DVD --> VHS Capture - S-Video?

[sturmie]

i was looking to move some old VHS movies to DVD (like most others around here ) and was wondering if i should use my 5+ yr old VCR 4 head, w/ Hi-Fi) w/ composite video out or get a new VCR w/ S-Video out for use w/ an ATI AIW card?

is there a real noticeable quality difference from a VHS tape using w/ composite and/or S-Video out? just wondering...i'm willing to get a new VCR w/ S-Video, but i don't want to pay much over $100 for one either.

thanks for helping the newbie ...sturmie

[cdcox]

The ones I have done I just use my old 4 head vcr and send it thru my digitial 8mm sony camera to digitize the pic. Anolog video will never be as clear as digitial, however I get good results, meaning the pic quality comes out just as good as the original anolog vhs. I am more concerned with saving the video rather than making it better. S-video may help but I have not tried it. I guess it all depends on your original footage, how does it look?

[sturmie]

well, it ranges anywhere from old VHS camcorder to 8mm Sony HandyCam footage. everything is on VHS tapes though....just wondering if it's worth it so go s-video out to the ATI card if composite (RCA) will do just fine. i don't wanna go blowing $$ on a new VCR to use w/ this "conversion" process if i'm not going to notice a significant difference.

sturmie

[xpavement]

I just got some hardware with s-video out, so I tried capturing with it compared to using the composite, and it is a little better. It didn't blow my mind, but the result was a better image. But I don't think it's worth buying a new SVHS vcr for it. If you want the best quality captures for the end result, go ahead and get one. Using the composite will only be a little less sharp.

[g_shocker182]

When I use S-Video to capture instead of composite, the image us a little bit brighter, and it will be sharper in detail. Me, I would not buy it. THe quality isnt EXTREMEly better, just a little.


But, if you do want one, heres a VHS player with S-Video output for $65.
http://store.yahoo.com/discountsonline/jvchrs2901u4.html

[navatweb]

Search for S-Video for older posts. You'll find a lot of good info.

In any case, as other people pointed out S-Video is a little better, but not a lot.
I used an S-Video VHS-C camcorder to play my old VHS-C tapes and convert them to miniDV. I then converted them to DVD. The result was as food as the original.
Before setttling on the VHS-C camcorder with S-Video, I tried playing the tapes in a VCR with composite outputs, but the capture to miniDV was a little jurky. Some people have posted that unique and advanced features in VCRs/Camcorders such as TBR (TCR?) are what make the difference rather than the S-Video out.

[g_shocker182]

The result was as food as the original.

LOL!

[sturmie]

I used an S-Video VHS-C camcorder to play my old VHS-C tapes and convert them to miniDV.

Some people have posted that unique and advanced features in VCRs/Camcorders such as TBR (TCR?) are what make the difference rather than the S-Video out.

what's "VHS-C"? just wondering. honestly, since these are precious home VHS movies, i would like the best quality available. although i won't say "money is no object", i wouldn't mind spending ~$100 or so for new VHS player.

sturmie

[xsbs52x]

well......s-video vs. composite, i find that s-video is infinatley better than composite. it gives a much richer, clearer picture. i think its definatley worth the extra cash.

i have an older vcr, 4 head hi-fi that gives me a desgusting picture when i try to play a vhs out to my ATI AIW. the picture is very muddy and just dull. i was actually using a coaxial cable for output, and i figured that might be my problem, but when i switched it over to composite, the picture quality didnt change at all. anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

[overloaded_ide]

sturmie
I bought a Sanyo stereo vcr at walmart for about $50 or $60 awhile back.
My old one was mono audio, and who wants to make mono DVD backups
Anyway I am pretty happy with mine and it has the S-video, composite and coaxil connections available.
Cheap and we like it, seems good as any other and it's been used alot with no problems. I still use the composite myself though, haven't tried s-video here. But if you need a new deck you shouldn't have to pay too much for a good one. Only thing about it is it does not have a led display.
Not really needed, but some people like em.

what's "VHS-C"? just wondering

Just a small cassette with some VHS tape in it
I had a VHS C camcorder by RCA once, you can get an adapter the size of a real VHS tape and stick the cassett in that to play it on a regular VCR, or connect cable to the camera to record back to the vcr. Smaller tape makes for a smaller camera is all really.

