Capturing Advice

[Chunking]

I have a genric capture card. It gives average quality. I want to upgrade. My question is what will give me the best picture. Should I upgrade and get a better capture card or get a dvd recorder. What I want to do is captures stuff from VHS or Camcorders and edit in videostudio or something like that then burn to DVD. Ive already done this a few times but the picture quality is better on the tapes than in the finished dvd. I want to be able to make the transfer with as little picture loss as possible. Will a better card give me better results or would a DVD recorder give better results?

Thanks

[teegee420]

You will probably get better results with a new capture card, versus a DVD recorder. The Canopus units are well reviewed, though a little pricey. I'm an ATI All-In-Wonder owner and I'm very happy with it. Be sure to check out the Capture Cards Section.

[qlizard]

Does your camcorder have pass-through ability? If not, are you looking at purchasing a new camcorder? If so, I would recommend getting one with pass-through. The format is the same as using the canopus ADVC-100. The quality of pass-through from my sony dv camcorder is excellent.

[Chunking]

I have JVC Digicam, It can send a digital out or analog. My card is not capable of accepting the digital out. My main concern is keeping the picture qaulity as high as possible during the capture. I also want to be able to capture things from my VCR. Right now my captures look ok. but if I look at them side to side with the original, the original tape is much clearer. I was trying to figure out if a better card or a DVD recorder would improve and if so which one would be best. I'm not up to speed on the types of cards and their capablilties. I'll check my PC ehen I get home to see the exact capture card I have. I'm at work right now.

thanks

[Sam Ontario]

I have a genric capture card. It gives average quality. I want to upgrade. My question is what will give me the best picture. Should I upgrade and get a better capture card or get a dvd recorder. What I want to do is captures stuff from VHS or Camcorders and edit in videostudio or something like that then burn to DVD. Ive already done this a few times but the picture quality is better on the tapes than in the finished dvd. I want to be able to make the transfer with as little picture loss as possible. Will a better card give me better results or would a DVD recorder give better results?

Thanks

Get a recorder! Capture card is history! Do not linger on it and move on, unless you need to do something fancy on your DVD.

[amongthedead]

get the advc-100

[qlizard]

Is the digicam a DV device? Do you not connect it via firewire to your machine? If you have digital, you don't want to send it through a capture card.

[Chunking]

Yes the camera is a DV device but I still have some VHS stuff to capture. I have editing to do on the vids. I have editing software. I was considering a recorder but I didn't know what would be the best way to capture the video to edit. Recorder or Card? Which device will give me the best picture quality?

Thanks

[qlizard]

My point was to determine if you have analog to digital pass-through on your camcorder. Many, but not all dv camcorders have this ability. If so, you wouldn't have to buy anything. By doing this, you can send the analog material from your VHS through an input on your camcorder and output digitally through firewire. The result would be basically the same as using the ADVC-100 capture device, which is about as good as it gets (for a reasonable cost).

[Chunking]

Oh, I got ya,
Well, the cam has DV in and out but only has analog out. I don't think I can run analog in. I'll give that a try with my digital tapes and see how it works out.

[lenti_75]

camcorder passthrough is the best...i get the same quality using my canon.

but you don;t have it.....so.....it;s your option, either a dvd, or capture card.

[qlizard]

If its a DV camcorder, then it certainly has digital out. The question will be whether it has analog in capability.
How do you connect it to your computer now? If its DV you shouldn't be using a capture card, you should be using firewire.

Question to others- are there DV cameras that use something other than firewire?

[teegee420]

I believe lenti_75 was addressing the question asked in the original post about putting VHS on DVD. Using pass-through would be ideal and would circumvent the need for a capture device entirely.

[qlizard]

yeah, I suggested pass-through from the beginning. But after reading the responses I'm not sure if the digicam is set up as well as it could be even for regular DV transfer, not to mention pass-through.

[teegee420]

Ok, I see what you mean. I've seen a couple of DV cams that didn't even have a firewire port.

[Chunking]

I never tried to use the firewire hookup. I always just used the analog hookup. I'll have to get a firewire hookup and see if I can do it that way.

[victor010170]

chunking,

Go with DV from your cam to pc with firewire. I made an unwise mistake and hope you won't. I bought a capture card with usb. My digital cam has dv+usb output to pc. I tested usb through capture card to pc and also dv with firewire to pc. The quality is extremely an a plus on dv to pc with firewire because it is transfer instead capture. Since then, i has not touched my capture card at all.

[Chunking]

thanks,
I'm going to see about using a fire wire.

[LSchafroth]

Get a recorder! Capture card is history! Do not linger on it and move on, unless you need to do something fancy on your DVD.

Why does everyone seem to push the direct copiers? I see them being of no use to anyone wanting to create a good DVD. the old days of putting in a tape and letting it start playing is gone. People want menus and the ability to choose the portion they wish to play. Just my 2 cents....

LS

[qlizard]

To clarify, your digicam should have a firewire output. It is also known as IEEE 1394, and Ilink (i think only for sony though). This is how you should be transfering your DV material to your computer. Don't use USB or a capture card. However, I'm not sure if your computer has a firewire port. If it is a relatively new computer, it should (you should put computer details in your profile so people can help you more). If not, you should install a firewire card. Firewire makes a big difference. You shouldn't be doing DV without it. You would have to buy the right firewire cable (there are 6 and 4 pin versions, sometimes 6 to 6, 4 to 4, 6 to 4, etc.). You would then transfer your DV material directly (not capturing) using a program such as Videostudio, windv, or scenalyzer. The quality of the DV material is 100% retained.

