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    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:31.
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  2. Originally Posted by Avagadro1 View Post
    It seems, however, that I’m a little late to the game, as most who have wished to do so have already done so.
    Plenty of people, including me, are still doing it.
    ..on these standard VHS tapes as I have described, will the S-VHS machine really make a difference
    Yes, you'll get slightly better output when using an S-VHS machine and S-Video cables. Not to mention those are the only VCRs with the TBC capabilities you mentioned.
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    manono knows his business here, but I'll add this: don't expect VHS to "look like" SVHS. It can't. Definite benefits result from using s-video output and TBC. Keep in mind that SVHS is a tape format, but s-video is a type of cable that can transmit many media, including VHS, SVHS, DVD, cable box output, etc., but s-video cannot transmit HD.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 24th Mar 2014 at 13:30.
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    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:32.
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    The improvements with better gear would definitely be discernible, and immediately. On the other hand, VHS recorded at 6-hour rates don't behave well with JVC players. Look for a high-end Panasonic.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 24th Mar 2014 at 13:30.
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    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:32.
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    AFAIK, WInDV is used mostly for capturing via Firewire from devices such as camcorders. It's for sure your VCR won't connect directly to Firewire. The Canopus is used my many, but capturing tape to losslessly compressed AVI is the way hobbyists get better results. There is too much good software around (lots of it free that can be used for every phase of VHS->DVD transfer. Premier Elements in particular has its limitations, and there are far better encoders around.

    Capturing directly to compressed video such as MPEG2 or DivX is not the best way to do it (but many do and they like the results), but there are worse methods. Unfortunately, editing/cutting/joining/color correction/adding features, etc., using compressed video captures involves quality loss. It depends on what you're willing to accept.

    Capture the video in its entirety. Then work from there. Plenty of ways exist to work part by part if you want.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 24th Mar 2014 at 13:30.
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  8. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:32.
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  9. Originally Posted by Avagadro1 View Post
    If so, would WinDV be an appropriate capturing software?
    Yep.
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  10. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:32.
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  11. Separate tools for separate jobs. Break down the process into stages of work flow, evaluate at each stage. Capture, Edit, Encode, Author, Burn. Excellent tools available for free for each stage.

    Remember that playback on the PC will be slightly different than playback on a TV from a standalone player. Get some RW disks and do test playbacks at various stages.

    You can also test your process with a hi-quality, repeatable source such as a DVD. You won't be able to get this quality from VHS, but it can help pinpoint problems in your process and give you an idea of what to look for.

    The SVHS player with S-Video cable will Probably give best results, HOWEVER - tapes and players can be tempermental, and various combinations should be tried. With any particular tape, or series of tapes, it is possible that a "lesser"player, or using the "inferior" composite cable, could yield "better" results.

    "Better" is a subjective thing, I would strongly recommend you look through MANY samples of video quality problems and corrections to get a handle on this. If at all possible, keep your original capture files for later re-processing.

    On the subject of editing family video - if you want to produce a stylish movie, that's fine. However, my advice would be to also make a copy with no editing at all. I have about 10 seconds of video of my Great-Grandfather, our first known family member who I am named after. We have no other pictures and very little info on this man. If my dad had edited this video, which would have been with a razor blade and scotch tape, this scene would have been cut out.

    There were also many others, away from the "main action", which were the most interesting and caught my son's attention. It's not a movie, it's history, keep it all.
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  12. Originally Posted by Nelson37 View Post
    On the subject of editing family video - if you want to produce a stylish movie, that's fine. However, my advice would be to also make a copy with no editing at all. I have about 10 seconds of video of my Great-Grandfather, our first known family member who I am named after. We have no other pictures and very little info on this man. If my dad had edited this video, which would have been with a razor blade and scotch tape, this scene would have been cut out.

    There were also many others, away from the "main action", which were the most interesting and caught my son's attention. It's not a movie, it's history, keep it all.
    Great advice IMO.
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    Also don't make a DVD your only copy.

    I suggest keeping high bitrate MPEG-2 files on a drive.
    SD MPEG Blu-ray is another option, too. (The same thing, really.)

