Do High End Capture Cards make a difference with Hi8, Dig8, VHS ??

[oberwil]

So mom wants me to transfer all the old tapes to Digital.
Some time ago I had already bought a cheap video capture card. Diamond VC500. Started having issues with it not working. Possibly drivers after XP to Windows (7,10)
I bought an El Gato and have had success with that since.

But I'm wondering, considering the quality of VHS, Hi8, and Dig8 isn't that great to start with, does it make sense to get a better capture card if I want better quality.
Do the In House Pros use something that gets better quality. Can't figure how you can upgrade the quality if the original isn't that great to start with ??

I have 2 camcorders. The better one is a Sony DCR-TRV530, and my friends old CCD-TR930. I think the first one is better.
VHS Player is JVC HR-S5900U

Computer environment is i5, 16GB Ram, GTX400, SSD+ 4 other drives. I have the option to use Linux as well. Just haven't installed it yet in the unformatted other SSD.

Just to be clear, I have copied a lot of stuff for myself and others a long time ago. So just getting into this again with Dads stuff.

[Xhumeka]

Both the Elgato and VC500 work with Virtualdub under Windows 10 and can capture via lossless codec such as huffyuv, so if right now you're just using the included software with the Elgato and Diamond VC500 for capturing you could make improvements by simply changing your capture method.

Pick a tape to use for testing and try some captures yourself, first using the included software, then by following a guide such as this: https://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/capture-avi-virtualdub.htm

You are going to get many opinions on if a better capture card is required for VHS transfers or not - but since you already own those two devices there's no harm in trying to improve your existing captures first in my opinion.

[oberwil]

Thanks for your time. I'll look at the link

[Bwaak]

You can kill all the birds with one stone, that is, you can capture all your videos with the DCR-TRV530.

• It plays Digital 8 tapes natively.
• It plays analog 8-mm tapes and converts them into digital. Built-in time-base corrector (TBC) ensures the image stability and correct geometry of the frame (see user manual, p. 82)
• It has built-in analog-to-digital converter that you can use for your VHS recordings, see user's manual, p. 74. Use SVideo cable from the VHS VCR to the camcorder.

All you need is a Firewire port. Firewire expansion cards are as cheap as $15. You'll get your videos digitized into the industry-standard DV format, which is still supported on Windows and Mac unlike some other intermediate formats that recently have been dropped by Apple.

If you are a tinkerer, sure, use the dongles that you have. You may get a slightly better result. Or, if you don't know what you are doing, you can get a much worse result than simply using your Digital8 camcorder as a converter.

[lollo]

But I'm wondering, considering the quality of VHS, Hi8, and Dig8 isn't that great to start with, does it make sense to get a better capture card if I want better quality.

What really makes a difference is the condition of the tapes and the player. Although important, the capture card comes later. If you own a VC500 give it a try, is considered by many a good option, if not suffering from AGC issue for some model/revision.

The high end cards make a decisive role when the input is not that good (i.e. a BrightEye75 with internal TBC or similar).

The "visual" quality of the capture depends on the quality of the A/D conversion, and the USB devices recommended here are more than adequate.
The quality of the recorded signal (stability, dropped/inserted frames, audio/video synch etc.) is also good respecting what described initially, but specific problems will better be handled by a high-end card.

Start simple, then eventually upgrade.