i have an older vcr, 4 head hi-fi that gives me a desgusting picture when i try to play a vhs out to my ATI AIW. the picture is very muddy and just dull. i was actually using a coaxial cable for output, and i figured that might be my problem, but when i switched it over to composite, the picture quality didnt change at all. anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

You SHOULD have the same quality picture capturing that you have when watching the tape on tv.
I use the rca jacks, (composite) video output from my vcr to connect to my ATI AIW, I have the same video as the tv would. If you don't get the same quality as the tv plays, then look for settings to adjust in the capture settings. Brightness, contrast, colors ect... Maybe they got messed up on your system. Probably a button to click to reset the defualts, I'd try that if you haven't made any changes you need to keep.
Are you watching the tv at the same time? I do often, and the computer should actually look better of course because of the monitor.
If not, the tv looks good, but computer looks bad, check for bad cables too.

What you see on tv is what you SHOULD see on PC, pretty close with PC being better.

[next]

sturmie
I bought a Sanyo stereo vcr at walmart for about $50 or $60 awhile back.
My old one was mono audio, and who wants to make mono DVD backups
Anyway I am pretty happy with mine and it has the S-video, composite and coaxil connections available.
Cheap and we like it, seems good as any other and it's been used alot with no problems. I still use the composite myself though, haven't tried s-video here. But if you need a new deck you shouldn't have to pay too much for a good one. Only thing about it is it does not have a led display.
Not really needed, but some people like em.

what's "VHS-C"? just wondering

Just a small cassette with some VHS tape in it
I had a VHS C camcorder by RCA once, you can get an adapter the size of a real VHS tape and stick the cassett in that to play it on a regular VCR, or connect cable to the camera to record back to the vcr. Smaller tape makes for a smaller camera is all really.

i have an older vcr, 4 head hi-fi that gives me a desgusting picture when i try to play a vhs out to my ATI AIW. the picture is very muddy and just dull. i was actually using a coaxial cable for output, and i figured that might be my problem, but when i switched it over to composite, the picture quality didnt change at all. anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

You SHOULD have the same quality picture capturing that you have when watching the tape on tv.
I use the rca jacks, (composite) video output from my vcr to connect to my ATI AIW, I have the same video as the tv would. If you don't get the same quality as the tv plays, then look for settings to adjust in the capture settings. Brightness, contrast, colors ect... Maybe they got messed up on your system. Probably a button to click to reset the defualts, I'd try that if you haven't made any changes you need to keep.
Are you watching the tv at the same time? I do often, and the computer should actually look better of course because of the monitor.
If not, the tv looks good, but computer looks bad, check for bad cables too.

What you see on tv is what you SHOULD see on PC, pretty close with PC being better.

Are you talking AIW here?

[overloaded_ide]

Yes,
Mine is a ATI AIW radeon 7500. AGP slot.

For capturing or just watching tapes, either way, I use the TV in the ATI media center. There are settings you can adjust, one of the little Icons in the control panel opens the menu, where you set how you want to capturie stills and video, there is also a place to adjust contrast and other things. I think this has a global effect on what your watching, changes the movie display and captured files both, but does not change the monitor itself.

Of course you can adjust the settings for the whole system display elsewhere, but that's not the one I ment, since it only changes the display and thats not what you want. Unless your whole system is muddy looking

If your VCR is working correctly, you should be able to connect the coax cable to the tv and the composite to the ATI, and both computer and TV should be near the same. I do this most the time. Normally my VCR is always connected this way and I just turn on the tv or not.

Been gone a couple months and catching up on other stuff so it's been awhile since I did a movie, but I'll be setting my system back u this way agian now that I'm home for awhile agian,

[pixel]

i was looking to move some old VHS movies to DVD (like most others around here ) and was wondering if i should use my 5+ yr old VCR 4 head, w/ Hi-Fi) w/ composite video out or get a new VCR w/ S-Video out for use w/ an ATI AIW card?

is there a real noticeable quality difference from a VHS tape using w/ composite and/or S-Video out? just wondering...i'm willing to get a new VCR w/ S-Video, but i don't want to pay much over $100 for one either.

thanks for helping the newbie ...sturmie

I used to have an old 4 head Hi-Fi vcr (about 5 yrs as well I think)I used for recording and transferring video but I actually realised I'd worn out the audio heads in it which gave me a somewhere between mono and stereo output with lots of buzzing. I never realised this on my TV but once played through on my PC speakers it was unbearable.

