Contemplating electronics
May. 31st, 2003 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworksI've figured out that once I'm in the US I'm probably going to buy a region-free DVD player along with a multisystem VCR with a converter so I can watch my Doctor Who PAL tapes on a NTSC TV. I've been looking at prices and I've found a dealer in CA which does all this multisystem and multiregion stuff.
The question is, being an idiot in these matters, what do I need in the way of additional equipment (amplifier? little fiddly consoles?) to hook up these three things (or can I do without anything extra save cabling)? Budget-conscious solutions are best, of course.
The question is, being an idiot in these matters, what do I need in the way of additional equipment (amplifier? little fiddly consoles?) to hook up these three things (or can I do without anything extra save cabling)? Budget-conscious solutions are best, of course.
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no subject
Date: 2003-05-30 08:58 pm (UTC)Love,
-R
Analog-to-digital converter
Date: 2003-05-31 09:30 pm (UTC)Re: Analog-to-digital converter
Date: 2003-05-31 11:48 pm (UTC)Re: Analog-to-digital converter
Date: 2003-06-01 02:53 am (UTC)There are two options:
1. Equip your PC/Macintosh/whatever with a decent high quality video capture board (not just "TV in", which gets teh job done but not with any great quality), which will accept a PAL input and not completely mangle it, for anything between 300-900 USD; and either a DVD+R/RW or DVD-R/RW drive, for about 200-250 USD. Make sure first that the machine is powerful enough to do the real-time capture of video to hard disk, that your disks are big enough and fast enough, etc. Then learn the subtle and non-trivial art of encoding video for DVD: There's the simple way, which is to fire up and MPEG-2 encoder, accept all the default options, and let it do it's worst; or there's the proper way, where you take the time to tweak parameters to get a good clean encode that makes the best of the source material, without throwing away disk space needlessly, and makes it conveniently accessible. There are many slightly different MPEG-2 encoding methods available, each of which is taylored to different requirements, such as, "Big screen movie: Needs top-notch qulaity but also very long playing time"; "Old TV archive material, shot direct to video and still in original format: Requires fields to be processed individually rather than as pairs (as for film), which needs more processing and a higher data rate, but we can afford a lower playing time per disk"; and of course the one we're familiar with for Doctor Who: "Black-and-white material originally shot for 405 line video, then converted to film, then converted back to video but at 625 lines"; etc.
2. Just buy a standalone DVD recorder: But again it needs to be either a PAL recorder or a multi-standard one. Prices for basic models start around 500USD. But you *still* have the dilemma over DVD+R or DVD-R format... I don't know what DVD recorders do about video-stream format options, possibly they just take a "one size fits all" compromise approach...?
Choosing between DVD+R and DVD-R physical formats is non-trivial: Each has it's advantages, and in the end it's the old Betamax/VHS issue again. The "right" one to pick is whichever one will still be around in 5 years time, so I'm waiting for the format war to finish before choosing one. There *are* machines that will handle both, but they cost more, and the suppliers are failing to meet demand for them.
If you decide to get a DVD-writer for your PC/mac/whatever, it's smart to get one that *also* does DVD-RAM format, as this is the fastest and easiest format to work with when using it as a data drive (rather than as way of burning "standard" DVDs to play on a normal DVD-player). DVD-RAM version 2 now holds just as much data per disk as the other two (4.7GB per side) (avoid older DVD-RAM drives that only did 2.6GB per side).
[TO BE CONTINUED]
Re: Analog-to-digital converter
Date: 2003-06-01 02:54 am (UTC)Pros of converting stuff to DVD: It takes up less space; It's less prone to wear and tear; Once converted they are "future proofed", i.e. the next DVD player you get should be just as able to play them as the first, while multi-standard VCRs (and indeed normal VCRs) will become rarer and more expensive as the years go by.
Cons: Inevitably some quality loss in the transfer (though possibly less than the tapes will suffer over a few years anyway); It will take time and possibly a few wasted disks to get them all transferred properly; High initial outlay;
Your VHS tapes will degrade gradually over time, loosing edge definition and stability of the verticals. If you play them a lot, they will also suffer wear-and-tear which shows up as dropouts (bright streaks across th picture), clicks and pops on the soundtrack, etc. Meanwhile, the DVD should stay "as good as day one", until the day when just one too many bits become corrupted, at which point it goes downhill very fast. I don't know how long that will be though: It's rumoured to be measurable in (human) generations, but since no one has actually stored/used a DVD for several generations to check, take this estimate with a pinch of salt. =:o}
OK, that's about everything I can think of for now. And bear in mind that I'm not bang up-to-date on the state of the technology. (These days I try not to read about things I really can't afford to fall in love with! =:o\ )
Canopus ADVC-100
Date: 2003-06-02 11:37 pm (UTC)I have a Canopus ADVC-100, which was about S$500. It connects to the Mac via firewire, and accepts audio/video inputs and converts them to a raw DV stream, i.e. the input appears as an incoming DV signal, like one coming from a DV camera. So you can use iMovie to capture it. You do your editing, then burn the edited DV file onto DVD or VCD, as you prefer.
