Digitize VHS and Hi8 with the Diamond VC500 analog-to-digital converter
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- 📹 Diamond VC500 analog to digital converter: is it any good? See unboxing, test and a sample video!
Chapters:
00:00 - Unboxing
02:03 - Installing the drivers and software
02:51 - Capturing with a TBC
04:06 - Capturing a VHS EP tape
04:59 - Capturing a Macrovision-protected tape
05:57 - EZ Grabber; Windows 10
06:27 - The verdict
■ My analog video digitizing workflow: • How to digitize VHS - ...
■ Playlist dedicated to digitizing of analog video: • Digitizing analog videos
Text version (friend link on Medium): reflectiveobserver.medium.com...
#vhs - Jak na to + styl
Your honesty and less hasty manner is why I love your video..thanks for the great videos….
Great video review 👍, keep em coming. I love the comment on the price of the VHS tape, lol.
I'm looking for a decent TBC, can't find anything used, prices on ebay are a little high.
Worked OK on my older computer with windows 7 and 8. But with my new computer with windows 11 the unit will not work. The drivers would not load. Every time I want to load drivers it would say that no device can be found. This is on USB 2 or USB 3 same problem......
I have this exact same problem on Windows 10, the drivers just do not work despite it saying its windows 10 compatible on the box
The drivers did not install off of the disc, the two programs of software did but the drivers refuse to. They just give an error each time I try.. great. I bought this a while ago and it’s out of the return window now
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.
I have a lot of experience with this and similar video capture devices. I got the VC500 back in the mid-2010s and it has been the most consistent as far as driver support and the highest for video quality. I use AmaRecTV in conjunction with its 'Live' plugin and OBS, the results are great. I made a video of it
Thanks for the info! I did not have problems with the drivers until I tried installing EZ Grabber, it broke my setup, I spent, like, an hour to re-install the drivers correctly.
@@ConsumerDVhow did you get the drivers to install at all? They just don’t want to come off of the cd despite me having Windows 10.
@@ChristopherAndersonPirate I was able to install drivers on Win7 64-bit and on Win10. I had to reboot a couple of times.
You recommend Pinnacle Dazzle as a capture device for analog video. How does the VC500 compare to Dazzle if you capture the same analog tape using your workflow to produce a an up-scaled mp4 file to be uploaded to CZcams? Are they the more or less the same or is one file visually superior?
I do not recommend Pinnacle Dazzle per se, I am just saying that if one were to use a Dazzle, certain models make more sense than others, used ones are abundant and cheap on Ebay, and for the price of a new no-name Chinese dongle you get a well-known device from an established brand with reliable drivers.
With VC500 I have a constant battle regarding the drivers, they can disappear after I remove and re-attach the device to a computer, but a reboot usually helps.
To me, the video quality is similar, although there are people who see huge differences and favor one or the other. The VC500 produces darker video, but this can be adjusted. Also, the VC500 produces sharper video because it does not try smoothing it out.
I'd say, if you have rock-solid video from a machine with a TBC, the VC500 is better. If you have slightly jittery video from a regular VCR, the Dazzle will smooth out the jitter somewhat. Neither copes with larger timing instability well, they do not have any TBC-like behavior. For crooked video I prever the Avermedia card, which also uses a Conexant chip, but a different one compared to the VC500: czcams.com/video/bhZyk72I9Q4/video.html
@@ConsumerDV thank you for the clarification and your timely response. The reason why I am asking if you compared the two devices is that I own the VC500 but not the Dazzle. I live in Australia and while a used Dazzle is cheap and available on Ebay almost all of them are located in the United States and shipping is prohibitive. I can buy the "new" version for Vista/7/8 for the same price on Amazon as a used one but I'm not sure if it is any good (on Windows 10/11) or can deliver the same quality as the models you suggest. The Dazzle seems to get mixed reviews. I can also purchase on Amazon a new IO Data GV-USB2 for the same price as the Dazzle which does get good reviews so for me this purchase is a bit of a dilemma. Therefore going back to my original question, how does the VC500 compare to the dazzle? If I have the VC500, do I need the Dazzle (or the IO Data?) Since you own both devices perhaps you noticed a difference in visual quality when you produce your videos using VirtualDub. I also tested my VC500 on OBS, but I have yet to get it to work with this software. Thank you for your time and any guidance you can provide.
The VC500 does not to smooth out the video, if needed you can do it after capturing. Some say that the VC500 can change video levels up and down if the video contains Macrovision, because Macrovision throws it off somewhat, I cannot confirm that. I'd say Dazzle is no better functionally, and the quality is similar and actually Dazzle is softer. I would not bother with the Dazzle if I were you. I've heard good things about IOData, but haven't used it myself. This video has examples at the end from ViXS, Avermedia(Conexant), Dazzle(Philips) and VC500(Conexant), feel free to take a look: czcams.com/video/__6I_JhTYWM/video.html Also, this has been captured with the VC500 (starts from the 3-minute mark): czcams.com/video/Xoft92VctQY/video.html
@@ConsumerDV thank you very much for your feedback and the video links. After watching your videos, I've concluded that its not so much the capture dongle but the TBC which provides the biggest bang for bucks. I do have a Sony Digital 8 Camcorder which has a TBC and can play DV, Hi8 and 8mm tapes. It can also transfer via composite and S-video. I know when I transfer via firewire the TBC plays a role. In fact years ago when I conducted my initial transfer of all my digital and analog tapes via firewire I found my videos looked better with TBC turned off. As for the TBC impacting a composite transfer I'm not sure and would have to conduct some tests to confirm.
I am a big proponent of capturing Video8/Hi8 on a Digital 8 camcorder through Firewire, this is a bullet-proof method that ensures correct frame size, aspect ratio, interlacing, field dominance, levels, proven codec, everything is taken care of. TBC is useful for ensuring the image is rock-solid. I have a VHS camcorder with built-in TBC, and the captures look great. Anyway, nice talking to you!
how does it react to low signals compared with the other capture cards
like a worn out tape or something
I don't have a severely worn out tape to check this, sorry.
@@ConsumerDV its fine, there are other ways
So it can't really be used without a TBC, all the other USB2 grabbers I've tested can do that too.
It can, but it does not have TBC functionality. It is up to you how much jitter you can tolerate. I have a bunch of 8-mm tapes that show almost no jitter even without a TBC.
It's handy low cost device... after all it delivers what it claims.
Personally I think I'd prefer the route of letting a more expensive stand-alone device do the upscaling to HDMI and then capture that from a cheap HDMI via USB capture dongle.
For an old-school DVD you don't need to upscale, although most people seem to have discarded DVDs long time ago. Also, some people may want to capture into an intermediate format for further editing. I have an external box, but it is not perfect.
@@ConsumerDV about two decades ago I had a Matrox Marvel: very high quality for the time and I am pretty confident it would be still very good today. Although you need a PC probably running a Win98 vintage and an AGP bus. Basically a PC of a bygone era but can still be obtained for cheap.
This captur video diamond one touch does link receiver with Android phone via USB caméra application?
Do you want to capture analog video onto a smartphone? I have not tried doing this. I use my Windows computer for capturing.
@@ConsumerDV yes IS it possible
@@samibayouli6811 The driver and software are for Windows only. You can also can buy a Windows+Mac version.
@@ConsumerDV its not liké easycap ?
@@samibayouli6811 I am not sure what do you mean. It is like EasyCAP in that it takes analog and spits out digital over USB. The video quality is better. The software is, um, temperamental, so I use VirtualDub for Windows.