Capturing multiple analog sources at once - what is the best method?

[tuprox]

I am looking at taking on a project of digitizing a library of sports tapes consisting of, let's say 500+ games at maybe 120-180 minutes each. I think the sources will be 16mm Betamax, VHS and some DV sources, like miniDV. I know that I can most likely hook up the mini DV camcorder or player through a firewire connection but I am wondering what is the best way to connect the other sources to the computer (Windows).

If the mini DV player has analog inputs and a firewire output, can I connect a VHS source or Betamax source through that and have it pass through and save to the machine?

I know there are devices that take analog output and connect into the computer, usually through USB and I've seen the prices vary from $50 to $250 and I'm wondering what the difference is in the quality of the final product? Also, is Firewire the best method for video input, maybe because it utilizes DMA or is USB (3.0) superior now?

I'm looking at archiving this footage in raw/source format so there is no loss and I can use it as a "master" to convert to whatever format down the road. With hard drive prices being what they are, I see no reason not to store them in raw, uncompressed format, on duplicate drives in case one fails. What is the best way to do this with sources like Betamax and VHS?

Finally, since record time is 1:1 to playback, can I have mulltiple devices recording at the same time? I can easily have as many hard drives as playback devices if that is needed (internal SATA III drives). I'll be running this on a Windows machine with Windows 7 64 w/ 32Gb ram & I7 3770K 3.5Ghs Quad core. I'm just wondering how many devices I can safely record at a time to get this project done in a timely manner.

Finally, I want to be able to stream this video online so I will have to compress the master files into some format, probably h.264 due to it's superior compression/quality. What is a good, simple program to do this, I don't need to add special effects to this, these are sports videos that aren't going to get any special effects added to them.

Thanks in advance for any answers, I appreciate it!

[aedipuss]

If the mini DV player has analog inputs and a firewire output, can I connect a VHS source or Betamax source through that and have it pass through and save to the machine?

maybe, it all depends on the make/model of the cam. most low end stuff no, but rtm.

the usb a/d converters generally suck. go with something like an adv110.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/349146-REG/Grass_Valley_602029_ADVC_110_Bidirect...Converter.html

usb is cpu controlled and generally more prone to unwanted interruption. stick with firewire if possible.

DVavi is what you'll get from cam a/d or canopus. not much better for archiving.

maybe? you can try but you'll most only get 2 firewire devices per firewire card to work. and the hard drive controller may overload. you don't want to drop frames or you'll be re-doing your captures.

there are lots of encoders in the tools section here that can convert DVavi to mp4.

[danno78]

To avoid the problems the rule is simple, every DV capture device need his firewire card and his hard drive. It depend of how many firewire cards you can mount and how many SATA ports you have. With internal capture cards lossless capture format become available.