VCR S-Video

[2Bdecided]

Remember that digital video, both DV and MPEG, uses the YUV domain.

If you look at the U and V planes captured via composite - vs - captured via S-video, there is a huge difference, even for a VHS source. The composite version has very messy edges, while the S-video version has clean edges.

The difference is much harder to see on the full colour video (that's why people were happy with composite for so long!) BUT your MPEG-2 encoder (assuming your final output is DVD) may have a much easier time encoding the clean UV planes from S-video than encoding the messy UV planes from a composite capture.


My comparisons are with PAL. Maybe the ADVC's comb filter on NTSC makes composite captures cleaner.

Cheers,
David.

[GrassValley_BH]

From a technical standpoint, the better the input the signal, the better the capture and encoding.

But on the practical side I question whether it's worth buying a new SVHS deck just for capturing a few VHS tapes. Might be better off renting one, or even asking a friend to do it for you.

Back when I had disposable income, I'd do it, but I am (err, used to be) geeky that way.

[trupac]

Thats exactly my problem now..im thinking does it worth to buy an svhs deck just because of 5 vhs tapes..
I found one expensive VHS deck to borrow ( Sony Slv e 820 ),but it has again a scart output,but i think it can output svideo through that scart - svideo adapter..
now my question is, if it will work , will i get the same s-video signal from this scart adapter,or it will be worse than if it would have originally an svideo output on the deck ??

[GrassValley_BH]

As I understand SCART (we don't use SCART in the US), it's just a connection-conversion, so if the deck outputs S-Video via SCART, then it's the deck, not the SCART adapter, doing the Y/C separation, so it'd be the same as if the deck had an S-Video jack.

[biopic]

Yes Brandon, in fact I don't think I've ever seen a machine with a Y/C SCART connector, that does not also have an S-video jack.

[antonsvideo]

The best S-VHS/VHS player you can buy is the Sony SVO-5600 (find one on ebay)

it has a top notch built in TBC with real good Y and C noise reduction

VHS will look cleaner than you have ever seen it before, believe me, I have one (in my case the SVO-5800 player/recorder)

[haragsdale]

Any decent alternatives to SVO-5600 and 5800?

I am a newb, have found in my experimenting so far that quality of conversion to digital of my old C-VHS home videos is not very good on my several crappy, old VCRs, none of which have S-video out, for example. Searched this forum for VCR recommendations, and Anton very consistently recommends the Sony SVO-5800 or SVO-5600, partly for the TBC. I have been looking on eBay for these units, and they do come up from time to time, but the current offerings are at $800, which is too rich for my blood. Will any of the other Sony SVO models do OK? For example, the SVO-9500MD (the MD is for medical) seems to have TBC as well, but of course, I have no idea how it compares to 5600/5800.

Any advice?

Thanks very much.

[antonsvideo]

the SVO-9500MD TBC is nowhere near as good, I would save up for the 5600 player or 5800 player/recorder

keep in mind that none of the pro units will play tapes shot in long play modes

[haragsdale]

Thanks. OK, so after losing 5-6 eBay auctions for various Sony SVO-5800's, I got tired of losing and bid up a bit more ... on two different ones ... and of course, I managed to win them both. (Yes, sometimes I am a moron.) Both will go back up on eBay when I'm done with this little project. One of them came with a wired remote.

One of them arrived a couple of days ago, and I just set it up a few minutes ago. I have a few more newb questions; hope you have the patience. The first question is audio. I have never seen audio "jacks" like the ones on this VCR. I guess I need to get some sort of conversion cable from that jack (3 pins) to regular RCA? (There is an RCA-type connector to allow one to monitor audio, but it's just a single jack, no left and right. I assume that won't work well going into either left or right on the Canopus converter.) Poking around a bit, maybe this connector is called XLR? There are XLR to RCA cables out there; do I want unbalanced? Is Ch1 = left and Ch2 = right? (Can you imagine how much of a bonehead I feel like?!)

Second question is whether there is an easy way to know how to set the many buttons and dials for best quality or which ones to experiment with. Frankly, there are so many that I'm worried about doing something that makes it nearly unplayable. The TBC control area, which I gather is why I acquired this particular unit to begin with, has four separate "dials." There are buttons all over the front. And that's before you get into the menu, which I wouldn't even have known about except for the Menu Card that was supplied. (There is no manual, just the card. I have ordered a manual.)

I did manage to import some video into iMovie, but the two problems are enough junk at the bottom of the display that it'd be awfully nice to remove it (I fooled around a bit with tracking, but it seems best at fixed), plus the audio problem.

It seems clear that you do this professionally, so it's really not fair for me to bug you for free advice. If you're willing, then great. And otherwise, perhaps we could work something out. I have about 11 hours of old video to import. It's mostly of my kids, and it's worth something to me to get it done well.

Thanks.

--Terry

[GrassValley_BH]

The 3-pin XLR jack is a bit of a tricky one, because like RCA and BNC connectors, it can carry different types of signal depending on the source device.

What you need to find out is whether the connecting there is digital or analog, then balanced or unbalanced audio. It's unlikely that it's digital, so let's assume analog audio. If it's balanced (likely), you'll need a converter to go from balanced XLR to unbalanced consumer line-level RCA. If it's unbalanced (unlikely), then it depends on the signal level - it might work directly, but you might need a converter than will change the level.

You're right - generally channel 1 = Left, channel 2 = Right.

Check the deck again though - it might have an unbalanced RCA or BNC audio output too.

It's moot, but for reference, to interface with the deck you have, the ADVC700 or ADVC3000 would be the better choices as they have balanced XLR analog audio interfaces designed to interface with this "level" of deck.