How to capture vhs at highest quality with canopus advc 100?

[Peter Pan]

Hi there,

I have a firewire card, a dv camera with digital in and output, and a canopus advc 100. I would like to buy a dvd recorder in the future, but I would like to prepare my material already so it can be burned on dvd as soon as I have one. I have been reading these boards for the last few weeks and I am am learning a lot every day, but the the wealth of information makes me also insecure about choosing the "best" method. So please give me your thoughts about the following:

1. With what program should I capture my material? I have ulead's Video Studio 6. Is there a better program or doesn't the software have any effect on the quality of the captured video?

2. How should I store my material? Put it back on dv tape? Or convert it to mpeg and burn it on (S)vcd? And what software would give me the best quality?

Thanks for your time.

[TheInformer]

1. I use ScenalyzerLive to 'capture' my DV:

VHS ---> Sony DVMC-DA1 ---> PC

The program doesn't actually 'capture' anything; it just transfers the data. That's the way DV works for the most part. ScenalyzerLive's the best $33 I spent DVIO is a freebie program for DV transfer if you don't want to spend any $$$. If you already have VideoStudio 6, that should work well for you.


2. DV is a slightly compressed high bitrate format. It takes up a nice bit of hard drive space, although nothing like the space uncompressed video takes up

If you compress the video into a MPEG-1/2 format, you have to pay attention to what type of source video you have. VHS captures require less of a bitrate than say a DVD. Remember that the more you compress something, the less the original information remains intact. It ultimately depends on your storage. If you have the mass storage, leave the video in as uncompressed a format as possible. DV is a nice compromise IMHO.