the new card over the DC30 I may go ahead & upgrade now.

    Just curious, why would the new card need a faster processor? I had no probs w/MPEG capture on the DC30. I'm guessing the DC30 does on-board processing and the AV/DV uses the CPU? Thanks.
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  2. I use an AV/DV Pinnacle card and it works well.
    The AV/DV card as I undrstand is for capturing DV avi's. Mpeg encoding would then be done in software (using the cpu) if done on the fly.
    I would try capturing to DV and see if you still drop frames. Then edit and render to mpeg after editing. You'll get much better quality video that way.
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  3. Member vhelp's Avatar
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    Mar 2001
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    New York
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    Evening all.

    I have the Studio AV/DV card. My OS is win98 gold. But, unfortunately,
    this card will not work in my OS (even though the installation is clean
    and there are no issues) The card simply will not work. Anyways.

    As I understand it, this card is an Analog card. That is..

    It will accept the following source's and their respective type
    connector's:

    * DV sources (i.e., DV CAMS or ADVC-100 for instance)
    .. it will accept a source stream from the 6pin IN/OUT connector port
    .. of this card, and from your CAM or ADVC-100 device.
    .
    .. In the end, for DV projects, it has the option (feature) to allow a
    .. user to transfer (or export) out to DV cams through the 6pin firewire
    .. port on this card.

    * Analog (i.e., VCR; Cable box; Satalite; DVD player; CAM Corder OUT, etc)
    .. using either s-video or composite connectors of the PORT and the given
    .. devices just listed.
    .
    .. Also, in the end, for Analog projects, it has the option (feature) to allow
    .. a user to transfer (or export) out to VCRs through the s-video/composite
    .. connector ports on this card to your VCR or TV set.

    Then, it will transfer and process the video signal through the PCI slot
    and inside its onboard chips or whatever of the AV/DV card.

    AND THEN, you'll have the option of finally exporting out to a given format
    (i.e., MJPEG; DV codec encoder; MPEG 1/2; Quicktime; Huffy; etc)

    So, this is definately not a DV-only device. Its sort of misleading in a way,
    cause I believed also, it was a DV device. But its not. Its an Analog card,
    and will save out to whatever format you have (based on your CODEC(s)) in
    your system, or the ones that this card comes with and installs on your system

    From the video workstation of,
    -vhelp 2971
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  4. Hi - may I bridge the time gap here and followup with a question for vhelp.

    But first, I wish to thank all of you contributors to this forum. I have learned so much in the past three days - it's been like drinking from a fire hose. Not like the week or so reading Doom9 - some of their comments must be encrypted.

    I have a Pinnacle DV/AV card from 2005-2007. Also Studio 11. The card has firewire in and out, and S-Video in and out. Like most, we took VHS videos with a portable camcorder when they first came out and then moved to the first S-VHSC , Panasonic Pro, when it came out. When the miniDV became available we bought a Panasonic 3ccc camera.

    I bought the Pinnacle to capture the S-VHSC tapes but the camcorder died. Bought several used ones - but they died. Gave up for several years. Was searching the internet for a solution last month and found a JVC SR-VS20U deck (refurbished-or so the seller said). This has both miniDV and S-VHS with dubbing to either. It has S-Video out for the S-VHS and firewire out for the miniDV. I was thrilled to realize it worked but was frightened that it might quit - so I dubbed all our S-VHSC tapes to miniDV's as a precaution.

    Now I would like to transfer (not capture-as I have learned) the original (old) miniDVs to a hard drive (size is not an issue here) in as pure a condition as possible. Then I would like to capture all I can from the original S-VHS tapes since the miniDV dubs are lossy. Once again- size of files is not an issue. I want all that these tapes can give with the technology today - this machine may die tomorrow. Editing is for another day - maybe another year.

    Studio and I have never gotten along. But the PCI card has worked with many of the programs talked about in this forum. How would you suggest I proceed?

    Since you have had this card - will it serve my needs? Do I need to worry about the DV transfers?

    The S-VHS is more complicated. Someone (not from this forum) suggested I capture at 1080p 60fps to extract all that the S-VHS can offer. But I don't think my system can handle it. I did see a Blackmagic Design box and I do have access to a Apple-mini with thunderbolt if that's the highest and best method. This may be an over-kill but I worry that without a player for this media we will be left to an expensive capture house and I have already experienced this with our super 8 film rolls.

    The effort here is to transfer/capture as lossless as possible for an archive and hopefully not to do this process again. Original media will never be discarded.

    Should I worry about interlace in this process?

    As for quantities - about a dozen regular VHS tapes, nearly 50 S-VHSC tapes and nearly 50 original miniDV tapes.

    Thank you in advance.
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