I've been reading a TON of threads on here regarding the transfer of VHS, VHS-C and S-VHS tapes to digital format, but many threads are quite 'old' and I was wondering what you experienced people would suggest in my scenario...
I have multiple VHS-C tapes that need to be transferred, but I'm not sure if SVIDEO through a VHS player or SVHS player is the way to go seeing as how I'm going through the CANOPUS ADVC-100. I'm getting conflicting information stating that SVIDEO can actually produce more artifacting and noise if using the ADVC-100 with S-VIDEO outs! Basically, I want to do it right the first time and need to know if I should be looking for;
A) A S-VHS camera or player with SVIDEO out, or
B) A VHS player with a SVIDEO out (hard to find it seems..) or
C) A decent quality VHS or combo player that has 'composite only' outputs.
Will any of the choices above provide a better, noticeable difference in my 30+ VHS-C and VHS tape collection while passing through the ADVC-100?
Anything else I should be aware or concerned about...?
Cheers,
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A SVHS player with TBC using SVIDEO will give you the best possible video quality.
However don't expect the moon by getting a high quality player, a bad VHS tape will stay bad even with the best player.
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The issue is the comb filter that's used to separate luma and chroma (the two components of s-video) from a composite signal. If a source is internally composite and uses a poor comb filter to produce s-video output you will get poor results capturing that signal. You would be better off using the composite output and letting the AVCD-100 handle it (the ADVC has a decent comb filter). For example, most Laserdisc players with s-video outputs produced very poor s-video full of dot crawl artifacts.
That will generally give you the best quality. But... no S-VHS player has been manufactured in years. You will be buying used. Most of them are in poor condition. So you may end up buying several to get one that works well. And one that works well on one tape may not work well on another.
Rare. And you'll probably have the same problem of buying used. I've never seen one myself but... Although VHS has separate luma and chroma on the tape it is normally combined to a composite signal for output. You may find that the VHS deck with s-video outputs is simply a normal VHS deck with a cheap comb filter applied after the signal on the tape has been combined to a composite signal.
If you already have a VHS deck that works reasonably well your best investment will be in a used DVD recorder with a line TBC in its passthrough signal (you just pass the composite or s-video signal through the recorder, you don't record to DVD). That will clean up the horizontal time base jitter quite a bit. The old Panasonic ES10 and ES15 models are pretty good for this.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319420-Who-uses-a-DVD-recorder-as-a-line-TBC-and-wh...=1#post1983288 -
I've done hundreds of standard VHS tapes with ADVC100 and a cheap S-VHS deck (no TBC, SVHS out) with satisfactory viewing results. But I was not interested in spending hundreds of hours trying to produce the perfect DVD which my viewing audience would not appreciate anyways. Besides, VHS is VHS and life goes on.
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Well...not everyone is so well satisfied with mediocre results, even if it does seem to be the current trend. But I should think that doing as much (or as little) as one can to ensure low quality is not what the O.P. has in mind. Are you complaining? Or boasting?
- My sister Ann's brother -
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!
I didn't have a single VHS machine to use, but managed to score a SVHS player for $60 bucks (hope I didn't over-pay TOO much) and am looking forward to finally getting some of these tapes into digital format... The unit is a " NEC DS-8500U " (made in Japan) and it seems to work very well. I'm not sure if it has a filter or TBC (anyone know?) but it is heavy and LOADED with boards, Japanese capacitors, wires and crazy things not found in newer models, that's for certain. It looks pretty tidy inside, but I think I'll give it a gentle clean anyhow and maybe clean the head, rollers and feeds with some Methanol and lint-free Q-tips.