Now for capturing your VHS material, that is where "pass-through" becomes the question. This depends on your particular digicam. Some have the ability to input analog material and send out out digitally through firewire as above. If your cam has the ability, this is the way to go. If not, you are then back to your original question of capture card, or standalone (I would throw in getting a new camcorder with pass-through, but would only consider this option if you already want a new camcorder).

I again stress, if you do end up getting a capture card you should only be using it for the analog VHS stuff. Not your DV.

[victor010170]

FYI

I got firewire at Circuit city. It has firewire for connect from camcorder to pc. There is no need to know about 4 pin, 6 pin, and so on.

My cam had vcr plug in which allows me to connect my vcr to the cam and to pc with firewire. Therefore, no need to have the capture card. Check your camcorder carefully before spending money. I guess reading the manual is helpful.

[Sam Ontario]

Get a recorder! Capture card is history! Do not linger on it and move on, unless you need to do something fancy on your DVD.

Why does everyone seem to push the direct copiers? I see them being of no use to anyone wanting to create a good DVD. the old days of putting in a tape and letting it start playing is gone. People want menus and the ability to choose the portion they wish to play. Just my 2 cents....

LS

You can still spend your time on a PC to do all your fancy stuff, menus etc. after recording on a +RW. Get a recorder save you time. I am sure no body will regret to have a recorder, but, there are already thousands regretted to have purchased capture cards when they own a recorder and I am one of them. LS I bet you will be one of them when you get a DVD recorder and you won't touch your capture card again unless you are a perfectionist!

[LSchafroth]

You can still spend your time on a PC to do all your fancy stuff, menus etc. after recording on a +RW. Get a recorder save you time. I am sure no body will regret to have a recorder, but, there are already thousands regretted to have purchased capture cards when they own a recorder and I am one of them. LS I bet you will be one of them when you get a DVD recorder and you won't touch your capture card again unless you are a perfectionist!

I never thought of recording to a RW then editing later. hmmm.....
I will never get a DVD recorder so I won't be wishing...

Can't beleive I didn't think of doing it that way. Then I post it for all the public to read. hehe

LS

[Chunking]

Lschafroth,
That was my original question. Should I use a DVD recorder to record my video then take the vid off of the DVD and dump it into video studio to edit it and then put it on a finished dvd. I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to keep the resolution.

Qlizard- My cam does have the IEEE1394 capability but my PC does not. I do not believe the cam has passthru but it does have an in so that I can record on the digital tape. But that is also thru the Firewire hookup. So I don't think the cam has pass thur. (I'll put my PC stuf in my profile- it's just a mother board I bought and put in a case with a big HD- It's a Frankenstein PC)

Since I need to have the ability to capture both analog and DV. I think the DVD recorder may be the best bet. I can record both on the DVD recorder and then I guess I would have to rip the dvd from the recorder to the PC to edit and then I can burn it permanantly. My brother has a DVD recorder so I'm going to test that out and see how it looks.

Thanks for all your input guys

[teegee420]

I was going to post something that would talk up the benefits of using a capture card and firewire input over merely using a DVD recorder but it sounds like the DVD recorder would be best for you. If you eventually outgrow the capabilities that a DVD recorder offers you can always get a capture card later. Good luck.

[Chunking]

Teegee,
That would be great. I could still use that info. I certainly want to explore all options and use the advice of others who have more experience at this than myself.

[teegee420]

Well for starters, editing mpeg-2 video is very difficult to do because it often results in bad a/v sync. Editing highly compressed video just isn't a good idea period.

If your VHS source tapes have deteriorated with age to any degree there's not much you can do to clean the picture up with s standalone recorder. There are a lot more options for restoring video when you capture to a PC. Sometimes the filtering can be done on the fly like with ATI capture card's Video Soap filters. Your other option would be capture as avi using lossless compression like Picvideo MJPEG and filter while re-encoding to mpeg-2. This method take a lot more time but the results can be quite dramatic depending on how bad the source was.

The bottom line is that using a DVD recorder is the easiest solution. However if you're willing to do some learning and put in some extra effort you can have greater flexibility and achieve better results with your PC. It's not for everyone, though because of the learning curve. What you have going for you is that you have already found this awesome forum and the collective knowledge of its members to help you out along the way.

[Chunking]

The VHS tapes are in excellent conditon. I think I'm going to try the PC route because I want the flexibility of editing, adding transitions, music and titles and stuff. Lot's of options out there...but that's a good thing.

[teegee420]

Just make sure you get a capture device that will allow you to capture as avi, not just mpeg-2. Capturing to mpeg-2 is great if all you have to is make a few simple cuts but for heavy editing it's best to capture as avi.

[qlizard]

Regardless of how you end up converting the analog material, you need to get a firewire (IEEE 1394) card on your computer to transfer your DV camcorder material.

Back to the issue of pass-through on your camera, if it has an input it may well have the ability. Do you have the manual or have you checked the specs on-line? Usually it makes some mention of it. Post the exact model number and maybe someone out there has one who knows.