Mono VHS Capture with TV Wonder Pro

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Greetings,

I recently bought a ATI TV Wonder Pro card in hopes to capture some of my VHS tapes and put them into SVCD's. I have done quite a bit of research on this and have read many tutorials however seem to still have a few questions. From what I have gathered using the Multimedia Center that came with my card is recommended as it is pretty advanced and does what I need it to do. Now, I do not have a stereo VHS and it may not be needed as I do not think most of the tapes are in stereo. What is the best way to deal with this? What kind of quality is sent through a RF cable? Can this be used instead of RCA's? If not how do I go about dealing with just having one audio out and one video out on back of VHS into the ATI card. It of course will give me audio in just 1 speaker, the left or the right. Is this okay for creating mono? Will it record into both speakers for playback after it is captured?

Any help would be appreciated!

cd.

[BrainStorm69]

When I did some capturing from a mono vcr in the past, I just went to Radio Shack and bought an RCA splitter and fed the mono audio into the left and right stereo inputs. It worked ok.

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I could do this. But wouldnt just using the RF on the vcr to the tuner card do the same thing? I am trying to get the best possibile quality I can get with the equipment I have. I can not afford to upgrade the VCR unfortunatly. I am converting live concerts so sound quality is a issue. They are all in mono so getting a stereo vcr is pointless, really.. :/ Thanks for your input.

What is the quality of RF coax cable out compared to rca's?

[BrainStorm69]

Coax is not as good as the RCA output.

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Okay, thanks! One more thing.. What if I chose not to get a splitter and just plug a standard audio/video rca into say the left input and leave the right with nothing with my capture program automatically recreate the audio on both sides? Rather than me having to go buy a splitter?

Thanks for all the help!

[thecoalman]

Okay, thanks! One more thing.. What if I chose not to get a splitter and just plug a standard audio/video rca into say the left input and leave the right with nothing with my capture program automatically recreate the audio on both sides? Rather than me having to go buy a splitter?

Thanks for all the help!

That's the way I do mono, If I remember correctly you have to use the red jack. Set your capture program to capture mono. Convert to stereo when you encode or author. The adapter route will work just as well.

[dfisher]

You can do all of the above, but for a couple of dollars investment you're better off using a simple Y connector for the audio & feeding the mono output from the tape deck to the stereo input to the ATI card. And, most important to NOT use the antenna rf connection. The quality is not as good for either the audio or the video. I'm in the middle of converting a bunch of old Beta tapes & the the quality is just fine using the rca outputs & inputs.

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Okay, I will get a y splitter. My tapes are older and some are not even first generation dubs. Quite a few are >4th generation copies. So quality is a major issue. Am I loosing quality with svcd? Should I just forget about svcd and put them into divx? My VCR is a little older(maybe 3-4 years). Is a vcr a vcr? Will a new vcr play a tape better, as in beter a/v quality?

[thecoalman]

Okay, I will get a y splitter. My tapes are older and some are not even first generation dubs.

Y splitter or my method, both should you indentical results.

Quite a few are >4th generation copies. So quality is a major issue. Am I loosing quality with svcd? Should I just forget about svcd and put them into divx? My VCR is a little older(maybe 3-4 years). Is a vcr a vcr? Will a new vcr play a tape better, as in beter a/v quality?

A good VCR could make a world of difference or minimal difference. Good VCR's are not cheap. It really comes down to the much quoted "Garbage in, garbage out". Look over some of the articles here. Really depends on your budget. https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=43