ATI vs A/V pass-through

[stiltman]

OK I have an ATI AIW 9000Pro. This card has done me good for the past year or so. I've transfered my Hi8 tapes via Svideo the whole time. No glitches after setting up some good templates. (thanks to smurffy for getting me started. your sight was my main source of info).

Now I have a Sony DCR-HC32 (this cam rocks compared to my Sony Hi8). Now should I cap the rest of my Hi8 tapes (and old tapes) via the ATI or should I do a/v pass-through on my new Sony DV cam?

BTW, I haven't even tried a/v pass-through on it yet

[stiltman]

No comments?

Surely someone has thought of this.

My logic is (maybe flawed)
If I cap Hi8 using my ATI AIW, I can set the the cap to the out put of Hi8 (HD1). If I use my camcorder for pass-through, it will up size it, then I'll have to down size it to HD1 for the final encoding. Surely there will be a quality loss there?

[thecoalman]

If I use my camcorder for pass-through, it will up size it, then I'll have to down size it to HD1 for the final encoding. Surely there will be a quality loss there?

I'm not following you Stilt... the cam outputs the same DV-AVI as yuo get from a recording with the cam. Generally I just convert to 720x480 6000vbr, even 5000 will probably be sufficient with a HI-8 source. Guess the best thing you can do is compare two simailr capture/encodes.

[edDV]

Short answer try both and compare.

The ATI MMC can take the Hi8 tape directly to MPeg2. I'd use highest quality myself and keep the Hi8 tapes in a cool dry space for the future.

If the material needs to be edited, I'd use DV pass through, edit in DV and then encode the result to MPeg2. Again I'd use highest quality MPeg and keep the Hi8 tapes in a cool dry space for the future.

Try both methods with the same material and see which looks best to you.

PS: Hi8 is true NTSC with black at 7.5 IRE. Normal DV has black at 0 IRE. You either need to correct black level in your editing program or set your encoder for 7.5 IRE black input. If you don't do this, the DVD video will lack blacks and will look washed out.