VHS digitazing thru Sony TVR 460 s-video undetected, please help

[vatsyk]

Ok, I put a VHS tape in a good VCR Player-----> RCA cable (yellow, white, red) or S-video and RCA cable (white & red only -better picture quality)----->Sony TVR 460 with DNR and TBC (conversion to digital on the fly)------> WinDV (capturing to the hard drive).

When using RCA (yellow, white, red) I have no problem getting a picture on the camcorder LCD screen and no problem capturing using WinDV.

But, when using S-video and RCA cable (white and red only FOR BETTER PICTURE QUALITY) I hear only the audio in the camcorder and no picture on the camcorder LCD screen and obviously no picture in the WinDV window on the computer screen.

I have read the manual all over several times for my Sony DVR 460 regarding hooking S-video cable, some experts advised me to hook S-video first and RCA (white and red) after, but I got no picture after all trying.

Do I have to change the settings in my Sony TVR 460 for S-video input instead of RCA(yellow input)? please, help !!!! How can I make the picture to show up on my Sony TVR 460 LCD screen using S-video for better picture quality instead of using composite video input, Thanks, your help is appreciated !!!

[lordsmurf]

Is that s-video an input or output?

[vatsyk]

from VCR (S-video output) to Sony TVR 460 ( S-video input)

[orsetto]

The TRV-460 is not the most user-friendly camcorder, in fact its downright user-hostile, with a terrible instruction manual that isn't clear about connections at all. After studying it for awhile, I believe this is the situation:

The S-video jack on the front of your camera is output-only, it will not accept external S-video input. So you cannot pass S-video thru the TRV-460 from an external VCR: the feature simply isn't available. The S-video port on the front will only play live video, or tapes within the camera itself. It seems the only pass-thru connection on this model is the first setup you used successfully (via the yellow-red-white A/V adapter to your VCR, then patching the camera to your PC via DV/iLink digital output).

[vatsyk]

Oh, this is the case, Camcorder has S-video output only, it is not an input, thanks for the feedback, so when using RCA cables only will make the picture just a little bit worse compared If the camcorder had s-video input ? if worse, so to what degree and is there any solution, other than using all 3 RCA colors?

[orsetto]

If you want to use this camera as a TBC, no, there are no alternatives to your original hookup: all inputs to this camera are standard composite RCA, there is no method to make it accept S-video input for pass thru.

This may not be as significant as you think: unless the tapes you are trying to copy were themselves recorded in SVHS, you would not see a dramatic quality difference between RCA and S-video connections thru the camera. If these are "ordinary" regular VHS tapes, you might have gotten a small benefit from the S-video circuit, but not enough to worry about. If, however, your tapes are indeed SVHS, then you will not get a full-quality digital encoding with this camera involved. When your SVHS vcr plays true SVHS tapes thru its RCA output, it reduces the quality to normal VHS: a noticeable difference. You might not want to use this camera as a TBC if most of your tapes are "true" SVHS: consider a used DataVideo TBC-1000, AVT-8710, or Hotronic AP-41 instead. These are often sold on eBay now for $150-200.

[vatsyk]

thanks, I have 10 VHS's and 3 SVHS's so SVHS sdandalone player is the player that accept SVHS small tapes without any cassette adapter that regular VCR's use ?

[aedipuss]

umm. no. svhs stands for super VHS not small vhs. svhs was a vhs with greater lines of resolution. svhs uses the same large vhs tapes.

[orsetto]

Your SVHS player must be a JVC, I think that was the only brand that made a VCR that accepted the small SVHS-C camera tapes without an adapter. SVHS tapes recorded by a camera are usually much better quality than other tapes, so you probably don't need the the Sony TBC for these three. Can you connect the SVHS output from your VCR to your capture card? Does your PC have an S-video input? If so, you may get better results on the 3 compact tapes by running S-video directly to your computer.

If you don't have S-video connection on your capture card, only USB or DV, then you will have to use the Sony and accept the compromise of its yellow-red-white RCA adapter. You will lose the ultimate SVHS quality on those three SVHS tapes, but they should still look like extremely good "regular" VHS after capture. You may be satisfied with this. If not, you will need to get a capture card that can accept S-video from your VCR, or you will need to buy or borrow a standalone DVD recorder with S-video connection. You could copy the 3 small tapes in S-video to the DVD recorder, then put the DVD in your computer and rip the files from it to do further editing or authoring. (If you don't plan to edit the 3 tapes, and just want a DVD, the disc made by the recorder should be fine.)

[deuce8pro]

........

[orsetto]

aedipuss brings up a good point, vatsyk: I've been taking you at your word that the three small SVHS tapes you are speaking of really are "SVHS" recordings, and not just small normal camera tapes known as VHS-C. Almost all VHS-C camera tapes are "normal" VHS, but there were a few JVC cameras that could record "SVHS-C". These were very uncommon, so check whats printed on the cassette shell: do those three camera tapes have SVHS-C printed on them, or are they marked simply VHS-C? If they are ordinary VHS-C, and the SVHS light does not come on when you load them in your SVHS vcr, the tapes are not SVHS and this entire discussion can be forgotten. Just use the yellow-red-white AV connectors from the VCR to the Sony to your capture card. No improvements would be had with an S-video connection if the tapes are not SVHS-C.

[vatsyk]

Just checked the 3 cassettes, They are indeed VHS-C, so they are treated as regular VHS cassettes ?

[aedipuss]

yes, the small cassettes are normal vhs. you put them into an adapter, before inserting into the player.

[vatsyk]

Thank you guys, you are the best !!!