Using Canopus ADVC300 with Vegas 5.0

DVDeviations wrote on 7/13/2004, 12:07 PM
Has anyone captured VHS tape to Vegas using a Canopus ADVC300?

I need to convert some VHS tapes to DVD. I purchased a Canopus ADVC300 to do this. So far, I have not gotten anything to work. I have the VHS player connected to the television (via red, white and yellow composite cables), then the the television is connected to the canopus ADVC300 via another red, white and yellow composite cable (from the "out" port on the tv to the "in" port on the canopus). Then I have firewire from the canopus to the laptop.

I have also tried hooking it up directly from the VHS player and/or directly capturing to the Sony camcorder. That doesn't work either. There is no supprt # on the canopus material, but I will do some searches on the web now.

Colleen

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 7/13/2004, 12:17 PM
Canopus Tech support; 408.954.4506 Great folks there.
I've got a 300, great unit. I'm wondering if you've got some issues with the DIP Settings.
Chienworks wrote on 7/13/2004, 12:22 PM
A quick thing to check is DV device control. This should be off when capturing from an analog source. In VidCap, go to Options / Prefernces / General. Make sure "Enable DV device control" is UNchecked.
kosins wrote on 7/13/2004, 12:42 PM
Colleen,
I assume you have manually switched your "input select" from it's default "digital" setting, to "analog" yes?
DVDeviations wrote on 7/13/2004, 12:56 PM
"Enable DV device control" - uncheck!! That was it!

Thanks Spot and Chienworks!
farss wrote on 7/13/2004, 3:21 PM
Also DO install the little utility that comes with the unit, being able to tweak all the procamp setting during capture can be a real timesaver, if only Canopus would give us more info on just what they do, (some are obvious, others a bit obscure) this has been a raging source of complaint on the Canopus forum without a word from Canopus.
JJKizak wrote on 7/13/2004, 4:52 PM
I found that the "2D" & "3D" noise reduction settings in the default position are right at the point of affecting the quality and you can push it but there are incresaes in fringing and tailing. The color saturation setting really helps but the basic settings do a really good job cleaning up stuff. I have two SVHS decks and found that the other (JVC) deck had less basic video noise than the other (Panasonic) so that too made a huge difference in a 20 year old tape. The on the fly changing on the utility is real cool while watching the capture at the same time. The 300 is expensive but well worth the extra money compared to the 100. The results also seem more solid in playback.

JJK
farss wrote on 7/13/2004, 4:59 PM
JJK,
I've found the extra money well worth it. Although you're right, the 3D and 2D NR can make things a little worse it really depends on the footage. I do a lot of 8mm film to DVD transfers and on some of the footage there's so much grain that I find it's better to smooth it out with some 2D NR, that way the mpeg encoder has a decent chance.
For cleaner footage I tend to turn the NR off.
Same goes for really poor VHS.
I've also found the back step useful.
Couldbe wrote on 7/14/2004, 4:13 PM
Farss,
In converting 8mm film, irrespective of the telecine method, and using the ADVC300 could you explain your workflow. Do you capture in analog then go into the ADVC300 ? Would this be bette/faster then capturing in DV and correcting in post? I assume that the ADVC300 wouldn't work for improving a DV capture.

thanks for any info
farss wrote on 7/14/2004, 6:02 PM
We come out of the telecine in composite, no other choice!
So we just go telecine->300->PC.
The major advantage with the 300 is being able to tweak the procamp settings. If you were going telecine->DV VCR then you'd loose the ability to control the procamp though.
RalphM wrote on 7/14/2004, 7:18 PM
Removed by poster.