    Since you have a DV workflow, I'd just keep the DV footage. It's only 13GB/hour.
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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  14. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:32.
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  15. Originally Posted by Avagadro1 View Post
    ...it seems that the video capture process should allow some such settings in the capture process, as post-capture editing cannot fully address clipped shadows and highlights. Indeed, in one detailed review of the Canopus ADVC-300 A-to-D converter box, an apparently quite knowledgeable user, while not liking all aspects of the unit, highly praised the unit’s capability of correcting shadows, highlights and while balance, so that none is clipped, in the capture process.
    I have the ADVC-300 and that's about the only advantage it has over its much cheaper cousins. You can do the brightness/contrast/levels etc. adjustments later on, though, so no big loss. No, WinDV doesn't have such settings to play around with. And as far as I know VDub doesn't cap DV AVI. But I could be wrong about that.
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    Canopus boxes are for those who like simple solution. No video adjustments are possible with DV devices like Canopus boxes. Capture cards are more verstatile. You can choose the compression codec and brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness can be set to fit your needs/tape.

    I forgot about ADVC-300. Very expensive box for adjustements sliders.
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  17. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:33.
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    encoding & authoring: encoding refers to converting the source video+audio to an appropriate format for the intended final output: DVD, BluRay, or some other encoded fianl form such as DivX or WMV, etc. DVD is encoded using MPEG2 compression, BluRay is encoded with AVCHD. That's for future reference as obviously capture comes first.

    The capture can be either directly to DV digital format, or to losslessly compressed AVI using huffyuv compression. Frankly, if your source video requires repair, denoising, color correction and grading, etc (and old tapes and analog sources almost always do), huffyuv AVI would be the way to go. But many capture to DV and then post-process the video in AVI using lossless compression like huffyuv or Lagarith (Lagarith is apparently becoming favored these days, but is a bit too slow for real-time capture). These AVI's are intermediate steps, just as Photoshop image versions (or intermediate layers) are intermediate steps toward the final output. AVI and/or DV are then encoded for DVD or BluRay.

    The authoring step organizes the encoded video into the file setup used by players, which expect certain files and information to be in specified locations and formats on the burned disc. Authoring includes creating menus, chapters, thumbnails, etc., and all that stuff you see on DVD/BD menus.

    I mention the post-processing step because of this: home made analog/DV sources are notoriously uneven in their exposure and color areas. In addition, I cannot tell you how difficult it is if not impossible to correct the many mistakes made by auto-white and auto-gain controls during capture, not to mention how much trouble they cause when recording in-camera. Many old sources also have noise, frame and line-timing problems that an encoder sees differently than do other devices. What most picky hobbyists would do is capture an analog source with brightness and contrast settings that would accommodate the worse case scenario in various portions of an original video, then post-process to make up the differences. If necessary, some portion or other of a particularly difficult or damaged source might have to be captured separately, repaired, and blended into the final result.

    The brief answer: make a capture using the method you want, then check the results. Otherwise, the number of early-on recommendations and don't-do-this info you'll see will be more confusing than the results of a tangible capture that gives you something to consider in detail.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 24th Mar 2014 at 13:30.
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  19. Originally Posted by Avagadro1 View Post
    You stated that "VDub doesn't cap DV AVI. Well, I must acknowledge that I do not yet know what that means or why that is good or bad."
    You mentioned getting a Canopus box. If you do, you commit yourself to capturing your tapes in DV (=Digital Video). No lossless, MPEG or anything else other than DV AVI. That's not necessarily a bad thing, although I cap PAL DV which has better color than does NTSC DV. Many prefer to cap in some lossless codec, as sanlyn just described. For that you'll need the right kind of capture card.

    And no, I know of no comparisons done of the various capture programs. By looking around this site, though, you'll find an awful lot of information. lordsmurf's site is very good too:

    http://www.digitalfaq.com/
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  20. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:33.
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  21. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:33.
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  22. Originally Posted by Avagadro1 View Post
    Have I got it correct?
    Yes, although I'm not positive that VDub doesn't capture in DV AVI. I never had any luck. Someone else will have to confirm or deny.

