Video

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I am surprised they allowed recordable media like reel-to-reel and cassettes. In terms of indigenous production, cassettes were a simple tech. Reel-to-reel too. Super 8 film as well. But starting from the late 1970s the USSR was lagging more and more tech-wise. With VCRs, the Soviets correctly bet on VHS, but in terms of models, they copied one of the last top-loading Panasonic VCRs and produced it for ten years without major changes - ONE model for the whole country. They tried manufacturing CD players from foreign components, the number of units produced was minuscule. The US was not making VCRs and CD players either, but the US was making computers when a Soviet student could only buy a programmable calculator. Anyway, first - copying machines, then high-speed printers allowed to disseminate books. Then reel-to-reel tape and cassettes allowed to disseminate music and spoken word. Then VCRs allowed to watch foreign movies and music shows. The fifth or sixth copy looked and sounded bad, but it still was usable. The USSR has lost the information war. Today one can buy a 1TB MicroSD card, this is mind boggling capacity the size of a fingernail, so even if Russia cuts off its segment of the Internet, it will be possible to smuggle information in and out. Then again, Russia can seal the borders like in good old times. Will it do it? Even with CZcams being available in Russia now, older people keep watching state TV. It seems that simply being able to access information freely is not enough. Back in the Soviet times only those who really wanted an alternative to state news, music, movies looked for it, everyone else was content with what the state fed them. Little has changed. They have smartphones but watch state news, voluntarily.

With my deck, forward playback quit working on the right deck. Then about a year later it quit working on the left deck. Reverse play still works on both. It is a known issue of these decks, plastic cogwheels breaks apart. I bought new 3D-printed cogwheels but haven't installed them yet. I can play and record in reverse mode after all ;)

They liked rounded shapes back then. I have a more professional-looking box with aluminum case from another brand. Too bad I was only able to use it on Win2K, it was designed for Win98. Now it is a useless paperweight. I expected the DVC-170 to work at least on Win7/32. Not sure why it did not.

FireWire a.k.a. iLINK a.k.a. IEEE-1394 is the standard digital link for DV camcorders. If you computer does not have a Firewire port, then as the last resort you can use analog output. SVideo is pretty good actually, if your camcorder has it. Otherwise, the lowest common denominator is the composite output. Basically, you capture in the same way as from a VHS or Hi8 camcorder. On the positive side, the picture still will look better than VHS and it will be steady without jitter or picture roll.

@@ConsumerDV Thanks for the fast response! Is it possible that my camcorder (Panasonic NV-GS120) only sends video signal through SVideo? I tried connecting it through A/V to a composite capture card device, it only reads the mic accurately, and a split second green glitch on the video sometimes when I changed the mode in the cam

It looks that the camcorder has a TRRS jack, they may have different wiring. Are you using the A/V cable that originally came with the camcorder? As long as ground is on the proper pin, you can juggle the RCA jacks to find where the video is and where each of the audio channels is. If the ground is incorrect, you need another cable. See this, for example: www.reddit.com/r/audio/comments/ukgcgl/curious_about_how_35mm_trrs_jacks_works_cant_get/ or img.radiokot.ru/files/105130/1itqcr7yb3.png You may want to search more for "TRRS pinout". Also double check the menu [TAPE PLAYBACK MENU]>>[AV IN/OUT]>>[AV JACK]>>[IN/OUT], make sure it is set to [OUT].

What is the camcorder brand/model and what is your computer OS?

The AXM does not have SVideo output because it is not an SVHS machine, but it does have a TBC, nice! I agree, it does a good job for capturing footage, although on some more challenging tapes the TBC gets confused, see my review of the Panasonic VHS/DVD combo, where I have samples from the SXM37 as well: czcams.com/video/LaH73rhBHbk/video.html

I tried connecting my Panasonic DV camcorder to a 3rd generation Macbook Pro via USB, and it did not work. The computer did not recognize a device connected to USB, Finder did not show it, iMovie did not offer to import from it. Connecting the camcorder to a Windows computer was markedly different: Windows Movie Maker as well as other applications recognized an A/V device connected to USB and offered to import from it. I don't know whether additional drivers for Mac are needed, but even the old user manuals mention capturing video over USB only in relation to Windows. YMMV.

I don't think you know what you are talking about. The original Japanese analog HD needed 30 MHz bandwidth to look good. In an effort to adapt it for satellite and OTA broadcast the Japanese squeezed it to 15, 12, 9 and finally to 6 MHz, the latter version was unwatchable. Higher-bandwidth variants were watchable, but the engineers had to use various analog compression schemes including 4:1 interlacing, so motion with lots of colors did not look great. Digital was the way to go.

