Analog -> DV converter?

[scotty123]

Transferring VHS and Beta to DVD using my Sony DVD recorder. I've found the quality so far very good. I've just acquired a Sony Digital8 camcorder that allows analog-DV passthrough. If I use it in the middle, will that provide video quality benefits to me over just connecting my tape players to the DVD recorder directly using S-Video / RCA?

[edDV]

Transferring VHS and Beta to DVD using my Sony DVD recorder. I've found the quality so far very good. I've just acquired a Sony Digital8 camcorder that allows analog-DV passthrough. If I use it in the middle, will that provide video quality benefits to me over just connecting my tape players to the DVD recorder directly using S-Video / RCA?

DV camcorders with pass-through may provide some timebase correction (horizontal line jitter reduction). Results vary so try it both ways and judge for yourself.

Some DV camcorders also have the +7.5 IRE black level error (aka washout error*) with pass-through. Some DVD recorders have a record black level control to correct this.


* 7.5 IRE black gets mapped to digital level 32 instead of correct digital 16.

[Knightmessenger]

If your dvd recorder can handle the analog video fine, I wouldn't put something in between it because that's just another encoding place that can lose a generation of quality. Best to have the shortest and most direct connection.

[edDV]

If your dvd recorder can handle the analog video fine, I wouldn't put something in between it because that's just another encoding place that can lose a generation of quality. Best to have the shortest and most direct connection.

A DV camcorder would output digital DV over IEEE-1394 so there is one A/D and encode either way. It would be easy to compare the camcorder vs. the DVD player A/D using the same test source.

[filmboss80]

If you don't need to edit the video, just stick with direct tape-to-DVD recorder. It will save you time.

[Knightmessenger]

A DV camcorder would output digital DV over IEEE-1394 so there is one A/D and encode either way. It would be easy to compare the camcorder vs. the DVD player A/D using the same test source.

True. But my guess would be that the converter chip in the recorder would do better than the one in the camera. In fact a friend did that using his miniDV camera once from my Hi8 and the resulting video on the miniDV tape had a lot of broken pixels.

[edDV]

A DV camcorder would output digital DV over IEEE-1394 so there is one A/D and encode either way. It would be easy to compare the camcorder vs. the DVD player A/D using the same test source.

True. But my guess would be that the converter chip in the recorder would do better than the one in the camera. In fact a friend did that using his miniDV camera once from my Hi8 and the resulting video on the miniDV tape had a lot of broken pixels.

That would be unusual.