Capturing BetacamSP, S-VHS and U-matic using Terratec G3

[Televerket]

I have been assigned the task at my work to convert a couple hundred of video tapes in the formats BetacamSP, VHS, S-VHS and U-matic.
Although I have never done this before, I do not think that it will be any problem so get the video digitalized, the problem lies in making the videos be of such a high quality as possible. I suppose that almost all videos are in the format PAL.

The thing that I am wondering about is what connections I should use. Lets put the VHS aside, they will be of poor quality, regardless of what I do. I will connect the audio of the U-matic and Betacam recorders to the RCA connectors of the Terratec G3, therefore, we can leave the audio aside too.

The video output on both the U-matic and BetacamSP recorders are a BNC-connector

There are three video input connectors on the Terratec G3 adapter.
They are SCART, RCA/composite and S-video


I initially was thinking of getting an adapter, which will connect the video output (BNC) to the video input of the Terratec G3 (RCA/composite).
But, a fellow worker of mine told me that the quality achieved will be greater if I utilize the s-video input on the Terratec G3. I have been mostly unsuccessful in finding a BNC-->S-video adapter, but if I do find such an adapter, will I achieve greater video quality?

I did however encounter this adapter, which will connect the BNC video output to the SCART-input of the Terratec G3 adapter:


Could I benefit in quality by using that adapter?

In my mind, there are three input connections of the Terratec G3, that could be used in this regard, which one will I gather the highest video quality from using?

Thanks in advance
Måns

PS: how do I remove the large image of the BNC connector at the end of this post? Can the mod assist me?

[aedipuss]

nope. no s-video for you. bnc carries rf and if you were able to some how buy a rf->s-video cable the picture would be black and white only. rf to scart is fine but no different then rf to composite.

[dLee]

The BNC connectors on the U-matic and Betacam SP decks are composite video - a simple RCA / BNC adapter will work.

Never seen an s-video / BNC or RCA adapter - wouldn't work anyway.

If your VHS / S-VHS decks have s-video out, use that for best quality. Decent caps of VHS are possible.

The SCART adapter will get your composite video into the SCART port, but it will still be composite - the quality will remain the same. Might be convenient but no quality increase.

[edDV]

The Terratec G3 isn't the best capture device for this project. Better to use an internal capture card that includes good PAL Y/C separation and capture to YUYV uncompressed then to Huffuyv lossless compression codec.

Better is to capture Betacam to Y,Pb,Pr and SVHS/Hi8 to Y/C (S-video components) using a device like GV/Canopus ADVC-700. While expensive to buy, they may be rentable or you can resell at near purchase price on eBay. The ADVC-700 outputs Firewire to DV 4:2:0. Capture quality will be much better including balanced XLR to PCM audio. You can also control the machines with appropriate software to automate capture.
http://cdn1.grassvalley.com/unsecure/DL/ADVC700/documentation/ADVC-700_E.pdf

Alternate internal capture devices are AJA XENA/KONA or BlackMagic Decklink.

[Alessandro Machi]

It took me a couple of years to figure out how to optimize the signals from all the formats you mention, and I had and still have my own edit bay. So I cringe a little bit when you make statements like "Lets put the VHS aside, they will be of poor quality, regardless of what I do."

The parameters of adjustment are greater on an initial playback of an analog video signal than a digital videotape signal. With digital, it either plays back correctly, or pretty much not at all, with analog, you can make several errors during the initial playback relating to both audio and video quality.

I offer corporate classes for companies that have analog content and are trying to remaster it to the digital world.

[Televerket]

I was successful with the digitization on the first attempt, besides, I achieved a fully acceptable level of quality (better than expected). What I did was connecting the video output of the BetacamSP and U-matic to the RCA-video input on the Terratec G3 adapter.

If anybody has interest in it, I can provide photos of the equipment and screencaps from the movies and so forth.

[lordsmurf]

Alternate internal capture devices are AJA XENA/KONA or BlackMagic Decklink.

These get my vote.