Looking For Feedback on my VHS/Mini DV Capture Setup

[ctlw83]

Hello All,

First, thank you for VideoHelp. I haven't been on here in a while.

I got sick of sitting on a bunch of old MiniDV and VHS tapes. I decided rather than paying some company to capture them all for me I'd make a small investment and work on it myself. Unfortunately, my computer does not have an open PCIE slot to add firewire, so I needed to take another route.

I bought a used JVC HR-DVS3U off ebay. It is missing the VCR door but is in full working condition other than that. There is also a company in my town that can do VCR/electronic repairs if I find anything wrong.

I plan on using S-video out for video capture and standard RCA wires for audio. These will go into an Elgato capture device and connect via USB. I bought new S-Video and RCA cables.

I'll use VirtualDub for capture in uncompressed AVI and WAV (lossless) and then work from there.

I'm not sure what I will do after capturing things. I may invest in Topaz AI to repair and upscale the videos, but we will see.

Considering what resources I have, I think this might be a good setup. Any thoughts?

Any thoughts?

[dellsam34]

The route you're taking doesn't work for DV, A VHS VCR cannot playback DV tapes. The analog way is too lossy for DV. Get the Pinnacle 500-USB, it takes any DV signal from a camcorder and route it to computer via USB, you can eve control the camcorder from computer. Sclive or WinDV is the program that can transfer DV and D8 tapes.

[ctlw83]

The route you're taking doesn't work for DV, A VHS VCR cannot playback DV tapes. The analog way is too lossy for DV. Get the Pinnacle 500-USB.

JVC HR-DVS3U is a SVHS and Mini-DV combo deck. It has separate slots/player heads, one for VHS/SVHS and the other for MiniDV.

I'm not sure what difference the Pinnacle 500-USB has over the Elgato Video Capture except that it is a larger unit and is not as readily available. Both connect to SVideo and RCA and capture it to digital.

I just don't have an open PCIe slot to get a firewire adapter, otherwise, I would connect the deck to the PC using firewire. From what I read this unit can transmit both the VHS/SVHS and MiniDV through firewire. Granted, I could buy a firewire expansion card for my laptop, but the laptop does not have the hard drive capacity for video capture.

[DB83]

But can that unit actually relay DV over s-video for external transmission ? That would require a digital >> analogue conversion. It may do it internally i.e. DV to vhs and then s-video.


I have not read any manual in posting this.

[ctlw83]

I checked the manual online and it acts like the MiniDV plays out of the standard connectors just like VHS/SVHS. There is also a firewire output, but again, I don't have a way of capturing it at the moment.

[DB83]

Ok. But I would not capture as 'Uncompressed' if that is what you actually meant and understood it.


Even if your system can do that without issue, it is a waste of disk space etc. Capture lossless huffyuv which means smaller files and no discernible quality loss.


And this is an archive format. You will inevitably re-encode to a delivery format for actually viewing.

[ctlw83]

I appreciate that feedback! I will compress with huffyuv.

[dellsam34]

I'm not sure what difference the Pinnacle 500-USB has over the Elgato Video Capture except that it is a larger unit and is not as readily available. Both connect to SVideo and RCA and capture it to digital.

Big difference, read and understand post #2.

DV -> USB-500 -> same quality DV on computer
DV -> DV to analog by VCR -> Elgato (crappy Analog to digital conversion) -> low quality video on computer

[ctlw83]

I'm not sure what difference the Pinnacle 500-USB has over the Elgato Video Capture except that it is a larger unit and is not as readily available. Both connect to SVideo and RCA and capture it to digital.

Big difference, read and understand post #2.

AH, I see. I didn't notice it had a firewire port when I looked it up. I may see if I can find it on eBay or something.

UPDATE

I found a unit on eBay and bought the appropriate Firewire cable as well. We will see how things go when everything arrives next week.

[ctlw83]

Dellsam34 I have a couple of questions if you are still monitoring the thread.

1. I found the drivers for the Pinnacle 500 USB. Do you also need to use their software package for capture on top of the driver, or will the driver work fine on its own?
2. Which do you prefer, Sclive or WinDV for capture?

[dellsam34]

Don't install the drivers yet, Wait until you get the device and try it without drivers, then proceed with drivers so that way it's easy to troubleshoot in case of a problem. No use WinDV or Sclive, I prefer Sclive.

I'm assuming you are talking about this page:
http://cdn.pinnaclesys.com/SupportFiles/Hardware_Installer/readmeHW10.htm