Is there a better A/D converter than the ADVC300?

John

My understanding is that using a digital camcorder for analogue to digital conversion (pass through)

does not produce timecode and therefore will not import into iMovie ver 10 or FCPX.

Are your experiences with importing via your old Sony digital camcorder with FCPX or with

iMovie '09 ? as stated in your 2015 post ,i.e. have you tried FCPX?I don't think you will be able to import.

How to save entire 2-hr analog videos for later editing?

QuickTime Player 10 does not require timecode for import so Neil G's suggestion of using this

for import sounds worth a try and like him have heard that QT may be more tolerant to drop outs.

Try using QT Player record function with a known problem tape.

How to use QuickTime Player - Apple Support

Up front, I don't know. I have a narrow band of experience. I have an ADVC-55. I also have the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini Recorder. This is the sphere of my experience.

All the Grass Valley/Canopus converters seem to have gone the way of videotape themselves. If your tape deck up-converts to HDMI (has an HDMI out) or you can find and S-Video or composite to HDMI adapter and your Mac has Thunderbolt connections, Blackmagic Design has a very nice little capture device called the UltraStudio Mini Recorder (accepts SDI or HDMI input, outputs Thunderbolt). The software to Log & Capture is free with the device (although must be downloaded from Blackmagic) and called Media Express. I am not positive, but I think Media Express does not require timecode to capture.

The upside of investing in the UltraStudio Mini Recorder is that it is compatible with modern video sources (not just analog) and can continue to be useful (e.g., a live feed from a DSLR).

If you find an ADVC device (even the 55 was very good) you will need to have access to a Firewire 400 port (or a hub that provides Firewire 400 or find a Firewire 400-800 adapter as the plug configurations are not compatible.)

If you need verification on image quality (ADVC55): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH7QeY__jCI

I converted that from video tape back in 2010 and the tape I converted was about 10 years old (not too bad for VHS). This one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvtrDwLkbPI) was quite a bit older and had been played more. Both of these, considering the difference between USB converter "dongles" like EyeTV and *all* the rest, is night and day. The ADVC units have a stabilizer built in and can even boost audio signals if necessary (they also provide timecode). I used to be able to log and capture directly in Final Cut Studio with the device (and FCPS required TC).

If you have to get some other kind of capture device, you might need an "intermediary" video stabilizer like a GREX (also worth the investment!)

YMMV -- HTH

Before you spend hundreds of dollars maybe you can try a simpler cheaper solution. There are a number of products that accept analog inputs and connect via usb. Most are discontinued but if you look around you can easily find them on the web. For old stuff like Hi8 and VHS tapes that should do nicely. Stuff from Miglia, Elgato and others. I have digitized many tapes using an old Miglia EvolutionTV tuner with composite video input. Elgato recently had one product specific for analog video.

I suspect there is only a tiny market for A/D converters, so there are not likely to be any further improvements to the already small number of products available to amateurs.

Regarding the quality of of a converter to that of a camcorder, I believe there will be little if any difference.

A couple of years ago I converted some standard definition Video 8 tapes using both an A/D converter and my old Canon HV 20.

If anything, my Canon was more tolerant of dodgy tapes. There was no visible difference in final quality even under high magnification when I scrutinised the finished results on my computer . . . . which is far more extreme a test than viewing on a TV. (Side by side comparisons of frames are easily achieved).

So I wouldn't advise buying any other equipment, unless you have plenty of spare cash to throw away for almost certainly no tangible improvement.

It might be worth trying what Luis suggests as those items are comparatively cheap, so you won't be left kicking yourself as much if they don't show any improvement.

I haven't converted any tapes using the last few software updates but I think I had better luck capturing with iMovie than Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro X. Like Ian, I was using a Canon HV 20 and sometimes a Sony Digital-8 camcorder. Others might tell you to capture with Quicktime. iMovie and Quicktime may be more tolerant of tape interruptions.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity

It's a good investment, especially for the "large number of" tapes you want to convert to digital. Media Express Log & Capture will handle the timecode for you and the whole setup will cost you less than the AVT device. Media Express is also designed to work with FCPX (and others).

Read through this manual: http://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/DesktopVideo/20161007-e10557/Desktop_Video _Manual.pdf

Media Express starts on page 41.

The Intensity Shuttle will upconvert your SD to 1080HD as well (hardware upconverting is always better than software upconversion although FCPX does a pretty decent job). You probably didn't even consider this.

I haven't found any recent documents explaining the Log & Capture but I know from my own personal experience that the USB "dongles" are mostly USB2 and cannot handle much in the way of bandwidth. USB dongle capture devices also make NO effort to capture full frames of video. If the playback device has "tracking issues" they will pass through as is. Higher end capture devices make an effort to assemble full video frames (stabilization) before sending it through to capture.

When I was making my conversions (SD with ADVC-55), I had to capture directly to my internal drive (09 iMac) — it was the only one fast enough to capture with dropping frames. None of my other Firewire drives were fast enough. Things have changed since then (not to mention there are no more Firewire connections on Macs!!) It is now possible to capture full HD (and higher) to fast external drives via usb3 (UASP compatible is better) or thunderbolt. [I haven't had a lot of cause to "play with" the UltraStudio Mini Recorder—I doubt I can be much help there, but Media Express is rather impressive. I have captured live HD video from my Canon DSLR .]

What you want to do is a complicated process and you could quickly go down a rabbit hole. Do some (a lot more) research. Blackmagic is pretty much the last man standing for A/D video conversion (that also supports FCPX). [AJA has products, but they seem more expensive, not directly geared for composite or S-Video interfaces (mostly SDI), and I don't know much anything about their NLE support.]

John_Neumann wrote:

AlChroma, you asked about the recording mode. Most were recorded in regular play, but I do have the occasional extended recordings, often in the middle of a tape ... which is what was giving me all the trouble with glitches and time base issues. This is well over 200 tapes I'm making a project out of. I have every possible combination of errors, glitches, munched tapes, regular play to extended play switches.

LP mode is recorded with a narrow pitch to tape and as a result the camera/device that recorded the footage is required to playback the footage for stability.

I'm tipping the current playback machine is not the recorder.

Hi-8 stuff will most likely be quite old and may not have been stored in a tape friendly way.

Sometimes tape is inserted/ejected mid stream and this also produces damage to the tape.

Additionally, make sure the tape path of the camera is clean. May require pro servicing.

IMO opinion there are a number of factors that may be adding to your situation.

Sometimes things are just "too far gone" to fix.

I have an ADVC 300 and it does a good job but it only has a LBTBC.

I think your suggested 8710 would do a better job than a 300 at sorting out unstable Hi-8 analogue.

A Digital-8 camera is another option for direct capture to FCP X.

Al

"I just need the completed two-hour tape as one digital file to start with."

Were these tapes recorded in LP MODE?

Al