Capturning from VHS, Hi-8 etc to DVD

[Dom S]

Hi

I have recently got into creating DVDs on my PC and have had some early successes capturing from my mini DV camcorder as it's so simple with i.Link etc. I now want to go back to some early home videos on Hi-8, VHS etc and to capture and edit those and eventually burn to DVD. I would appreciate some advice as to the best way to do this.

My PC has DV in but no analogue inputs at present. My camcorder, Sony PC120 has DV in/out and Analog in/out Composite + SVideo.

A few questions that I would really appreciate some help with please:

1. Should I / Can I use the camcorder to link the older sources to the PC or get a capture card in the PC that will take these analog inputs?

2. Is it possible to control these old sources from the PC e.g. Play, Fast forward etc as it is with mini DV sources?

3. Are there any special techniques that can be used on the PC to improve the quality of these old sources?

4. I am not sure yet if my Hi-8 and VHS players are working OK - anyone know of any good value sources of second hand equipment?

Thanks very much!

[AceYu]

some partial answers

1. Possibly some camcorders allow a direct loop through (ie straight from the camera to the pc) others you will need to record to a DV tape first, Yes I know it is a complete pain in the ass but when needs must...

2. In short NO, unless for some reason your VCR and camcorder are the same brand and have a special link cable some JVC's combos can do this from the camera but I don't know if it works from a PC as well.

3. In general anything you do to the footage normally can help, mostly experimenting is the only way to "improve" the footage. Increasing the colour saturation especially on very old footage can help although this can make noise more obvious, speaking of which noise reduction filters can also be of some use. Rembering each and every filter has an associated down side, the more processing the more time and more other possible articfacts can turn up. As a general rule if it is acceptable as it is then "tweeking" will probablly only make it worse.

4. Any where you can get it!!

Later BRETT

[lattedfw]

I've got a Sony D/A converter 'thing' that I use to capture from older analog source (VHS and 8mm). I recommend converting the analog to DV format (directly or to tape first even if it is a pain).

I can control my Sony analog 8mm camcorder through the Sony D/A converter with the 'Lanc' control cable.

[yg1968]

Just about all Sony miniDV camcorders have a passthrough feature which means that you are all set to go for capturing VHS or TV to your computer through your miniDV camcorder. In the camcorder's menu, you must enable DV out. You must also take any tape out of the camcorder for the passthrough to work properly.

I would try using the passthrough feature before buying a capture card that you will likely not use.

[snowmoon]

To help with older analog sources you can improve perceived quality through one of several means.

1) Use Half D-1 for encoding 352x480. VHS barelt can exceed those specs, so all you would be encoding at 720x480 is exrea noise.

2) A good noise reduction filter. Just make sure you don't see too much banding/smearing on the output ( if you do it's too high ).

[BKL]

I use the Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge since I am doing alot of importing and didn't want to keep my Sony Digital camcorder on all the time. My system sometimes loses the DV-Bridge, but unplugging the power to the DV-Bridge for a few seconds usually brings it back. I leave my DV-Bridge powered on 24x7. I have been very happy with the Analog-DV conversion. I had looked for the Sony equivalent, but Sony appears to have stopped making it. Canopus offers a similar device.
Video 2.0 Deluxe from Magix is supposed to include VHS "cleanup" capabilities (I haven't tried it). http://usa.magix.com and look for links to the Video 2.0 demos, etc.