Capure device/card?

[bigskipper]

I have spent a lot of time capturing my dv and vhs tapes to my hard drive. I have been successfull at the capture, conversion and the authoring so far. I haven't needed to post on the forum yet, having learned from researching other's posts.

I am looking into buying a capture device/card like the canopus advc-100, but am not sold on the benefits yet. I am using just a generic firewire card right now that I connect my camcorder to, then I connect my camcorder to my vcr, but don't know if I'm missing out on something better in the firewire card area. So, here's my question:

How would a capture device like the canopus advc-100 or similar benefit my dv and vhs captureing above just going strait to my firewire card. Does it make the video clearer?

Also, I know that I need a firewire card to connect the canopus to my computer. Will just any cheap firewire card do, or would I benefit by buying a brand-name firewire card. The current firewire card hasn't malfunctioned, but I don't know if generic is the best, having not used any other firewire card.

Thanks for any advice any other users my have.

Daron

[redwudz]

Just about any Firewire card will do. If the one you have works, keep it. If your camcorder has passthrough and it works with your VCR, you have mostly what you need already. The ADVC has macrovision removal. Other than that, it works basically the same as the camcorder as far as DV conversion goes. The ADVC would probably be more convienient, but the end results should be the same.

[The_Doman]

I am using about the same setup as you with my D8 camera connected to my VCR and capping with my Firewire.

The brand of firewire card will not differ much, it just works or not.

The ADVC-100 will function the same as the setup you have now with your DV cam pasthrough. You only have an easier to handle box with nice connectors ofcourse.

The biggest factor in the capture quality will be the VCR!
I personally have 3 different VHS recorders here and there IS a lot of difference when playing a tape on them. With my SVHS/ET JVC giving me the worst picture of them all!!

[bigskipper]

The_Doman

I'm glad that you posted because poor image quality on the capture is what sent me into this tailspin of questioning what I have done wrong. I also have been using a JVC vcr. I would never had guessed that the VCR would be the reason for the less than sharp picture. Anybody have any suggestions on a vcr with good image quality?

daron

[bugster]

Please do not cross post. Other topic locked.

/Moderator - Bugster

[briandugas]

Well, I just bought a JVC HRS 9911U. It's a SVHS VCR, and I saw great improvements by using this VCR. I agree that the VCR will be key in getting a good read from the source, and I like the idea of trying 3 separate VCRs. Though, I find it hard to believe that the JVC would be the worst performer every time. From what I've read on this board, you will get different results with each VHS tape. If you always get bad results with your JVC, maybe the heads need cleaning or something.
Brian

[racerxnet]

Vcr heads are generally self cleaning. Running an abrasive dry cleaner cartdridge or wet type are not recommended. What cleans best? A new tape running through the tape player unless the tips are clogged very bad. Tip clogs are best cleaned with the top removed and done with a 12x loop very carefully.

[The_Doman]

I have that JVC VCR a couple years now, a HRS 6700 PAL. It has not that much features , I know. I even brought it back in the shop 2 times to check.
When i playback VHS tapes with it i just don't like the picture, it's just to SOFT/BLURRED or too SHARP. Also every (even small) dropout will show up as a black line on the screen. So i already gave up with that machine for some time.
It's doing his job here now mostly as a nice tuner for my TV recordings in combination with my D8 camera.

Other VCR's i use with much better result are from AKAI (works really good with a really good tape) and a Panasonic (NVHD640). These 2 VCR's give me just a nice balanced picture, which i feed through my D8 camera in my PC.

Just my experience