VHS to DVD through ADVC 110 - Distortion at bottom of screen & more ?s

First of all you have got the right equipment for the job - exactly the same as mine, and I had 60+ hours worth to convert!

Make sure that playback from the VHS is as good as it can get: clean the heads, and run the tapes on fast forward/rewind to remove any 'stickyness' before you start to copy.

Make sure you have enough spare capacity on your hard disk. DV streams run at 13GB per hour, and iMovie uses a lot of swap files. Don't even start this unless you a minimum of 25GB free!

If your VHS has an S-video output socket, well and good, as not many have. That only covers the video, so you will still need the RCA cables (white and red) for the audio.

The Canopus does of course have to be connected to your Mac by firewire.

1. That distortion is the timeline on the VHS video, which you never see on your TV. Once you have it all on DVD you probably won't see it on your TV either. iMovie reveals more of the actual video frame than a TV does.

2. Save the imported video in 5 minute clips, or your project file will bloat as you start editing. The clips (video) are stored within the iMovie project folder, the one in your Movies Folder with a star on it. When you come to editing SAVE THE PROJECT OFTEN - every two or three edits.

3. When you have finished editing (and try to keep each project to under 90 minutes, although 60 minutes will give the best quality) save the project and close iMovie. Open iDVD and start a new project. From the File menu in iDVD choose Import/Video. That opens the Movie Folder and you can select the project you want to work on.

When you have done what you want to do in iDVD (Theme, Titles, Chapters, Transitions etc) save the project, then 'save as Disk Image'. Why? Because rendering the video, particularly the audio, takes ages, and you only want to do it once. You can actually burn to a DVD from the disk image, so if you want more than one copy you don't have to wait for it to render each time. Also, you can play the disk image in DVD Player to check everything is OK and therefore not waste a DVD.

Post back with your next set of questions - if you are new to this there will be more!

Personal advice: experiment with a short 15-30 minute project, just to get the hang of it and build up a workflow you are comfortable with, then just go for it! 🙂

However when I watch the clips in iMovie, the video isn't as good of quality as it is when it plays on the TV. Is there a setting I should adjust (on either the ADVC or in iMovie)? Or is it that my computer screen (which is way better than my TV) shows the imperfections of the VHS tape better than my old TV does?

A bit of both. iMovie does not show the full quality (not does iDVD), this is to save CPU power, which is also why the quality may be seen as reducing when you enlarge the iMovie window. Video editing and especially rendering is about the most 'labour intensive' thing you can ask your Mac to do!

You will only see the final quality when you play the DVD on your TV.

As regards the dip switch settings, they are explained on pages 16-18 of the manual. It is important to set it for NTSC if you are in the USA, or PAL if you are in Europe.

As for 'automatic letterboxing and pillarboxing' (which changes the shape of the video), this box should NOT be ticked.

Hello again! 🙂

If you are going use iMovie 6 I can see no reason to burden iMovie 8 with any part of the task! I would import and edit just using iMovie 6.

But no, you would not lose any quality.

Yes, whatever version of iMovie you use, the 'bloat factor' applies (non-destructive editing), so keep the clips to 5 minutes or less.

You can import a 60 minute lump and slice and dice it yourself, but what's the point?!