Is Canopus 50/55/100/110 REALLY god's gift to the VHS-capture universe?

[Speed Demon]

- (double post)

[lordsmurf]

If you want to alter color, with any degree of seriousness, get a proc amp. Those built-in adjustments are crap.

[edDV]

The only useful thing about ADVC-300, is it's volume level adjustment, white peak adjustment, and auto-gain control.

Interesting. Would you recommend to let all settings (contrast, saturation, colour etc.) be at the standard settings and just upper the settings you mentioned above? I would really like to know as I have problems to decide which settings to use to capture my VHS tapes.

Assuming we are talking about VHS tape here there are two reasons to make these adjustments. To correct levels issues with the VCR and to correct individual tape problems. The VCR correction will be constant for all tapes. The diagram below shows the ADVC-100 but applies equally to the 300. First you record the ADVC color bar to the test tape. Then you play that color bar back and measure any luminance gain, chroma saturation or hue shift at DV format (or uncompressed ITU-REC-601) levels.

PAL would be 0-100 IRE


The ADVC analog color bar looks like this coming out of the ADVC composite or S-Video outputs.

Error: This bar is similar to the ADVC bar except the black bar on the right is missing from this one.


When played back and captured as DV format, correct levels will look like this. If luma gain, saturation or hue are off, those should be corrected with the ADVC-300 proc amp settings for all captures or the VCR should be adjusted and retested. The noise in some amounts is normal for VHS format.



NOTE: The 7.5 IRE setting is used for NTSC. If the VCR is PAL, the ADVC setup switch should be in the 0 IRE position. The DV format levels shown in the scopes should look the same for NTSC or PAL in the DV format. Black (0% on the scale) is digital level 16. White (100% on the scale) is digital level 235.

[Speed Demon]

Thank you very much! That was really interesting - I'll try that out.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Just to follow on from edDV's excellent advice, if you want to see the same information in real-time as you adjust the ADVC's proc amp settings, you can take the ADVC's DV output and monitor it with our DV processor software. You don't have to capture with it (though you can) - just view the live video and look at a vectorscope and waveform generator. They're not as detailed as the ones in Vegas (as per edDV's images) but they are still very useful. It will save you a lot of time - no need to capture, look at the scopes in an NLE, adjust, recapture etc etc. (The software can also perform the same proc amp functions if you like).

[TBoneit]

John, You might want to edit your webpage.

From that page "BUY NOW! (Save $50 before April 2007)"

[JohnnyMalaria]

Yes, I know. Keep meaning too....(though the price is now the same)


Thanks, though!

[2Bdecided]

The diagram below shows the ADVC-100 but applies equally to the 300.

Hang on, I'm confused now. Can you record a test signal to tape, and/or change the black/white levels, contrast and saturation with the ADVC-100/110? I thought that functionality was only available on the 300?



Cheers,
David.

[edDV]

The diagram below shows the ADVC-100 but applies equally to the 300.

Hang on, I'm confused now. Can you record a test signal to tape, and/or change the black/white levels, contrast and saturation with the ADVC-100/110? I thought that functionality was only available on the 300?



Cheers,
David.

Only the ADVC-300 has hardware proc amp controls but you can measure levels through the ADVC-100 and either adjust the VCR levels internal to the VCR or apply adjustments in software after capture. The color bar reference is needed to establish reference levels.

[2Bdecided]

Thanks edDV.

I was nearly set on a 110 or 300, but now I'm reading (both here and elsewhere) that some people get as good, or even better results, using a DV or Digital8 camcorder instead of a Canopus device.

Does anyone else share this experience?

Would that be because of the camcorder having a decent TBC inside? Or some other reason?

Thanks - I'm keen to learn (especially before spending money!)

Cheers,
David.

[edDV]

Thanks edDV.

I was nearly set on a 110 or 300, but now I'm reading (both here and elsewhere) that some people get as good, or even better results, using a DV or Digital8 camcorder instead of a Canopus device.

Does anyone else share this experience?

Would that be because of the camcorder having a decent TBC inside? Or some other reason?

Thanks - I'm keen to learn (especially before spending money!)

Cheers,
David.

In PAL areas* a DV camcorder with "analog pass through" will be equivalent to an ADVC for import.

In NTSC areas DV camcorders lack proper accommodation of 7.5% setup on import causing blacks to map to digital 32 causing a washout. To compensate one needs a proc amp to set black to zero IRE or one must correct black in the digital domain during editing. The ADVC series has the 7.5IRE vs 0.0 IRE switch to allow proper black level capture.

* Many PAL camcorders lack DV or analog inputs due to taxation issues.