Is the Canopus ADVC300 worth my investment?

[Ophelius]

I have a bunch of old VHS and Video8 tapes I wish to digitize. I'm thinking of investing in the Canopus ADVC300 because of the on-board image cleaning processors and the LTBC which I hear is a must for old tapes to synchronize properly and look good. I also heard that it can be a disadvantage because you can't turn off the LTBC. I heard this device is really good to convert old tapes, but will I still find it useful after I'm done for recording newer more modern video signals(directly from my tv, video game consoles, etc)? Or should I just buy the ADVC55 instead. I'm a newbie so sorry if I don't make sense. Thanks

Edit:"the ADVC-300, which filters the snot out of video, often leaving it with temporal artifacts, banded/posterized image quality, and maybe even a surreal/fake/over-processed look. "

Is this true? I also hear the picture looks great. I don't want to buy something that makes my videos look over-processed.

Edit2: Would recording my VHS and Video8 signals into a DVD recorder with an onboard LTCB be a better option? And if so, which models should I look for?

[victoriabears]

Hello fellow Canadian.

To answer your question simply, if you can get a advc300 for about $250 then okay, but in truth it is just a very good dv converter

What VCR are you using, what speed are your vhs tapes recorded in ?

You could try a dvd recorder from a store that has an easy returns policy and see if you like the results, start simple, stop thinking you need all sorts of gear when you may not. The VCR you use is crucial, and if that is giving you a good quality when you play them on a tv the likelihood is that it will when you capture them without needing anything in between.

I would invest in a avt 8710 before a advc300 as you would then need to convert the DV to dvd anyways, and the avt8710 TBC will clean up the image before it is captured.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=avt8710&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

[Ophelius]

I have a Sharp VC-A343 vcr which doesn't seem good enough, so I'll be looking to find a better vcr. For the video8 tapes, I still have the camcorder, but I have to check to see if it still works. Not sure which speed they were recorded. I'll look into good dvd recorders.

Edit: I've been looking at the avt8710 TBC you suggested and it looks promissing. If I use this, would a simple 20$ USB video capture device be all that I need chained after the TBC?

[victoriabears]

Could be, may be not, try the simple first, see what you get, you may be happy with a vcr to a dvd recorder , don;t aim higher than you are happy with.

Also, run a tape through first before trying to capture it, goes for your camcorder tapes as well, let the whole machinery run before doing anything major.

[Ophelius]

Actually I'll try to find a good S-VHS player with TBC included. From what I've read, cleaning up the source is the best first step.

Can a video-8 camcorder utilize an S-VHS's signal enhancers by sending the signal IN then OUT the VCR? :

video8 camcorder ----> S-VHS ----> video capture device

or is there a better route. I'm using composite cables(yellow, red, white wires), or s-video.

[victoriabears]

The TBC inside VCR's can actually cause more problems than solve, for instance the JVC's play stereo audio badly and often do not cope well with slp or ep speeds, hence my speed questions, it really is relevant to the success, I would try a Panasonic 1980P first, I do not believe the filters inside a s-vhs vcr work on pass through no.

[Ophelius]

Thanks for all your advice. I'll try out some equipment when I can and post my progress.

[bendixG15]

Suggest that you read this sticky ... has much info about your issue

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/313473-NOTE-A-Canopus-DV-box-does-not-replace-a-TBC!