@@ConsumerDV Well, I don't know much about history of video system development, but I understand that there's possibility. Let narrow it down to only the body of the video itself ('cause I don't know much about broadcasting system, which will complicate the point I try to make). A raw video signal that come out of an image sensor can be processing as many ways as engineers can think of, may be the engineers need to unstuck in trying to implementing, expanding, extending from the old analog scheme and come up with new method but in analog way. The way of digital converting/compression make video structurally blocky, while the analog video processing there's no block on the video image, so the output feel more natural (scanline is not a problem), while blocky videos(even high bitrate) still feel artificial, that is the thing that turned me to become disliking digital video. Another obvious thing is that it converts/compress the raw video directly since the first stage(not sure I stated this right, sorry if I'm wrong). What if they could convert the raw video signal to something else analog first(of course the new/better analog method)and then after the last stage of processing, use the best/high compression digital method to compress the data (but not on the data of raw video directly) on the final output for recording, streaming, broadcasting, etc., may be this method could get rid of those blocks and have a smooth and better video image. I personally believe it's worthy and achievable, if big corps dare to invest in it.

I sold my HDV camcorders after transferring videos to a computer, but I kept my MiniDV camcorders. I liked the Sony HDR-HC1 a lot, it was a treat to hold, but it had no progressive mode and its reliability was questionable. The HV30 and later the HV40 had all the features I needed, but I could have the same features without bothering with tape by switching to AVCHD, which I did. My MiniDV camcorders have more sentimental value I guess, also they have CCD, while my HDV camcorders had CMOS, so the look is slightly different, no jello or skew with CCD. I don't think that HDV offers a unique look compared to modern tech, OTOH I think it is still usable, especially considering the broadcast TV quality getting worse: from about 15 Mbps to 5 Mbps, while HDV is 25 Mbps. Not everyone needs 4K.

Passthrough takes analog A/V in, does not matter VHS, Hi8 or Beta, outputs as DV. Some camcorders have composite analog jack only, other also have SVideo. Some Digital 8 camcorders have built-in TBC, this is even better - a single device to stabilize and digitize video.

Subtitles are available.

R you sure ? If you don"t understand his accent it means that your English is very pore ( Dose not matters if you r native or not )

I can and understand very well.

I don't have LD and I don't have Roku. I think that the current Dazzle have washed out image, all other converters are similar, anyway the levels can be adjusted before capture in a driver-specific dialog box. No, CZcams streaming does not have Macrovision, it is an analog copy-protection scheme. BTW, it just so happened that I have used the DVC100 to record off OTA TV, you can see it here: czcams.com/video/GYz-srFadxU/video.html

I don't know what input your amp expects. As far as I understand, this deck outputs line level signal.

Yeah, the drivers are finicky. Try connecting the device, reboot the computer, install the drivers, reboot again. Usually it works for me. Often, if I disconnect the device and hot-plug it again, it does not work until I reboot. Not the most reliable drivers.

Hi, I don't think it can transfer video over USB. The "Getting to know your camcorder" chapter reads, "You can transfer still images to a PC using the USB interface without an add-on card". The same chapter says that both moving and still images can be transferred to a PC by using IEEE 1394 a.k.a. Firewire port. The operating manual does not specify which version of USB the camcorder supports. You need at least USB 2 High Speed to transfer DV video without recompression, I don't think it is capable of it. You should use Firewire/DV port for uploading video to a computer.

Thanks! I think that 4K is overkill for VHS or Video8, although uploading to YT at 1080p seems to preserve more detail than 720p just because YT affords more bitrate for higher resolution. The Digital8 camcorder that I have has built-in TBC and a very good one, so this is my go-to solution for 8-mm tapes. For VHS I have got a Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder, which works sufficiently well: czcams.com/video/LaH73rhBHbk/video.html

I don't own game consoles, so cannot help with that.

A pinned comment by another viewer pretty much sums up my impressions. I don't use OBS, it is not meant for analog video capture, it is not meant for capturing interlaced video. The last time I tried it, the best I could achieve with OBS was 60p using deinterlacer built into OBS. I don't remember whether I was able to obtain 30i from it, maybe I should try again. Since I have a working solution for Windows, I don't feel compelled to use OBS. Yes, VirtualDub2 and AmarecTV work on my Win10 laptop. I don't have a Win11 system to test.

Reel cassettes usually play less smoothly. Small reels look nice in a walkman, but none of my walkmans has a large window. I wish I could afford a proper reel-to-reel machine with ten-inch reels.

@ConsumerDV me too but for now I'm just enjoying my tapes

You got two more during the last year? :) I sold mine. But I have three Panasonic HDC-SD9: 3CCD + 24p.

@@ConsumerDV i am surprised how good panasonic cameras are. I never thought of buying one until I saw some of the videos on youtube.

No difference in hardware. The hardware and firmware is reflected by model number. The 100/101/103/107 have the same hardware. The current Dazzle "DVCPTENAM" seems to have different hardware but broadly the same functionality as the 100. The driver is different and incompatible with the 100. The 130/170 are different from the above and similar to each other. The 130 has MPEG-1/MPEG-2 encoder, the 170 also has MPEG-4/DivX encoder enabled. As I understand it: Video DVD Recorder comes with Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder. Video DVD Recorder Plus comes with Pinnacle Studio. Video Creator Plus comes with Pinnacle Instant DVD Recorder and Pinnacle Studio. Video Creator Plus HD comes with Pinnacle Studio HD. Not sure what DVD Recorder HD bundle included. Was there Pinnacle DVD Recorder HD version? It would not make any sense, as DVDs are SD. Anyway, the difference is in software only.

