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VHS into FCP – pulling my hair out!
well, i’ve tried this before and ask you guys the best way to do this with the equipment i now have (see below), and have received some very good answers, but now i have a whole bunch of our old home VHS movies that i would like to transfer and preserve and want to really find the best solution – even if i gotta buy a new toy!
1) the Pinnacle Video Capture for the Mac did not work for me at all. no further comments on my thoughts on that product…
2) straight hook-up from the VHS deck, into my BetaSP deck, then into FCP yields the Blackmagic splash screens when it would otherwise be dropping frames. not good at all..
3) transfer/copy all VHS material to 90 minute BetaSP tapes yields almost no splash screens, but a bit of a bouncy picture. a pretty good solution, but takes twice as long as needed…
4) Walter mentioned the Canopus products, i looked them up and they seem to promise what the Pinnacle box was supposed to do, just curious if any of you have used the Canopus method? the ADVC55 just says it converts to “DV” but they don’t say what codec or file type it converts to. the ADVC110 and 300 are also available with a few more bells and whistles and enhancing options.
5) any other options? how do you guys get VHS into your FCP system?
it’s a little frustrating to talk to people about doing HD TV shows, and then they ask if you can convert their old home movies to DVD and i just sort of say, ‘uh, er, uh, no i can’t….i don’t really offer that service”.
anyway, any direction here would be dandy. thanks guys!
thanks again!
mh
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16 Replies
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Mort,
A few years back I bought a little time base corrector, and fed VHS directly into FCP. I am not home right now so I can’t tell you the brand, but I can check tonight.
Have a wonderful day.
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did it give you “smooth” (well, as smooth as VHS can be!) video in FCP? that is, i wonder if it looks better than the slightly bouncy transfer to BetaSP tapes first? how much did it cost? i’ll be interested to hear the name when you get home. thanks for the reply…
thanks again!
mh
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Mort,
The TBC I have is an AVT 8701. I think I got it at Markertek and it was less than a hundred bucks as I recall. It works great, I routed the VHS through it into my DSR 11 and captured using non controllable device. At least that’s what I remember but it’s been a while.
Have a wonderful day.
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Hi Mortimer,
What I suggested you is to go directly to the BM SP without using the desk.
The BM SP have Composite video IN.
You shouldn’t need a TBC, because you have two.
The first is your BM.
The other is in your Desk.
When I was young, Betacam VTR’s had a switcher: TBC ON/OFF.
When you use it as a player must be set to ON. When working as a recorder, OFF.
If you want to use the desk as a bridge between the VHS and the BM, you should set the TBC ON.
Anyway I would try what I said first, go from the VHS to the BM without using the desk.
Rafael -
I’ve had VHS captured by transfer houses and frankly by the time I got it into my system it looked no better than the economic method: from my VHS s-video and analog audio out to my DVCAM deck s-video and analog audio in, then– capture now through firewire to Final Cut or simply make a DVCAM dub of each VHS tape.
S-video isn’t component but at this level I can’t tell the difference, especially by the time it ends up on DVD.
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Are you doing any editing in FCP, or are you just wanting to get the VHS tapes onto DVD.
If you are just wanting to get then to DVD, then just get a set top DVD Player/Recorder and record them directly to DVD.
Just keep in mind that VHS quality is POOR do you cant expect a great picture.
There are no “technical solutions” to your “artistic problems”.
Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity! -
That one looks good, as does the one that Jeremy pointed out, but i bought a ADVC-110 (Grass Valley) and it is working great! Just plug and play, and it converts on the fly. There are a few squirrely things about it, but overall I am really liking it. I did a side by side test between using this and doing the transfer to a BetaSP tape first…and there wasn’t a whole lot of difference. The beta version looked a little warmer and maybe slightly less grainy, but probably not worth the fact that it takes twice as long to do it that way. This box was $280, and I would’ve preferred a cheaper solution, but at least I can crank out some lovely pristine VHS tapes into my system with very little hassle. It’s kind of a crime that my Decklink card wouldn’t do the trick…
I would like to try a TBC and do a side by side comparison, but i would guess it wouldn’t look much or any better than these other two options. Thanks guys for all your input on this!
thanks again!
mh
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Hey Rafael,
Thanks for your ideas, and i think i’ve tried about every possible way to plug my VHS directly into the cables of my Decklink SP, but i’ve had no luck. If you know of any specifics that would work I’m all ears! Thanks…
thanks again!
mh
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I’m going to do some editing of this material, do a little DVD authoring, etc.
thanks again!
mh
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