Digitalizing Hi8 tapes

[Playman]

Hello, everybody, my first post here.

I have many Hi8 tapes I made with my old Sony TRV95E PAL camcorder. I would like to digitalize these videos so I can preserve them on HDD and DVD. Beside that, I would like to convert some VHS tapes to digital format.

I am looking for a simple solution which would give good results. I would prefer an external converter over a PC card.

First I was looking into cheap ones like Diamond VC500, Pinnacle, Roxio etc., but after having read bad reviews from many users I decided to seek more serious products. That led me to Canopus boxes.

So far, I've learned this much about Canopus' ADVC product line (please correct me if I am wrong):

- ADVC Mini works with Mac only
- ADVC55 should be fine for my needs but lacks audio-lock (true or false?) which could cause dropping sync between audio and video
- ADVC110 is bidirectional (not so important for me) and has audio-lock
- ADVC300 has line TBC which can't be turned off and tends to overprocess image

So, I think ADVC110 should be my choice. Perhaps it would be necessary to add a standalone full frame TBC like Datavideo TBC-1000 or AV Tool AVT-8710.

Am I on the right track or is there something I am missing? Is there a better way within the Canopus range or should I go with a completely different solution?

Please suggest anything you think would suit my needs.

Thanks in advance

[zoobie]

you're on the right track with a device...my only question is the vhs tapes...are these factory? if so, you'll need to defeat the macrovision anti-copy protection...

[edDV]

Right track. Few have all the models to compare.

[Playman]

Guys, thanks for your replies.

you're on the right track with a device...

So you agree that ADVC110 is the way to go?

my only question is the vhs tapes...are these factory? if so, you'll need to defeat the macrovision anti-copy protection...

No, these VHS tapes are mostly recordings from TV and a private studio (not official releases), so no macrovision.

Some people on these boards don't have high opinion on Canopus boxes. What would be an alternative?

Is there a capture device that has both analog and digital inputs, converts analog video to digital, but also has different digital outputs (not only FireWire, but possibly USB3, eSATA, HDMI...) and can capture to various video formats?

[edDV]

Some people on these boards don't have high opinion on Canopus boxes. What would be an alternative?

Is there a capture device that has both analog and digital inputs, converts analog video to digital, but also has different digital outputs (not only FireWire, but possibly USB3, eSATA, HDMI...) and can capture to various video formats?

Think of the Canopus ADVC as a 7 out of 10 for composite/S-Video to DV format capture. Almost a must for a Mac which is DV centric. Most of the purist complaints relate to DV 4:1:1* (13 GB/hr) vs uncompressed/huffyuv 4:2:2 (40-60GB/hr or more) for those that want to do extensive filtering. Most of us are happy with a DV to DVD work flow. Huffyuv may rank as an 8.5/10. To go higher you need >$1000 Aja Kona, BlackMagic DeckLink or similar 10 bit device.

VHS is a noisy unstable format that demands a TBC for serious capture but most don't want to spend the money. Smooth VCR tracking and TBC are more important than any ADVC vs Huffyuv difference. Hi8 is only slightly less jittery than VHS.

Capture is mostly an A/D story. "Digital inputs" (USB2, USB3, eSATA) are motherboard issues.

HDMI is uncompressed Y,Cb,Cr or RGB which requires a RAID for bitrate or a realtime intermediate codec (e.g. MJPEG or Cineform). The BlackMagic Intensity Pro accepts either Y,CbCr HDMI (w/o HDCP) or analog component but does not offer hardware compression. The CPU must encode to the intermediate codec.

Devices like the Hauppauge HD-PVR take analog component in and hardware encode to h.264.

* PAL DV is 4:2:0 like DVD.

[lordsmurf]

audio-lock

This is a meaningless marketing term invented by Canopus.
In order for analog to be digitized, the signal must be stable, and is inherently "locked".

[danno78]

- ADVC55 should be fine for my needs but lacks audio-lock (true or false?) which could cause dropping sync between audio and video

Every DV Canopus box has audio lock!

- ADVC110 is bidirectional (not so important for me) and has audio-lock

ADVC110 = ADVC55 + DV output True

- ADVC300 has line TBC which can't be turned off and tends to overprocess image

TBC from ADVC300 is not working as it should be. In practice the TBC from ADVC300 is useless. Also DNR from this box have nasty efects on image quality.

ADVC300 review:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpowerm.dip.jp%2F~pm%2F1394 tv%2Fadvc300.htm&lp=ja_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

Some topics about Canopus boxes:
Emergent help neede with regard to Canopus purchase: Should I return it ?!?
NOTE: A Canopus DV box does not replace a TBC!
canopus v other devices