Converting VHS tapes to DVD

[Canopus Smoker]

well newegg is good about that, if you buy something then it drops in price, they will usually refund the difference. thanks for the links, I will search for reviews.

Unfortunately this morning the price is $210. So I called customer service and they said they could give me 50% of the difference, so I got a whole $15. It's better than nothing, but in department stores they'll usually price match themselves within 30 days. A $50 price change in less than a month? Ridiculous! Maybe I'll call later and push it up to a manager.

[mnewxcv]

Cant hurt to try! They're service is pretty good and Ive heard them warranting cases more far fetched.

[SatStorm]

Let me put my 2 cents on this.

Since your tapes are NTSC, then for the PC Root you need
- A SVHS VCR
- A TBC
- A Capture device
- A good PC
- A couple of commercial software
- Lot's of time.

The results gonna be great, to the point to be perfect.

OR
You buy a good DVD Recorder and you do all this realtime at about 90% of the compared quality you can gain through the PC root, but still great and looking at least "as good as the VHS tape" visually.

Regarding the DV capture with Canopus: For the NTSC users, it is not always the best choice. There is some color space problems there (4:1:1).

Just of the info, for us, the PAL users, nothing can't beat the combination of SVHS VCR-TBC-CANOPUS for capturing (on home use).

[Jeroen1000]

If we're talking about lossless capture, S-video connection, a working TBC (so we don't need the syncs), and a capture device that's set to capture the full range of the signal, what useful information exists in the analogue domain at the output of the VCR that doesn't make it to the digital domain? Or am I missing something.

Cheers,
David.

I too would like to know this.

[Canopus Smoker]

After doing some reading, I have reservations about if the S-VHS player is needed (no offense). My reading says while S-VHS cassettes will look better on it, in some cases VHS tapes look the same at best and worse at worst. If the tape was already recorded in VHS, what could scanning it at S-VHS level do?

S-Video, on the other hand, can be had with getting a S-Video cable and a RCA/S-Video adapter at Radio Shack. And though I have that...that doesn't really look all that different to me, either.

[Number Six]

A S-VHS unit will not scan a VHS tape at the S-VHS level - completely different specs. S-VHS units are higher level pieces of equipment, and generally have better hardware built in than VHS only units - therefore they probably will give you better results when playing VHS tapes.

There were also very high quality VHS only units built over the years, so you may want to do some research and buy one of them. It is not recommended to use the el-cheapo model VCRs to do this kind of project.

EDIT:

Quote from YODA:

"yes a svhs player is the first place to start for increasing quality (to a point - this is still vhs so there will be limits on maximum quality mind you). Even better is to get one with either TBC built in or an external tbc to go between the player and the pc (time base corrector). "

[mnewxcv]

well using a composite to s-video adapter wouldn't improve quality because the adapter is just a plug, it doesn't actually change the resolution from roughly 420x480 res of composite to up to 720x480 of s-video.

[Number Six]

well using a composite to s-video adapter wouldn't improve quality because the adapter is just a plug, it doesn't actually change the resolution from roughly 420x480 res of composite to up to 720x480 of s-video.

I agree - a good analogy would be:

You can convert a good quality steak into hamburger, but you can't convert hamburger into a good quality steak

[axel_yagnab]

I'm a frequent visitor to this site until I register today to share also my ideas.
I'm doing video transfer and video editing from any source and format for almost ten years now.
I've tried several software codec, internal capture card and external capture box.
For VCD output, internal capture card pair with software codec was already acceptable although I used Snazzi hardware card before. But for DVD output, I find using hardware standalone recorder like LVW-5045 very efficient as it can optimize 2hrs3mins of decent video in 4.7GB disc.

It helps a lot in improving playback quality of VHS tape if you were using S-VHS player like my JVC HR-S7800 as it has TBC/NR that's capable of removing color streaks and wavy video distortion, and it's video stabilizer to fix video jitters.

Since I'm an electronic technician, I've opened my LVW-5045 and also managed to revise it's internal hardisk to act as USB external drive when the LiteOn is "off" and plug to my computer for video editing. It's good as it's hardisk files can be read in my computer unlike the other brand I had tested. It's video files can easily be imported by Womble Video Wizard DVD edit it and output as authored simple DVD ready for burning using Nero or Ashampoo Burning software.

It's an easy and very quick process that I can finish transferring raw 2hrs VHS tape to DVD in 2hrs and 30mins. Unlike, when you capture it on AVI which still requires long encoding time depending on quality and software use.

That's all for now.
Maybe I can also share my benchmark opinions and experiences with so many softwares and
hardwares to a related thread or posted query here in the future.
It's one of my source of living doing video editing and transfer aside for having an electronic repair shop authorized by JVC, Philips, Sharp, LG, Polytron, Nextbase and Sanyo.

[takenotes]

Has anybody used a Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Plus for the A/D conversion ? That is a lower cost alternative to the Canopus device.
- Jim

[2Bdecided]

After doing some reading, I have reservations about if the S-VHS player is needed (no offense). My reading says while S-VHS cassettes will look better on it, in some cases VHS tapes look the same at best and worse at worst. If the tape was already recorded in VHS, what could scanning it at S-VHS level do?

Nothing. The point is that the decks are better decks, and have extra vital features.

The other issue is that chroma (colour) and luma (brightness) are recorded separately on VHS and S-VHS, but it's only S-VHS decks that let you output them separately via S-video. VHS decks always combine them via composite. In theory, they can be split perfectly again from VHS, but in practice, why bother combining then splitting when a perfectly good separate connection exists?

S-Video, on the other hand, can be had with getting a S-Video cable and a RCA/S-Video adapter at Radio Shack. And though I have that...that doesn't really look all that different to me, either.

It won't look better, because that's not genuine S-video - it's a nasty hack that, at best will make things look the same, and at worse will mess up the video totally!

Cheers,
David.

[rayzolight]

not to hijack this thread, but i'm working on a similar project. the difference is that i intend to overdub a new audio source over the video i capture from VHS. i'm wondering if using a stand alone dvd recorder would be better (or simpler) than using a tool like the advc-55.

if i use a dvd recorder, once i put the files on my PC, will i have a file format that i can manipulate? i will most likely have to speed up or slow down the footage (concert footage) to match the timing of the new audio source.

[SatStorm]

I bet you won't be able to Lipsync going the DVD Recorder root.

Yes, you can use the files on your PC. But the picture quality, won't be a good source to process.