VHS to digital advice needed

jasman wrote on 6/25/2006, 1:35 PM
I'm wanting to convert some family VHS tapes from the 80's. I've got a Canopus ADVC300 and am looking for a suitable (used) tape deck. Am I better off with an older non-SVHS deck? Is a 4-head machine an asset or does it hurt SNR against older tapes? I'm assuming Y/C into the canopus would be better than composite. I want to get the best transfer possible and am wondering how to gage that. The original tapes are variable in quality, some good and some not so good.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jim

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/25/2006, 2:13 PM
An S-VHS deck would revert to VHS mode to play the tapes, so S-VHS in itself makes no difference. That being said, most S-VHS machines are built better both mechanically and electronically so there may be some advantage even with VHS tapes. Another bonus is that most S-VHS decks have S-Video connectors to get the Y/C signal. Very few consumer VHS machines have S-Video.

Ostensibly, the only thing that the extra heads in a 4-head deck are used for is special effects such as slow and still. Supposedly the extra pair of heads is ignored during regular playback. That being said (again), i've always noticed a slightly clearer picture on 4-head decks. This may again simply be due to more expensive 4-head machines being made of better parts than cheaper 2-head machines.
randy-stewart wrote on 6/25/2006, 5:57 PM
Jim,

I've used the 300 to convert lots of VHS tapes and it does a very good job with straight RCA inputs. It actually enhances the video as it converts to digital. There are adjustments you can make also as referenced in the manual to correct specific problems but I've always left mine at the default settings. If you can input via S-Video, use that but either way, it does a very good job. Good luck with the conversions.
Randy
farss wrote on 6/26/2006, 3:32 AM
If you have to deal with tapes that are in really bad shape some of the early decks with manual tracking may do a better job.
Also some tape formulations suffer from shed, basically the heads will clog faster than you can clean them. You used to be able to get tape cleaners / polishers to deal with this, although I've only seen one for 2" tape myself. The other problem is old tape can harbour fungus. I hope you don't have to deal with any of these problems, so far I've only had them on UMatic tapes, yuck!

Always a good idea to spool old tapes several times before playing them.

Bob.