Using a Camcorder in place of a VCR during capturing

[CaptainCatholic587]

Hello everyone!

I am about to begin digitizing all of my old VHS tapes. They are all 2 hour-long home videos. I'm using a StarTech USB3HDCAP capture device via S-Video cable, and I'm using Stream Catcher to do the capturing. I'll be doing lossless captures of all videos. I have an 8TB external hard drive, and a Dell Precision T3600 Workstation computer, so storage shouldn't be an issue.

So far, I've done a few captures using a Toshiba VCR. The captures came out great, except for the fact that an onscreen display kept coming up occasionally. (Anytime the auto-tracking feature was being used, the "tracking" bar came up). I don't want to turn the 'auto-tracking' feature off, because then I'd be afraid the quality of the captures wouldn't be as good.

To avoid this, I'm thinking about using the original Panasonic video camera that my Dad filmed all these videos on in place of the Toshiba VCR. This would eliminate the tracking bar. The Panasonic camera is from the 1980s, but it still works great, and my Dad still has the adapter to plug it into the wall. However, I was looking for some feedback on doing this - has anyone ever used a camcorder/video camera while capturing videos in place of a VCR? (Wasn't sure if this would have any negative effects on the captures).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, hope everyone is doing well!!
Tony

[JVRaines]

In fact, it is usually best to play back on the machine which made the recordings, so long as your camera is in good working order.

[Cornucopia]

Agreed.

[CaptainCatholic587]

In fact, it is usually best to play back on the machine which made the recordings, so long as your camera is in good working order.

No kidding!! I did not realize that. In that case, I'll definitely be sure to use the original Panasonic video camera. Is there any reason in particular that makes the original machine best? Thank you very much for the information, I appreciate it!!

[CaptainCatholic587]

In fact, it is usually best to play back on the machine which made the recordings, so long as your camera is in good working order.

Ah, unfortunately it turns out it might not be worth using the original video camera after all. It turns out the original video camera's adapter doesn't have an S-Video port (it just has the yellow video composite cable). Because of this, I'm assuming the quality couldn't possibly be as good as using the S-Video via a VCR, correct? If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me though! Thank you so much again for the help!!