ADVC300: Best settings for capturing from perfect sources

[hysteriah]

Hi all!

I've got myself an ADVC300 converter, and must say that I'm impressed with how good it is for capturing bad tapes that was the main reason why I bought it :-)

But... I'm also trying to use it for capturing from perfectly stable sources (like the outputs from my digital satellite tuner).

I hoock up the outputs from my digital tuner to the ADVC300 using a s-video cable, and the video out from the ADVC300 to my TV with a scart cable. I disable the "3D Noise Reduction" and "2D Noise Reduction" filters in the "Picture Controller" software, simply by unchecking the checkboxes. But... it still seems that the ADVC300 is applying some noisereduction to the video.

When I swith my TV between the direct output from my tuner and the outputs from my ADVC300, the image from the ADVC300 is a bit softer and also gets a small "ghost effect" in some scenes.

So... is it simply not possible to turn all the filters totally off? Or am I doing something wrong? Will the ADVC110 be much better than the ADVC300 for capturing from perfect sources?

[THoff]

No, unfortunately you can't turn off all filtering.

What I do with my ADVC-300 when capturing pristine sources (using an S-Video connection in my case) is to do what you did, and maximize the sharpness.

I'm not 100% certain about this, but I don't think the ADVC-300 applies any sharpening when it is maximized, instead I believe anything less than a maximized setting applies some blurring.

[hysteriah]

OK, thanks :-)

So I guess another capture card (for example the ADVC110) will be a better choise for capturing perfect sources?

[THoff]

I've heard that mentioned before, but I have not compared the results side-by-side, so I can't tell you if there is a significant difference.

[virgil21]

...I don't think the ADVC-300 applies any sharpening when it is maximized, instead I believe anything less than a maximized setting applies some blurring.

Would anyone from GV please confirm how the sharpness slider is engineered on the ADVC-300?

What this user is asserting is that it seems to be a de-sharpener rather than what I assumed, which was that it was a sharpener. Therefore, does any setting below the slider fully to the right add a blur and does the slider add no sharpness at all to the picture?

I have always assumed that the default 50% position was unprocessed, below that softened and above that sharpened. Is that wrong?

I have not been able to conclusiveley come up with an answer myself as all my current project sources are old, degraded and very non-pristine, so many of the adjustments are marginal at best and often I cannot be sure what are original faults and what are processing artefacts.

[GrassValley_BH]

We asked the engineers in Japan numerous times and got no answer.

My only guess (and that's all it is) is that either it's worded backward (it's happened before), or it's applying an Unsharpen Mask type process.