[tonyoco]

Can anyone help me, I have a requirement to transfer video tape to digital and eventully DVD.

I have a Sony TR707 (Digi 8) camcorder and for the footage that has been shot with this I can just connect the DV out into the firewire on my Imac. I can then use Imovie & Idvd to compile the DVD.

I also have some VHS tapes that require conversion, I have tried a USB device for the capture (Kworld DVD maker USB2). The problem with this is that I cannot get the drivers for it to operate with my Imac and when I use it with my Windows laptop the sound quality is very poor.

In an ideal world it would be very nice to plug the VHS directly into the RGB of the Digi 8 camcorder and pass straight through via firewire to the Imac. Unfortumately the video out of the European model is disabled so this is not an option (unless someone can tell me how to enable the video in).



I have 2 questions 1. Is using the TR707 & the Imac software the best way of grtting the information off the tape and maintain the best quality.
2. For the VHS tape what will be the best method to take the information from the tap.

Sorry about the long winded post.

Thanks

Tony

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by tonyoco

1. Is using the TR707 & the Imac software the best way of grtting the information off the tape and maintain the best quality.

As long as the cam is connected to PC or Mac via firewire and you capture the footage in the DV .AVI file format then you will be getting the best possible quality from the Digi8 tapes

Originally Posted by tonyoco

2. For the VHS tape what will be the best method to take the information from the tap.

A standalone DVD recorder is the quickest and easiest method of getting VHS onto DVD. If you want to edit the footage you can copy the footage off a DVD disc and edit it on a Mac/PC and then burn to a new DVD once done.

Mark.

[tonyoco]

OK Mark thanks for your reply.

I understand that I can capture using the DV output from the camcorder, I guess the question is when I have the AVI file how can I ensure that I get the best quality DVD output. I am asking this because I think to make the captured video into a DVD there will be some conversion to MPEG2 which is the DVD standard. If I can capture directly to MPEG 2 will that not result in a better quality in the long run as in this case there will only be one conversion (from Dig8 to MPEG 2)

As far as the capture from VHS is concerned, I understand that I can use a DVD recorder but there is still the problem with conversion, if I can enable to "video in " on the camcorder the output will be directly digital.

If I can't use the camcorder, to get the best possible quality I am happy to get a stand alone capture device, the question then is which one will give the best quality output.

Tony

[nvingo]

MPEG2 was awkward to work with, as regards editing, although there is now software which can do lossless editing on MPEG2 video.

The issue is that, until edited, it is unrealistic to try to predict the bitrate of MPEG2 data, and therefore how much DVD space it will use.

The best procedure is to maintain the original source quality (DV-AVI) through any editing. Once the edited video is available, the DV to MPEG converter can optimise the bitrate for the best quality on the selected storage media.

If recording VHS-DVDR, use the HQ (1hr) mode on the recorder, for maximum quality capture.

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by tonyoco

I understand that I can capture using the DV output from the camcorder, I guess the question is when I have the AVI file how can I ensure that I get the best quality DVD output. I am asking this because I think to make the captured video into a DVD there will be some conversion to MPEG2 which is the DVD standard. If I can capture directly to MPEG 2 will that not result in a better quality in the long run as in this case there will only be one conversion (from Dig8 to MPEG 2)

MPEG-2 is a highly compressed format that will result in some (maybe only very slight if done well) loss of quality when editing. Each edit will result in that part of the footage having a generation loss in quality, so edit the same section 2 or 3 times and the quality hit may well become very obvious. When you come to create the DVD you may then need to render the MPEG-2 footage again to reduce size further etc to make it DVD complient (not all MPEG-2 files are) and will then go to another generation.
The format of the video on a D8 (and miniDV) cam is actually DV .AVI so capturing as this format requires no file conversion. It is also uncompressed (well as good as at least) so has no quality loss when editing and so if done correctly has no generation quality loss.

Originally Posted by tonyoco

As far as the capture from VHS is concerned, I understand that I can use a DVD recorder but there is still the problem with conversion, if I can enable to "video in " on the camcorder the output will be directly digital.

I did have a look around but could not find any of the sites I used to point people to for AV-in enabling a camcorder. They probably don't sell the widgets to do this any more as all modern camcorders are hardware locked with no AV-in as they now get charged the extra EU taxes if AV-in can be enabled.

Originally Posted by tonyoco

If I can't use the camcorder, to get the best possible quality I am happy to get a stand alone capture device, the question then is which one will give the best quality output.

Tony

If you want the best possible analogue capture to a PC then you need to be looking at the likes of the Canopus ADVC-55 but make sure you are sitting down before you click on the link as they are not cheap.

Mark.

[tonyoco]

Ok gents thanks for the replies

I understand the issues with MPEG 2, what I didn't mention was that there will be no need to edit the output from the captured video.

The Digi 8 tapes are videos I have recorded over the years as my son has got older, he is now 16 and I want to keep the video in as high quality as possible and the tapes will degrade with time. I know that if I capture to DV.avi there is no compression and it is the conversion to MPEG 2 is where the quality hit will be. The problem is long term storage of these files as they are so large.

for the VHS tapes these are various events that my mum wants putting on DVD, again other than the final encoding there is no editing to do.

Tony

[senu]

mpeg2 is fine if encoded well ( that is what DVD videos have) but Mark refers to the reencoding whic results in loss of quality
Mpeg encoders ( harware and software) are not identical and the little USB devices generally tend to use budget elecronics whos output ( incomparison to costlier kit) is often rather underwhelming
Encoding by software can be a bit more time consuming but potenially better results has you can tweak the settings
With todays modern hardware you can often encode in multiples of real time TBH with the right sofware

[tonyoco]

Thanks Sanu

As far as the MPEG 2 encoding is concerned, I have Imovie, I assume there are better alternatives, what would be a viable piece of software that will give the best output results

Tony

[senu]

Imovie is good..save the pennies..

Im sure there are other though but Im more familiar with PC stuff
Best free Mac Video Converter - free download Video Converter for Mac
Not sure its any good..

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by tonyoco

The Digi 8 tapes are videos I have recorded over the years as my son has got older, he is now 16 and I want to keep the video in as high quality as possible and the tapes will degrade with time.

TBH a tape is one of the best archive media around. As long as it is stored in a controlled enviroment (ie away from direct heat and sunlight) then it should stay playable for years to come. However the tape may be good but the chances are the camcorder wont be for anywhere near as long and getting a replacement will be next to impossibel as D8 cams are no longer made.

Originally Posted by tonyoco

I know that if I capture to DV.avi there is no compression and it is the conversion to MPEG 2 is where the quality hit will be. The problem is long term storage of these files as they are so large.

As senu has said a good quality conversion to MPEG-2 can be near identicle in quality, but obviously a lot smaller. But be careful to keep it safe as a recordable DVD is not a long term archiving media that you can rely on as they do degrade and are easily scratched.

Originally Posted by tonyoco

for the VHS tapes these are various events that my mum wants putting on DVD, again other than the final encoding there is no editing to do.

Tony

Then purely for the ease of getting onto DVD you should consider going the DVD recorder route. As I stated before you can easily copy the footage off the DVD disc and onto the Mac for archiving.

Mark.