Analog-to-Digital conversion through Digital Cam

[bschott]

I'm a newbie to the video field, howerver i'm intrested in archiving some video on my tivo. I figured I'd purchase the Canopus ADV-100 to accomplish the capture, howerver I also need to purchase a new Digital Camcorder for a upcoming trip and I was just made aware that some of the cameras support analog-to-digital passthrough.

Does anyone have any experience with using a camcorder to do this? Is it worth just buying a good camcorder to save off my tivo data rather than invest in a camera and the ADVC-100?

Thanks for your response...

[mp3superfreak]

bschott,

Welcome to the forums. I was in the same situation about a year ago. I was planning on purchasing a Sony digital camcorder, but came across an excellent deal on a Canon ZR10, which I couldn't pass up. This camcorder works great for capturing analog video and converting to miniDV. Although the Canon ZR series have fewer effective pixels on the CCD than most other digital camcorders, it still does an excellent job.

If you are asking for a suggestion, I'd go for a Sony TRV-18, 25, 27 or 50 (depending on your budget...if you want to go all out, go for the TRV-950 = 3 CCD = broadcast quality video). The Sony's are known for excellent picture quality, and are better in low light than Canon's ZR series.

If you are looking for an online resource for these camcorders, try:

http://www.profeel.com
http://www.ecost.com

As for quality, I've converted many of my old VHS to DV captures to DVD with excellent results. Amazingly enough, some of the footage looks BETTER than the originals (something to do with the DV video correction). As any newbie should be warned, DVD burning (and authoring) is a whole new game as compared to 'ol CD burning. It takes hours to convert DV footage to DVD quality MPEG-2, takes a while to make menu's for the DVD, then the burning itself takes a minimum of 30 minutes (with a 2x DVD-R burner, faster drives are on the way=4x). Then you have the decision of DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW formats (or choose the new Sony DRU500a DVD burner, which offers both)

I could go on and on, but hate to bore you. I hope I answered your question somewhere in the jibberish above!

[monoxide77]

do you think that this method would work for laserdiscs?

[bschott]

mp3superfreak,

Your response was very informative. I appreciate all of your suggestions/comments. I recently just purchased a Panasonic A04/104 DVD-R burner and have most of the software in place to begin the process of encoding/decoding mpeg2, etc. I've just been on the fence about capturing.

I'd rather not purchase a stand alone capture device (or card) if I don't have to. I was hoping the camcorders have enough (or better) logic in processing the analog-to-digital signals than most of the lower end consumer capturing hardware.

Thanks again. That's the info I was looking for.

Regards,

Brian

[G-man]

With respect to quality of end results, I'd definitely agree with mp3superfreak that a Digital Cam is a very good option. I have a ZR-40 that I paid $484 via mail order 6 months ago. It does excellent pass thru work, and I use it for that much more than I actually use it for taping.

Once its set up in pass-thru mode and is connected up to your source & PC, you simply flip the switch to turn it on and its converting and passing a beautiful signal.

I feed the AVI's into TMPGEnc and author with DVD Movefactory and the results are outstanding!

Go For It!

[yg1968]

monoxide77,

There is no reason why it would not work for converting laserdiscs to DVD.

The Sony TRV-18 or 25 has the added advantage (over the Canon) of defeating macrovision when using the passthrough feature.

Wouldn't a digital 8 camera that plays Hi-8 tapes be better for Hi-8mm tape conversion to dvd than cables connected from one camera to, say a mini dv cam? Cables add a shadow/white edge on VHS conversions, wouldn't the same happen from the hi-8 cam to the dv cam?

instead of doing all that I've discovered CVD, not svcd or vcd or any x types. But someday, my DVD cam will come along.

[strimble]

I am also a newbie to video, and was actually going to post a question like this as well. I am in the same boat, where I would like to archive some VHS and some tivo items (actually, mine is Dish Network's PVR) to DVD. I am in the process of upgrading my computer to start playing with video, and I am going to be buying a digital camera for Christmas. bschott, I hope you don't mind me budding-in on your question, but I wanted to clarify a couple of things.

It sounds like the results are good with the camera, but has anyone out there actually done a side-by-side test of the two methods?

Is the only benefit of pass-through just to avoid the extra step of recording to MiniDV, then playing the recording back when dumping it to the computer?

Some of the channels I get have sound in Dolby ProLogic or in 5.1, and my PVR has a fiber out which I am able to feed to my Receiver. Is it at all possible to capture/record the sound information correctly? (I know this is more an audio question, but I wasn't sure where else to post it.)

Lastly, I don't know much about the Digital Recorders from the satellite companies, but would it be better to capture/record the actual program as it comes over the air, or is it the same quality as the program stored on the machine's hard disk?

I hope I have not gone off-topic here.

[mp3superfreak]

Is the only benefit of pass-through just to avoid the extra step of recording to MiniDV, then playing the recording back when dumping it to the computer?

Not really. In DV terms, 1hr = 27GB of data. Unless you have limitless H/D space, I would use the miniDV as a temporary storage.

Some of the channels I get have sound in Dolby ProLogic or in 5.1, and my PVR has a fiber out which I am able to feed to my Receiver. Is it at all possible to capture/record the sound information correctly? (I know this is more an audio question, but I wasn't sure where else to post it.)

Currently, there is no method (that I'm aware of) that will allow you to keep your 5.1 channel sound. Capturing to the computer or camcorder will convert the sound to 2 channels (unfortunately). Even the desktop DVD recorders only capture 2 channel PCM or Dolby Digital 2.0. Sonic Foundry is rumored to have a 5.1 channel DVD authoring/editing software program in development. I'm eagerly awaiting this program myself...

Lastly, I don't know much about the Digital Recorders from the satellite companies, but would it be better to capture/record the actual program as it comes over the air, or is it the same quality as the program stored on the machine's hard disk?

It depends on the quality of your original capture. It would be best to capture directly to miniDV (AVI), then convert to MPEG-2 later for DVD. Your Tivo type device uses compression to capture video in a choice of MPEG-2 formats (which would degrade more if re-rendered for DVD). However, I cannot assume that you will want to take the time to capture your shows directly to miniDV...maybe just use the "best" quality when saving to the Tivo's H/D.

Have you considered a stand alone DVD recorder? This would be the easiest way to capture your TV shows from DSS. They have dropped in price to under $550. Try ecost.com and profeel.com, as they both have these units for around $530 (Panasonic E30). If you are willing to spend a little more, Panasonic recently introduced the DMR-HS2, which incorporates a 40GB hard drive to a set top DVD-R/RAM recorder. It sells for $749 at ecost. Just a thought.

Computer editing/authoring offers much more customization and flexibility, but also takes MUCH more time.