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VHS to FCP
Hey Guys, First Post…
I am wondering if I should buy a analog to digital converter box. I have a bunch of vhs tapes to convert to digital and I am wanting to keep as much quality as possible.
I am currently converting it from a VCR through a camera into FCP.
I am noticing noise/grain on the digital files once I have captured them.Cheers
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5 Replies
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The best converter is the Canopus ADVC 300…it has a built in Time Base Corrector (TBC). Converts a composite signal to DV.
If your camera is DV…you might not see much difference. The TBC corrects things like signal noise and jumpy image.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
So you are using the camera, in effect, as the analogue to digital converter. I assume that is via firewire from the camera and capturing in a DV codec ?
This should certainly be up to capturing the original VHS quality without loss.As you obviously know the alternative is something like a Canopus ADVC110 https://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110
I think some models have a TBC inbuilt that can help, you would have to check out which.
You would still be using the same VTR for playback substituting the Canopus for the camera. I am not sure it would make a massive difference to the quality of your digital capture but its possible the Canopus has slightly better circuitry than your camera. VHS is inherently noisy and grainy so are you saying that the digital files are much worse than the original VHS ?
Short of just buying the Canopus and trying it I am not sure how you can really test though.
best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv8 Core MacPro, Kona 3, Tangent Wave, Mackie Universal Symphony 6.5 FCP7
i7 2.7 Gig MBP (non retina) 16Gigs Ram Blackmagic Monitor Mini Symphony 6.5 FCP7 -
I am using a dvcam with a firewire cable to my mac pro. I have watched the digital conversion and the original vhs. seams to be the same.
I have only been working as an editor for roughly a year so I see old footage/low res footage. and its foreign to me in a way due to working HD footage all the time.
If there isn’t much more improvement with the converters I might just save the companies coin and do it through the camera.
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If your captured footage matches the VHS then there is not much you can do to improve it in capture. As Shane says a model with a TBC might smooth out some of the “lumps and bumps” but you are not really going to get that much better.
What you might want to consider though is a plug-in called Neat Video. It is a fantastic de-noiser and will possibly improve your VHS footage quite a bit.
I think there is a free demo. Give it a go. Its going to cost you less than a Canopus but you will be in for some long renders if you have many hours of footage.best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv8 Core MacPro, Kona 3, Tangent Wave, Mackie Universal Symphony 6.5 FCP7
i7 2.7 Gig MBP (non retina) 16Gigs Ram Blackmagic Monitor Mini Symphony 6.5 FCP7 -
The only thing you can do to improve the capture (not the picture) is to use a good IO card and capturing in Prores.
The footage won’t be better than on the original tape, but you will avoid adding further compression (DV).
rafael
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