video capturing question

[jetfan]

hello,
I am trying to capture some old home movies and convert
them to DVD. I have done this in the past with some success but
am trying to get better results.

My old method was to go from a vcr connected to my Sony D8
camcorder, use its' pass through feature, and use firewire to transfer
the new digital image into my computer.

I have been reading some giudes and saw suggestions for a S-VHS
player as a source. Here's my question, I just ordered a JVC hr-s911u -
might not be the exact model number, but its very close. I also bought
a Canopus ADVC-100 to replace my Sony camcorder because I read
that it will be a big improvement on the final capture. Is this overkill
or redundancy by having both of these together or is it the way to go!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know the general
rule of thumb - crap in, crap out, but I hoping to get the most out of
this crap(childhood tapes)Thank you

[Capmaster]

Using the camcorder as a pass-through will allow you to get the video as AVI files. These will then need to be converted to MPEG2. It's time-consuming, but that allows you to use a 2-pass VBR encoding method. That yields the best results. It may be a moot point working with VHS capture.

The ADVC-100 is a bit redundant because it performs the same function as the pass-through - it gives you DV in the form of an AVI file. But if your camcorder has a built-in TBC (timebase corrector), and you don't have a standalone TBC, using the ADVC-100 to capture from tape might cause some A/V sync issues.

Having both is wise because should one die, you have the other to use.

You might have had more flexibility if you had bought an MPEG hardware capture card/box. This would give you an MPEG2 real-time as you capture from your VCR. No software encoding is needed. You might have decided that the 2-pass encoding of the AVI was overkill for a VHS capture, which it probably would be, and hardware capture is the way to go. But that's water under the bridge now.

At any rate, watch for lip sync problems with the ADVC-100 and the camcorder too if it doesn't have a built-in timebase corrector. Sooner or later, capturing from tape, you'll see sync problems without a TBC.