Are there any inexpensive camcorders with analog to digital pass through?

[granturissimus]

Since my capture card gives bad results, and since some people here said that I won't be able to get good enough results by buying another capture card/device, I was wondering if getting a miniDV camcorder with analog to digital pass through would be a good option to capture my old VHS tapes.

I have 12 tapes that I need to capture with 1.5 hours on each. I'm wondering if I could buy a cheap used camcorder with that feature so I could capture. Is that possible?

Do HD camcorders also have analog to digital pass through for VCR capturing?

[aedipuss]

the only one left i know of is the hdv video canon hv40.

[turk690]

I have 12 tapes that I need to capture with 1.5 hours on each. I'm wondering if I could buy a cheap used camcorder with that feature so I could capture. Is that possible?

Yes that's possible; I'm using an ancient Sony TRV-350K D8 camcorder just for that purpose. But a lot will depend on the VHS deck use to play them back with.

[granturissimus]

turk690, are you able to capture well with that camcorder? It's going for around $70 bucks on ebay, which is less than what I'd have to pay if I took my tapes to those video shops I think.

Does anyone know other old camcorders with this feature? Because I might just buy one used online.

[turk690]

Its AV to DV function works as expected (that setting is enabled). This is a 12-year old camcorder which I know well. You should find a way to see if stuff on eBay is the same. For example, whoever is selling might have tested his and it plays tapes OK, but the FireWire might not be working (or more commonly the tiny plastic piece on which the four conductors lie on that fragile connector is broken, such as when someone yanks out a FireWire connector sideways with force or shoves the same in at an angle).

[jagabo]

DV passthrough won't necessarily give any better quality than a capture card. You need an s-vhs deck with a line TBC, or an external line TBC to get good results.

[davideck]

Does anyone know other old camcorders with this feature? Because I might just buy one used online.

My JVC GR-DVL915U provides excellent TBC performance in analog to 1394 passthrough.