My opinion, for poor quality analog sources Canopus devices give the best results.
I use an ATI All-in-Wonder X600 Pro, a Hauppauge PVR-150 and a Canopus ADVC-100 to transfer VHS to digital. I don't use DVD recorders, although I've got nothing against them. For convenience, and decent quality, I think a good DVD recorder is fine. You do sacrifice a little bit of control and flexibility though.
I mostly use my Hauppauge PVR-150 or ATI card for routine captures. They give great quality and they capture straight to mpeg2 which makes things easy. However, if I have a very poor quality VHS source, an old tape in really bad condition, then usually my capture cards struggle with it, especially the PVR-150. That's when I start seeing dropped frames.
For really low quality VHS sources I've always gotten the best results from the Canopus ADVC-100. That's just my experience. I'm not sure which Canopus product you're using but experiment with your Canopus vs. your DVDR to see for yourself which works best with your VHS tape.
As for "cleaning up the picture" a bit, that's a whole other topic. Step 1 is getting the video off the source tape in the best possible condition.
Hey
Thanks for taking the time to educate. I actually don't have either canopus or DVDR I was figuring out which one to buy given poor quality source material I was working with. The reason I mentioned cleaning up the picture a bit, was it might have influenced which one I should buy. Must I change my card? I'm a bit of a nitwit.
You mentioned MPEG2 being the easiest form to work with. How does a Canopus choice fit in there.
If you haven't tried capturing your tape yet, and your trying to decide what kind of capture device to get (DVD Recorder, mpeg2 card or a Canopus) then you'd want to look at the pros and cons of each and pick the one that you'd be comfortable with.
In terms of quality I think Canopus is great, especially with poor quality sources, but it's possible you'd also get good results from a DVD recorder or an mpeg2 card, and those are easier to work with. The Canopus transfers the video to your PC in DV-AVI format. You then have to re-encode that to mpeg2 before you can burn it to DVD, so that's an extra step. Also they're kind of pricy.
An mpeg2 capture card, like a Hauppauge PVR-150, saves a step because it captures straight to mpeg2, so there is no re-encoding necessary. You just author and burn the captured video. Good quality, inexpensive. I use it probably for 90% of my captures. It's just when I have a really poor source tape that I don't use it.
A lot of people like DVD Recorders because they are the easiest of all. No encoding or authoring. just play your tape and hit record and you have the DVD. The downside of the DVD recorder is that you have no opportunity to edit the video before burning. Whatever's on the tape goes straight to the DVD. With an mpeg2 capture card, or Canopus, you can edit the video before creating the DVD.
I don't do much cleaning up of video. Although you can do simple cuts of mpeg2 video with an editor without re-encoding the video, if you're going to be altering the video (brightness, contrast etc.) then that involves re-encoding it. Re-encoding always sacrifices some quality so you do it only when you have to.
With poor quality tapes I just try to get the cleanest possible capture I can get and leave it at that. Trying to improve the video, I think, for the most part just isn't going to be worth it.
