[vcf-midatlantic] semi OT: video digitizing & archive

[Ethan O'Toole]

> I need advice how to best digitize video,
> mostly standard def TV/NTSC of VCF events.
> I have several USB dongles that take composite and S-video.
> They may be adequate, but I don't know what one's really best.

Any idea if they capture at 720 x 480 pixels?

> I also have several DVR (digital VCR): Tivo, Sonic Blue replay-tv.
> Did those have good front-ends or was most of the attention to the
> subscription service?
> I know they need to be "jail broken" to work like VCRs.
> There's no big red "just record NOW!" button :-(

Good chance the dongles do pretty good.

Do you have a good working VCR to play them on?

Are the tapes in good condition? On video tapes, if the video drops out 
due to noise / old tapes it causes frames to be lost. When this happens 
the audio comes out of sync with the video. A time base corrector will 
solve this by providing a rock solid frame count to match the audio 
digitization, but wouldn't be needed usually if the video tape quality is 
still good.

SVideo connection might give better video quality as well if you have a 
deck with it.


It's out on loan right now but I have a JVC BR-811U SVHS deck with TBC, 
composite/svideo to SDI converter and SDI capture dongle for computer. 
Depending on how many tapes there are I might be able to digitize them for 
you once I get my machine back.

 			- Ethan


>
> thanks
>
> -- Jeff Jonas
>