Using Panasonic PV-GS400 To Digitize S-video Out from Sony DCR-TV530

[Dubinvero]

I have a number of 8mm and Hi8 video tapes that I want to digitize to MP4. I have a Sony Digital 8 and a Panasoniv PV-GS400 Camcorder. Both the sony and Panasonic have S-Video connectors.

If I connect the two camcorders via S-Video
1. Will the Sony automatically output to the S-Videocable.
2. Will the Panasonic automatically see the S-Video input if it is set to Camera.
3. Do I need to record to MiniDV tape on the Panasonic for replay to capture the video to my Windows 10 desktop using WinDV.

Will using the 2 camcorders give a superior picture to outputting the Sony to an IODATA GV-USB2 then use OBS to capture to the PC. I like the idea of having an AVI master when using the 2 camcorders.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on these questions.

Derek

[aedipuss]

i'd go sony to iodata and create the video as a lossless avi if possible. it may be marginally better than going sony to panasonic and creating a DVavi which isn't lossless.

[lordsmurf]

Use VirtualDub, not OBS.

[Alwyn]

Welcome to the age-old conundrum of DV verses analogue capture. They are close enough to comparable quality that it will be up to you to decide which is best. DV is the easiest and some say it is good enough, especially if you are PAL. I've done both and I certainly can't glaring differences either way. DV can be easily processed so don't think that because it is not "lossless", you are screwed re further processing.

You have 3 scenarios to test:

1. TRV530>Firewire>PC (capture with WinDV)

2. TRV530>S-Video>GV-USB2>PC (AmarecTV suggested)

3.Sony>S-Video>GS400>Firewire>PC (capture with WinDV)

You will not be able to capture analogue video from the GS400 on the PC if you are using the S-Video socket for inbound video from the Sony. IOW, you can't do analogue in and out. Normally it's analogue in, Firewire/DV out.

I'd only be using the GS400 as a stabiliser if the Digital 8 played the tapes badly.

Will using the 2 camcorders give a superior picture to outputting the Sony to an IODATA GV-USB2 then use OBS to capture to the PC. I like the idea of having an AVI master when using the 2 camcorders.

Can't be done, as I've said above. If the S-video is being used for IN, it can't be used for OUT; only Firewire OUT.

Also, OBS is no good for AVI capture. It is difficult to set up and I've found it produces flawed AVIs. There's a thread on this here.

OBS high-bitrate MP4 is OK if you have no need to do any other processing (unlikely), but not AVI.

For your questions 1 and 2, best for you to just try them. It's too hard for us unless we have both camcorders.

Also, there's a thread on the GS400 here that you may find interesting.

[Dubinvero]

Many thanks to aedipuss, lordsmurf and Alwyn for your responses. I will use the Sony Camcorder S-Video out to the GV-USB2 solution. I will not use OBS.
I tried VirtualDub2 but got the error message “cannot capture video”. Next I will use WinDV which I am familiar with. Lastly I will try AmerecTV. I will provide feedback on my experiene.
Thanks again for all your help.

[johnmeyer]

If you have any computer that has 1394/Firewire input, the simplest and most "bullet proof" method is to put your tapes in the Digital 8 camcorder, connect it to your computer via Firewire, and capture the tapes. No need to involve any other hardware.

I would use Scenalyzer rather than WinDV. Back when DV capture was the only way to go (20+ years ago), it was pretty clear that Scenalyzer was better, both because it was more reliable, but also because it had a huge number of really nifty features that made the capture process easier.

[aedipuss]

Many thanks to aedipuss, lordsmurf and Alwyn for your responses. I will use the Sony Camcorder S-Video out to the GV-USB2 solution. I will not use OBS.
I tried VirtualDub2 but got the error message “cannot capture video”. Next I will use WinDV which I am familiar with. Lastly I will try AmerecTV. I will provide feedback on my experiene.
Thanks again for all your help.

virtualdub is a different program from virtualdub2.

[Alwyn]

Next I will use WinDV which I am familiar with.

WinDV will not work with the S-Video signal from your 530; WinDV is DV-only (as is Scenalyzer).

I have published an AmarecTV guide here.

[Dubinvero]

Alwyn,

You are correct. I am playing 8mm or hi8 on the Sony DRC-TV530 and therefore have only analog out of the camcorder.
I will use your AmerecTV guide to try your 2nd solution.

Derek

[Alwyn]

I am playing 8mm or hi8 on the Sony DRC-TV530 and therefore have only analog out of the camcorder.

Remember, your 530 will output DV over Firewire from your analogue V8/Hi8 tapes, as JohnMeyer has suggested.

[johnmeyer]

I am playing 8mm or hi8 on the Sony DRC-TV530 and therefore have only analog out of the camcorder.

Remember, your 530 will output DV over Firewire from your analogue V8/Hi8 tapes, as JohnMeyer has suggested.

Yes, that was what I was suggesting. Thanks for helping clarify that.

[Dubinvero]

This is a brief summary of the 3 methods I tried and the results I got digitizing a Hi8 analog tape. In all 3 options I used the S-Video output of the Sony DRC-TV530 camcorder.

Method 1. Fed the S-Video to the IO Data GV-USB2. Used OBS Studio to capture on a Windows 10 desktop PC. I could not get this arrangement to work. OBS kept crashing and would not produce a video larger than 10MB for a 1 hour tape.

Method 2. Fed the S-Video to a Canopus ADVC100. Used the 4 pin FireWire out to the 6 pin input on the PC. Used Magix Vegas 14 Pro to capture. Got a good capture. This was very stable solution.

Method 3. Fed the S-Video to the IO Data GV-USB2. Used AmerecTV to capture on the Windows desktop PC. Got a good capture. This was also a a very stable solution.

The quality of the captured video was clearly better using Method 3. The picture was brighter (in a good way) and the colors more saturated and natural looking. This will be my standard method for capturing analog tapes.

I have never used AmerecTV before, but thanks to Alwyn’s outstanding guide I had no trouble with the setup.

I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions. I would like to give special thanks to Alwyn for his detailed responses and the excellent AmerecTV user guide.

Derek

[johnmeyer]

Why didn't you try what Alwyn suggested in post #10? I think you will find that the levels may be more pleasing. You'll have to decide for yourself whether the artifacts and also the colors are better or worse, but I think it is worth a few minutes to do the test.

[lollo]

Using the DV approach, the OP will never match the quality of the lossless capture. Because this last works well in his case, just leave things as they are.

[Alwyn]

@Derek, thanks, glad you're up and running.

[Dubinvero]

johnmeyer,

Thanks for telling me that the Sony DCR-TV530 can output DV from an analog tape. I had tried that before but had not gotten any DV out. I read the Sony Users Manual and found out that I needed to access the menu and enable DV out.

I did that and made a capture using WinDV. I upscaled and converted both videos from 720x480 to 1440x960 MP4.

I then compared the output of the DV capture with the GV-USB2/AmerecTV capture. I used Awesome Video Player to do a side by side comparison of the two videos. On my 24 inch monitors The AmarecTV/GV-USB2 was the clear winner. The DV capture had a smokey look, poorer colors and a lack of depth. I could probably use a video editor to improve the DV capture but like the converted/upscaled AVI.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this capture question.

Derek

[johnmeyer]

Derek,

Thanks for taking the time to do that additional test. Even though I often recommend DV capture, I do so because people often get the levels screwed up when they try to use better analog capture chains, or they have dropped frames. I don't know about the "smokey look," but poorer colors and lack of depth are definitely two of the three downsides of capturing with DV (DCT artifacts are the third).

Good luck with your project!