Analogue-DV Passthrough

[sigerson]

A question about the analog-dv passthrough...

When I look at the analog capture cards like the Leadtek Winfast TV2000 Expert, the advertising states that it sports a 10 bit video decoder with adaptive comb filter. Ok. What happens to the analog signal when it passes through a DV camcorder? Does the DV camcorder have a 10 bit video decoder with adaptive comb filter?

[daamon]

Hi sigerson,

PM lordsmurf and / or Capmaster - they may well be able to help.

Also, you might get more answers if this were in the "Capturing" forum. Don't re-post your question there - just post a link to this thread in this thread:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119319

...and a Moderator will move it for you.

Good luck.

[edDV]

That is an excellent question. It depends on the internal codec in your camcorder. I'd like to see comparison reviews on the various capture methods.

"10 bit video decoder with adaptive comb filter" sounds good on face value. There are many ways to do adaptive comb filtering, the better being in 3D space. Adaptive means the decoder adjusts its behavior to motion.

Is this a Sony camera? I hope others have the specs for camcorder codecs.

[sigerson]

That is an excellent question. It depends on the internal codec in your camcorder. I'd like to see comparison reviews on the various capture methods.

"10 bit video decoder with adaptive comb filter" sounds good on face value. There are many ways to do adaptive comb filtering, the better being in 3D space. Adaptive means the decoder adjusts its behavior to motion.

Is this a Sony camera? I hope others have the specs for camcorder codecs.

Yes it is...a Sony TRV50 in my case. I don't think any DV camcorder has info regarding its analog-dv passthrough. At least, I've never seen it on any company website or in any consumer review of said camcorder.

I never would've thought that it would be different from brand to brand to be honest. I always assumed that the way it looked was because of the DV (4:1:1) bandwidth.

[sigerson]

Hi sigerson,

PM lordsmurf and / or Capmaster - they may well be able to help.

Also, you might get more answers if this were in the "Capturing" forum. Don't re-post your question there - just post a link to this thread in this thread:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119319

...and a Moderator will move it for you.

Good luck.

Ok, thanks. Will do...

[edDV]

That is an excellent question. It depends on the internal codec in your camcorder. I'd like to see comparison reviews on the various capture methods.

"10 bit video decoder with adaptive comb filter" sounds good on face value. There are many ways to do adaptive comb filtering, the better being in 3D space. Adaptive means the decoder adjusts its behavior to motion.

Is this a Sony camera? I hope others have the specs for camcorder codecs.

Yes it is...a Sony TRV50 in my case. I don't think any DV camcorder has info regarding its analog-dv passthrough. At least, I've never seen it on any company website or in any consumer review of said camcorder.

I never would've thought that it would be different from brand to brand to be honest. I always assumed that the way it looked was because of the DV (4:1:1) bandwidth.

Well there are two issues here and I am not expert on Sony DV camcoders although I have one.

Issue 1: DV codec only 4:1:1 The Sony and other camcorder codecs are in hardware, 4:1:1 is the consumer DV spec and is visually quite adequate unless doing chroma key or some other effect that requires color detail. 4:1:1 is ok. Codecs do vary in quality within the spec. This was more of a topic in the early years of DV than it is now. Maybe codec performance has converged.

Issue 2: Analog capture (pass-through) using the camcoder analog S-Video and or composite inputs. I've also wondered how good the filtering and A/D (8, 10 or more bit) input stage is for DV camcorder external inputs and how many bits are captured and processed from the CCDs for that matter.

Edit: Ideally one would capture in 10 or more bits, especially if the AGC and NTSC/PAL decode is done in the digital domain. If the signal is properly conditioned and processed before A/D, 8 bits can be OK.