Sony Camcorder as Capture Device?

[b-dubs]

I'm new but I'm really like this hobby so far, converting old home movies. I have been working in IT for many years so I have the computer equipment but I have a lot to learn in this realm. I just can't dump $3 to $6K in all at once and stay married so I'm easing into it. Besides I would probably waste my money since I know so little.

Last night I came across a post using a camcorder as a capture device. I tried it, and it seems to work well but I don't have much of a standard to compare it to. My thought is this device was made to transfer analog video into digital, why not try it? I know it wasn't made for this purpose but I had one. I have windows 10 and am looking at capture devices but if what I am doing is good maybe I will keep doing it like this for a while?

I ran an S-video signal from a TBC VCR to the camera, then through a firewire, into WinDV to capture it. I couldn't figure out how to get VirtualDub into the mix. Given the age of the VCR tapes and the quality of the recordings, I think I'm getting a decent signal but like I said I don't know what good is like. (Can't afford an external TBC yet). Thoughts on this process so far? Also, for anyone who tries this, this didn't work for me at first. There are settings in the camcorder menu you have to change. I can't remember what they were but after I changed them it worked.

I am getting a little blur at the bottom of the screen and uneven black on the left and right sides so I put the AVI into Handbrake and cropped it. I took just enough away to keep it at 4:3 but now I have an odd size video. Will this odd size hurt me later? I'm keeping the AVI for later when I learn more but I'm also deinterlacing a copy to MP4 to share online with family.

So to the experts (anyone but me), what do you think about this so far?

[DB83]

That little 'blur' at the bottom of the screen is vcr head-switching noise. It is normal and something you would not see on the tv due to overscan. It can be cropped away and add a black border to retain the frame size.

Now when you transfered the vhs to DV.avi your frame size was 720*480. However only 704*480 was active video. Now you can crop the 16 pixels away (no more and no less) and as long as you have a 4:3 Display Aspect Ratio you video will still be fine.


When you create the mp4 to share, it is safer to resize to a 4:3 aspect ratio since not all players support a DAR flag in mp4

[b-dubs]

DB83, thank you for helping me understand the "blur," I was actually worried about it. I spent a lot of time last night trying to figure out why it was there and how to get rid of it. I just came to the conclusion to crop it. Also, I didn't think of adding it back in, I just played with the crop to maintain a 4:3. I see now in Handbreak I can add a black border. Later today or tomorrow I will look at how to do this in VirtualDub. I assume either VirtualDub or VirtualDub2 will do this simple stuff. I'm still learning the difference between the two softwares.

[DB83]

You may find avidemux easier than handbrake. Neither will export back to DV.avi tho.

Vdub should be fine and as long as you select your DV codec for compression you can still keep the DV.avi. But DV.avi MUST be 720*480 or 704*480


The main difference between vdub and vdub2 are the built-in codecs in the latter.

[DB83]

A quick tip if you had not thought of it.

The head noise occupies 6 to 8 pixels. Crop at 8 pixels and add a border of 4 at the top and 4 at the bottom to keep the image centered

[Cornucopia]

Head noise varies GREATLY depending on the machine. I have seen upwards of 20 lines' worth wasted on a bad deck with real bad head switching. Betacam decks OTOH have only a couple of lines.

Also, some decks with good electronics, the head switching is minimal and regular enough you don't even have to crop it but can apply a horizontal shift to those lines.

Personally, I prefer black overlay, to avoid any cropping at all.

I wouldn't go BACK to DV codec, but rather use a lossless codec for intermediate, prior to encoding to AVC/HEVC for MP4 use.

Scott

[b-dubs]

Thanks, everyone this is very helpful going to test out avidemux and mess with the borders.

Any thoughts on using a Sony DV camcorder as a capture device? I have 3 of them, 2 MiniDV and a Hi8, I can't tell a difference between the captures. The camera is turning the signal into DV. I would assume those old cameras would be just as good as a capture card but I could be completely wrong?

[DB83]

The DV pass-through method you are using has been promoted on here for many years. Not so fashionable these days since PCs do not have the required IEEE1394 (firewire) port which means the purchase of an additional card. Add to that that Windows 10 is notorious for 'breaking' firewire connections and you then need legacy drivers.

DV is a compressed/lossy format. Not as compressed as mpeg2 but still compressed. What Scott is proposing certainly has its merits since when you ultimately convert to AVC for mp4 you will not lose any more actual quality as you would from the DV.avi

[nicholasserra]

I recommend it for people who don't want to go down the rabbit hole of lossless capture via a capture card. It's an easy method that gets pretty good results. At least better than a DVD converter, or taking your tapes to some mom and pop shop to mess up.

[b-dubs]

Thanks, everyone, I'm getting good results.