Silly DVD recorder / digital camcorder question

[pugvader]

When I bought my digital camcorder a few years back I bought the model I got because it had a “digital pass thru” feature. That would allow me to connect my old non digital camcorder to the digital camera and convert the tapes to a digital form so I could then do as I please on the pc, transfer to dvd, etc.
Well now that I have a dvd recorder do I still need to pass it thru the digital camcorder or do I just plug the non digital camcorder right into the dvd recorder? I know the answer seems obvious, but I wasn’t sure if still passing it thru the digital camcorder increased the transfer quality or if I’d get the same quality from the dvd recorder converting it and burning to disc?

[pugvader]

So is it a dumbe question if no one answered?

[alanza]

I think that if the source is analog, then the digital pass-thru is quite useless.
In the recording chain, there is one device that transforms the analog signal into digital signal: it can be the camcorder OR the dvd-recorder, but NOT BOTH.
I guess that the dvd recorder, newer that the camcorder, will do the job better, using newer chips and architecture: performing a test and visual checking it will answer your question.

Ciao !

[edDV]

If you intend to edit the video with transitions, filters and effects then camcorder capture to DV format will yield superior results. Also some computer software MPeg2 encoders are likely to outperform the real time MPeg2 encoder chips in the DVD recorder.

If all you want is a straight dub to a DVD, the recorder will do fairly well with a lot less effort. Use higher bit rate record settings on the DVD recorder for hand held, noisy camcorder video.