    If I go the Canopus A-to-D converter route, which outputs only DV-AVI, then I MUST capture with WinDV...
    I've never used anything but WinDV and can't comment on other methods. It works easily and well. That's on a Windows7 32-bit computer
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  23. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:34.
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    Capture perhaps several minutes of tape, or the whole thing if you want. You don't need a long video to check early results in detail. It's a good idea to start with short captures; there's not much sense recording for 90 minutes and discovering your overall settings were too dark to begin with, or you forgot to set up audio. Whatever capture method you use, you'll discover most of that method's pros and cons quickly. You'll likely find as well that the way you're accustomed to seeing your tapes played on TV will differ from the way they look as digital recordings.

    Setting white points (and black points): Unless you have a video source with severe color problems, manually trying to color grade an analog source during capture is an exercise in futility. Playback white balance changes from minute to minute, often scene by scene, at least via playback variations if not from variations in the source that escape your eye in earlier viewings. The capture card you mention and VirtuaDub have capture filters available (VirtualDub will likely access brightness/contrast controls that are actually located in your graphics adapter, which are basically the only capture filters you really need).

    Huffyuv and Lagarith are lossless compressors for AVI. Huffyuv is faster for real-time capture. Lagarithg is a bit slower but gives slightly smaller files. The advantage with huffyuv is capture speed; the advantage with Lagarith is wider compatablity across systems and media players. They are small installer downloads that setup one .dll each and a few registry entries.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 24th Mar 2014 at 13:31.
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  25. Since I have the ADVC-300 I make some short captures first and check the brightness, contrast, and levels. As sanlyn says, though, that's far from final. I'm just making sure nothing is too much out of spec that it can't be fixed later on. Then I capture the whole thing at one go. For me that means 3 hour long tapes. If they're to be split (and they often are), I do that later.

    I have no idea if WinDV works on a 64-bit system. I don't know why it shouldn't, though.
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  26. ..
    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:34.
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  27. Member hiptune's Avatar
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    Canopus A to D boxes are wonderful things to behold. I have an original ADVC 100 (the one with secret macrovision removal) and the ADVC 500 which has more input formats than the 300. I did notice that sound capture was a bit hot in level coming from the 100, so the manual setting for L & R levels on the 500 was just the ticket. I kept the 100 when I bought the higher priced 500.

    Anyway, since we are talking analog tape capture, and going to eventual DVD-Rs (in general), there is really nothing to not like about Canopus devices. These boxes also have a audio lock feature in them that prevents out of sync audio which can be very common when capturing long length analog to AVI.

    I would also agree that sometimes the lesser VHS deck is the better choice for playback to capture device. I have several Mitsubishi VHS decks, and the one with the fewest features (lower model number) locks into the tapes the best. It just shows cleaner and less bleeding of colors picture for some reason. These are the old late 80s early 90s models, and not the later plastic junk. One benefit of using SVHS deck output over S-Video is that my machine removed macrovision when that output is used. Not sure if all do, but mine does. (good to know)

    Anyway, I took a break from tapes, and have been doing Laser Disc captures in recent years. I came across a LD that has mild rot that effects only the audio, and has almost all perfect picture. I am going to be capturing that Laser Disc, and syncing it with audio from the factory VHS issue. This could be painless, or a long tedious project, I shall see. It is a film that has not been issued on DVD or any format since the early or mid-80s issue. I will be doing the capture / edit in Sony Vegas. Should be fun.

    Best,
    Jeff
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    Last edited by Avagadro1; 22nd Mar 2021 at 17:34.
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  29. Member hiptune's Avatar
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    Keep in mind that automatic tracks can be helpful, and works well on fresh good quality tapes, it can screw up in the middle of a capture and start looking for the plot.

    I would turn it off once you got it to lock in. So if a bad patch, or weak signal comes along on the tape, nothing bad will happen to the locked tracking.

    Does this make sense? Most of the time auto tracking will stay locked, but it can lose its place and have to start looking again, and this can happen during capture.
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