Canopus ADVC300 or MPEGPRO EMR

[Hermit]

I am at the brink of buying a quality capture device as I want to convert my odd 200-300 old VHS tapes to DVD As these are very special tapes I am concerned about quality. They are VHS

I was reading a lot on forum and came across a lot of positive reviews about Canopus AVDC-100 but I could hardly find any information about ADVC300 or MPEGPRO EMR

Because my main concern is quality and preservation I want to spend some money on quality

So in short I have following questions

Which one is better choice between ADVC300 or MPEGPRO EMR ?
Because MPEGPRO EMR has only single pass encoding will it make a difference because with ADVC300 I can do software encoding at two pass high quality
But MPEGPRO EMR will give me much time saving plus will off load my computer of encoding so I am also attracted to it but if the quality is lower than that of ADVC300 I would prefer ADVC300 and spend some extra time encoding to MPEG
But if the quality of both is same I would go on and buy MPEGPRO EMR because my videos do not need lot of editing I just need to cut few minutes in the beginning and few at the end
So please relieve me on this dilemma

[rcb]

well, one could buy both and be covered

Seriously, don't think there are a lot of people on this forum that use that higher end equipment, but hopefully you will get aditional replies.

for the serious money you're about to dispense, perhaps you can find a side by side demo at a local retail outlet ?

FWIW, I do use an advc100 and am quite pleased with it. Have captured over 50 vhs tapes, mostly home-made videos with good success. Unlike yourself, i do a fair amount of editing/patching/merging.. so realtime mpg capturing is not my bag.

The locked a/v is a godsend. I spent about 6 months in card purgatory and finally threw in the towel trying to get predictable sync.

[racerxnet]

I do not think you will find much information regarding the 300. It is a new product from Canopus and has not been in the field very long. You might try the forums at the Canopus web site, it may provide some more insight to your questions.

[lordsmurf]

I've seen an MPEG PRO in action. Sweet little toy.

[Bodysurf]

Which one is better choice between ADVC300 or MPEGPRO EMR ?
Because MPEGPRO EMR has only single pass encoding will it make a difference because with ADVC300 I can do software encoding at two pass high quality
But MPEGPRO EMR will give me much time saving plus will off load my computer of encoding so I am also attracted to it but if the quality is lower than that of ADVC300 I would prefer ADVC300 and spend some extra time encoding to MPEG
But if the quality of both is same I would go on and buy MPEGPRO EMR because my videos do not need lot of editing I just need to cut few minutes in the beginning and few at the end
So please relieve me on this dilemma

Get the MPEGPRO EMR. You will not be able to tell a difference in quality between VHS sources encoded using high bitrate MPEG-2 DVD-Videos with either device.

I personally would get a Canopus ADVC-300 over the MPEGPRO EMR, but I have difference needs/wants than you.

[The village idiot]

You might also consider this:

http://www.datavideo-tek.com/navigation_frames/dac-10/entire.htm

I looks like it has external video processor controls, as opposed to the software controls of the ADVC300. Both are about the same price, though I couldn't see if the Datavideo had noise reduction or not. You could always download the manual and read through it if you have an interest in it.

[DaveS]

Hermit - one thing on the mpegpro EMR ... check their forum on this but last I looked, they didn't provide a user selectable black level setting (IRE) and the built in setting was wrong for the US NTSC, in effect letting some of your black areas get washed out. The canopus US guys were trying to get info. from Canopus Japan on when this would be changed or selectable in the sw but hadn't heard anything (I think the software guys were trying to find out from the chip vendor how to do this)...if you search their forum for IRE you'll see some posts on this any maybe their product person Brandon has an update now as it is months later (I think he shows up as B something on their board w/ a tag line that says he's not in support)..