maximising quality on S-VHS to DVD conversion

I am in process of converting my S-VHS tape collection to digital.

Panasonic S-VHS (PAL) NV-HS800B
... S-Video lead & L+R audio via RCA into
Panasonic DMR-E95H

Save to HDD in XP quality then copy over onto DVD-RAM disc

use DVD-RAM disc to get digital files onto PC HDD

For simple dice & slice editing I will edit without re-encoding (TPMG DVD author or similar)

There are a small number of tapes that I would like to get the best out of the image, or even clean-up before I burn the DVD's ....
Are there are particular software filters or similar that I can use to colour correct, de-noise (video & audio), remove colour bleed etc.

I have used VirtualDub to a small degree, but not sure if this is best way to go about things.

I don't want to spend a lot of money as it's really a one-off job.

OK ... I know I could pay someone to do this, but that is not what I want, prefer to learn how to do things myself.

That is the point though ... I want to learn how to do this, and use right kit.

I have only recently joined the forum, if it is not the place to get help on how to do things, then I apologise ... I thought it was a place I could learn.

That may not have come out right ... I'm not having a go at you (not the intent), I want to learn more about video, & post production.
I have started with using Virtual Dub over past year on new digital clips.
Now I want to convert my existing analogue collection, and thought this 'restoration' sub-forum would have been best place to ask Q on converating & 'tweaking' the few 'key videos' amongst the collection.

As I'm therefore a newbie to this forum ... tell me to go elsewhere if that is where I need to be.

In the other thread (now locked) Lord Smurf wrote...

The ADVC-300 is an overpriced toy. You can get similar results from a $30 USB capture card or a used $50 DV camera.

Not in Europe you can't. DV cameras with AV-in (hopefully including some kind of TBC) are comparatively rare, and priced accordingly when they turn up on eBay.

Not sure which $30 USB capture card you mean - you talk about capturing lossless - I haven't seen any cheap USB capture cards which capture lossless.


@Tafflad,

VCR > ADVC300 > DV-in on PC > WinDV software.

If the VCR includes a TBC, and the tapes aren't out-of-whack, you'll probably be fine without a proc-amp or yet another TBC.

But having captured to PC, then you need to encode the resulting DV-AVI to MPEG-2 for DVD. And author a disc. It's time consuming.


You don't put the ADVC300 in-line between the VCR and DVD recorder.


Some people put a DVD recorder, (in loop-through mode), between the VCR and ADVC300, to improve the signal reaching the ADVC - especially if the source VCR is nothing special. Some Panasonic DVD recorders are really good for this, others not at all - try it.

This has all been discussed on these boards 100 times before

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
David.

Thnx ... it's all helping a great deal

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Capture uncompressed or lossless AVI to 720x480. .

I'm assuming as source tapes, player and TV are PAL .. that capturing at 720 x 576 would be right for me.?

The comments have helped.

Dos anyone know of a good guide or FAQ that would help a newbie out ?

Originally Posted by Tafflad

I'm assuming as source tapes, player and TV are PAL .. that capturing at 720 x 576 would be right for me.?

Yes.

Dos anyone know of a good guide or FAQ that would help a newbie out ?

This might not be what you're looking for - it's very old...
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html

FWIW I think you're overcomplicating things, and may live to seriously regret it!

Cheers,
David.

Originally Posted by 2Bdecided

Originally Posted by Tafflad

I'm assuming as source tapes, player and TV are PAL .. that capturing at 720 x 576 would be right for me.?

Yes.

Dos anyone know of a good guide or FAQ that would help a newbie out ?

This might not be what you're looking for - it's very old...
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/capture/start.html

FWIW I think you're overcomplicating things, and may live to seriously regret it!

Cheers,
David.

not sure where I'm overcomplicating - please put me straight

Just that when you've plugged a VHS VCR into an ADVC300 it looks like a DV camcorder to the PC (though you have to press play and stop on the VCR itself). There's plenty of free and paid software that will take in DV, let you edit it, encode it, author it, and burn it to a DVD.

There are even some cheap/free software packages that combine all of this.

e.g.
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/gb/en/Product/1175714228541#versionTabview=tab1&tabview=tab0
or
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudio
etc etc

or, for free,
WinDV + VirtualDub + HcEnc + muxman
etc etc

(none of the above examples are recommendations, but they do all work - I've used them all at one time or another - there are loads more)

Cheers,
David.

Thnx for tips & help - appreciated

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

That doom9 guide is decent, but there are several issues/errors/mistakes on it. The information on it is very old, especially where it relies on specific hardware/software/methodology. Lots of holes in it too, mostly in the analog domain, pre-digital info.

are there any newer FAQs or guides you know of ?

Just noticed this bit...

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Proc amp might help. This can be done in software, however -- VirtualDub is fine. Proc amp pre-processes.

You can't do it in software if the analogue levels are so far off that they're clipped during digitisation!

This can happen with many (?most?) camcorder tapes IME.

Cheers,
David.