Thank you for your reply. I have the DVC 170 that was gifted to me many many years ago. It came with Pinnacle Studio 10. For the time it made very good MPEG 2 captures that people were looking for however in the long scheme of things, it was a lot of frustrating trouble. It still works with an old XP laptop I have but that's about it. It is not recognized by any capture software other than Studio 10 and when I tried to install Studio 10 on my windows 10 PC, the Dazzle DVC 170 does not work and the Studio 10 software disables my DVD burner even after I uninstall the software. I have to go into my register to get my burner back. Too much trouble. Someone is sending me a Dazzle DVD Recorder Plus and I'm hoping I have much better luck with it because I've loved the Dazzle design but their switching round and round is confusing and a little unfair to the consumer. Sometime you don't know what you're going to get.

I just got the DVC 170, wanted to make a video about it. I could not install drivers on Win7 64-bit, OK, I get that. But I also could not make it work on Win7 32-bit, which it should! I downloaded Win7/Vista driver from Pinnacle's website, the installer did run successfully, yet the device shows error in the Device Manager. Oh, well.

UPDATE: I just received the Dazzle DVD Plus in the mail. The contents on the side of the box says it contains the software, (Pinnacle a Studio 12) and the Dazzle DVC 101 but the label on the bottom of the Dazzle unit says Dazzle DVC 100. I'm guessing the "101" means the bundled package but who knows?

Does it say just Dazzle DVC 100, or DVC 100 ver. 1.1 ? Some say that ver. 1.1 is the same as 101. Pinnacle did not make it easy :)

This depends on the format you are capturing into. If you record to DVD, you get DVD quality, which is at best around 9 Mbit/s MPEG-2 4:2:0 interlaced SD. I capture into Cineform at around 60-90 Mbit/s with 4:2:2 color subsampling. Truth to be told, DVD quality is usually enough, you lose quality elsewhere, like you image is unstable or has wrong aspect ratio or wrong scanning type or crushed blacks or blown out highlights, tons of other things can degrade your video.

@@ConsumerDV so the dvd quality is ok for vhs

Different people will give you different answers :) To me, DVD is good enough for good quality VHS. The more noise or other high-frequency artifacts your recording has, the more bitrate you need to preserve all this information, which you may not need at the first place, but it is either preserving it or your picture breaks into macroblocks. Also, some people do not like that DVD uses 4:2:0 color subsampling, not 4:2:2. I think it is good enough if you do not plan to edit it.

@@ConsumerDV yah i bought a panasonic dmr es-25 and its comming in 1 week

Congrats! Are you going to record to discs? I still have a half-used 100-pack of DVD-R discs from more than a decade ago. But I burned my DVDs on a computer. I also burned quite a few AVCHD discs.

You can say that, but it won't be true.

@@ConsumerDV тогда можно было бы поделиться своим мнением о победителе в самом видео . Хорошая большая проделанная работа . По вашему коротко вывод кто победил ?

IO Data GV-USB2 is the overall winner. See a comprehensive analysis in the comments section by a viewer, and my reply.

Left column is frequency representing playback speed, middle is RMS, right is DIN, which is usually 50%-100% higher than RMS.

There are playback control buttons on the bottom. On the very left there is a Stop button (with a square), then Play Input (a triangle with "I"), then Play Output (a triangle with "O"). You can use keyboard as well: Space is to play input only, Enter is to play input and output.

There are no USB to DV cables. The user manual says the camcorder can do USB 2.0 High Speed and can be connected via USB in streaming mode to "view camcorder video", so there is a chance ir can send video off tape via USB.

@@ConsumerDV well, i would call the cable in your thumbnail usb to dv. anyway, i got one.

I am glad this video was useful for you! Really appreciate your comment.

I use FlaXen VHS filter for VirtualDub.

Frankly, I don't know. It is the only DVD recorder I have (so far). The ES10 is 2005, the ES15/25/35... are 2006. Does being newer make it better? IDK.

You don't have to use bias adjustment. You can just leave it in the neutral position, and most of the time you'll get a good recording if you use a compatible tape from a well-known brand.

All samples in this video are shot with the GR-SXM37.

@@ConsumerDV Thank you!

Uncompressed takes the most space, compressed but lossless takes less space, visually lossless intermediate codecs like Cineform or DNxHD take even less space, then delivery formats like H.264 or H.265 are lossy and heavily compressed but take the least space.

@@ConsumerDVThank you for answering. Do you have any guide how to put codecs?

No guide, sorry. Some of them come with VirtualDub, others I installed separately with their respective installers. I think X264 - an implementation of H.264 - comes with FFMPEG package. If you want MPEG-2, I believe you can get it with HCENC package.

@@ConsumerDV Ι didn't;t understood how to install it but thank you very much hope a video for that in the future thank you again