Anyway I got a S-VHS VCR and tried playing an old VHS cassette through it and the picture was definitely improved (this is only VHS remember) then I tried recording and playing S-VHS and this was very clear. I would only suggest a S-VHS VCR if you are going to be recording on S-VHS in the future, if you are backing up old VHS just use a normal VCR with composite out.

If you want to save money try capturing a few clips form your VCR, then borrow a brand new VCR from someone and try capturing a few clips from that. If the quality is about the same stick with your VCR, however if you plan to do a lot of recording just go ahead and buy a new one. You will soon wear out the heads on an 5 yr VCR if you do a lot of recording or playing on it.

[handyguy]

Its a lot easier to do using a panasonic dvd recorder. You pay more yes, but you get a lot more. They use special filters & stuff that really improves your vhs quality (did you record those in SP?)

[xsbs52x]

i didnt mean the capturing quality was low. im not a newbie. what im saying is that even just watching it on my pc i get a bad picture. i have an ati aiw 9000 pro. i tried with coaxial and with composite, but there is no visible difference between the picture quality of using coaxial or composite. i havnt tested it on a real tv because i havnt got around to lugging it over to a different tv. coaxial is fine for watching cable tv, why would the picture quality be so much worse when i try a vhs? it isnt an s vhs player, just vhs and ive tried a few different vhs tapes. all of them work fine a real tv, but they look awful, muddy, and dull when i try them on my aiw.

[overloaded_ide]

I haven't tried coaxial cable to my ATI radeon 7500 AIW, but coaxial cable works fine to the tv! My picture quality on the ATI using composite cable is the same as the tv (better with good monitor!) SO I am pretty sure you either have a bad VCR or those settings I mentioned for adjusting picture quality are set wierd

If your settings are correct (mine are set to the defaults) you really should test the vcr on a TV and see if the TV is also Muddy. It could be you have a bad VCR or bad cables. If the vcr plays fine to your tv then try a different video cable for the composite to the ATI.

Contrary to popular believe you do not have to have HIGH dollars cables. Sure they help, but a standard audio cable with RCA jacks on both ends work fine too. I use the LONG audio cable when I want to go across the room to a different vcr or tv, but the short high dollar ones to connect to the PC. SO if your audio is fine, and your using the cable with jack on both ends then use one for video and see if that helped.

Have you tried a differnet VCR?

Also Wallmart is good for testing stuff
You can always go buy something you might need and if it does not help/work take it back! I do this fairly often, I buy what I want and if it does not do what I wanted I take it back! If you think the VCR is bad, then buy a new one. If it does not work any better than what you have now, take it back!

Now that might sound bad, but I actually only buy stuff I think I want, but I am picky and if it does not do exactly what I bought it for, then it goes back! If I need a better quality VCR I buy a new one, if it is not better than I already have then why keep it?

[xsbs52x]

ok, thanks for your suggestions. ill try it out later on a different tv. im pretty sure its just the vcr because regular tv looks fine through my aiw with coaxial, and when i was playing with the vcr settings while watching a vhs on it trying to make it look right, i acidentally knocked into the vcr and the picture got all fuzzy. i checked the connections and it was still fuzzy. i gave the thing a slap and the picture went back to normal. lol

[overloaded_ide]

YA, if the tv looks fine through the ATI AIW then you can be pretty sure it is a problem with the vcr, I never have TV cable hooked up to mine. Heck I don't even have TV that way, just movies on tapes and disks.

I don't plan to watch it enough to make it worth $40 for a sat dish, which is all I can get other than one channel with an antenna, I won't buy one for one junk channel either.

I can buy 4 or movies and own em each month for the monthly cost of the dish service, and I don't think that includes the channels I would actually want either

SO I buy lots of $10 or less DVDs and VHS
Sometimes I pop for a $20 disk, but rarely.

We all want something, I just want good VHS quality on a disk that doesn't rot! Maybe some day I will want HDTV, like when it's as old BETA