It is a time consuming process, however, because you need to play through the source material once to capture it, and then the DV file needs to be converted to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 during the actual disc production.
The advantages of the Canopus (and I did my homework) is that it accepts both PAL and NTSC inputs, has the best synch-maintenance in the industry at that price range (otherwise, on long captures, audio and video get out of synch) and there is an easy trick for circumventing Macrovision copy protection on videos and DVDs.
(more...)
Re: Canopus ADVC-100
Date: 2003-06-02 11:41 pm (UTC)Terence, if you are really interested, I can sit down and explain all this to you in greater detail one day.
External MPEG-2 converters
Date: 2003-06-02 11:40 pm (UTC)Price should be competitive with the Canopus. The difference is that the Canopus is meant for prosumer DV capture, whereas the El Gato and Formac products are mainly meant for watching TV on your computer and capturing video. Canopus will give far better quality if what you want to do is archive precious VHS content.
VCR/DVD player
Date: 2003-05-31 09:33 pm (UTC)It would be perfect for you because you only have to carry one box to the US, and it was really cheap when I got it - about S$400, if I recall correctly.
Re: VCR/DVD player
Date: 2003-05-31 11:25 pm (UTC)That aside, though, I'd rather not have the VCR and DVD in one component - if the VCR goes, then the entire unit has to be sent in. Dual components would be less of a hassle.
Thanks for the suggestions, though. I'll check out the DV-NC70.
PAL to NTSC
Date: 2003-06-01 03:27 am (UTC)1. Take your existing PAL VCR with you, and a gizmo to convert the mains voltages (check first that the VCR isn't already switchable to 110V). Buy a true multi-standard TV, that actually accepts the PAL signal unmodified, as well as NTSC signals.
Pros: You have a TV that will let you watch anything you throw at it, whatever combination VCRs etc. you have in future.
Cons: True multi-standard TVS are very expensive. Your tapes are still firmly PAL, and nobody but you can watch them. You'll need a separate NTSC VCR for recording/playing local material.
2. The half-way-house. Get an NTSC video player that reads the tapes in PAL format, and converts the colour signal to NTSC format, but does nothing to change the line and field rates. What you have now is a "quasi-NTSC" or "NTSC-50" signal. Connect this to a TV that's built for NTSC, but happens to be equally happy with line and field rates for either format.
Cons: This may involve buying two new pieces of gear, but...
Pros: Most modern TVs (anything built in the last 3 years, I would hope) can happily handle either 50Hz or 60Hz field rates quite happily.
3. Use your existing PAL VCR, and any NTSC TV, and put a converter box in between. Again, as long as the NTSC TV is happy with a PAL-style 50Hz filed rate, then all you need is a very cheap converter to change the colour signal from PAL-style to NTSC-style.
4. Get a true PAL to NTSC converter. These gadgets don't just switch the colour signal over to NSTC-style, they also generate the extra frames/fields necessary to shift a 50 field-per-second signal up to 60 fields-per-second.
Pros: You'll be able to create NTSC copies of your PAL tapes, and lend them to your American chums.
Cons: Converting frame/field rates between PAL and NTSC is a non-trivial task. Cheap boxes will just duplicate every 5th frame, and thus produce something that doesn't upset the NTSC TV at all, but is not too easy on your eyes! Expensive boxes can do a smoother, cleverer job, but they cost around the 900 to 2000 USD mark.
5. If the material concerned is black-and white, then you may get away with this: Connect your PAL VCR directly to an NTSC TV that can handle a 50Hz field rate. Check that the TV doesn't flash, roll, or make any strange noises, or get hot in places that it wouldn't normally. If it doesn't go bang within the first hour, then you're probably fine. Who cares about converting the PAL colour signal to NTSC? We don't need no steenkin' colour signal... =:o}
6. Of course, the final option, involving minimal initial outlay, is to find a source of the same material pre-converted to NTSC by competent people using professional-grade equipment - i.e., start collecting the Region 1 Doctor Who DVDs! =:o}
Re: PAL to NTSC
Date: 2003-06-01 03:30 am (UTC)Re: VCR/DVD player
Date: 2003-06-02 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-01 12:14 am (UTC)Apex makes inexpensive multi-region DVD players. Some of them even defeat encryption schemes.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-01 03:45 am (UTC)Look around online for information about any player you're thinking of buying, to check whether it behaves as above, or actually always puts out an NTSC colour signal even for Region 2/4 disks. The manufacturers web-sites are the main sources, especially if they supply manuals online as PDFs (big companies like Sony do). Always watch out for mis-translations or bugs/contradictions in the manuals, though, and get the info backed up by a 2nd source if possible. Personally I would play safe, and make sure the player also does RGB output (belts and braces!)
I don't know of any DVD player that converts field/frame rates. You'll need a modern TV that handles whatever rates are thrown at it.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-01 04:05 am (UTC)Hideously complex, isn't it? =:o\
no subject
Date: 2003-06-10 07:01 pm (UTC)You have a region-free DVD player here in my basement, waiting to go to you, as it has for 3 years. When you're in the US, it will show up on your door.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-10 09:52 pm (UTC)