I'm looking for a method of transferring my old lps, 45s and tapes to a digital format. I also have some S-VHS tapes and even older Beta Hifi tapes that I'd like converted too. Clearly the PVT is great for these last items, but I'm not sure about how good it would be for my main use - the audio-only formats.

From what I've been reading, 192kbps @ 48khz is pretty good for audio - virtually identical to the source, but not lossless. However, the PVT does seem to want to record this as a video file. That's not a big issue. It just means that I'll have to extract the audio from the .mp4 file before breaking it up into songs, etc..

However, will the PVT record with no video signal? Will the "force" record function (i.e. hold down the start button for more than 2 seconds) override the lack of the video signal or will I have to arrange for a dummy video source?

For just audio, I wouldn't mess with the PVT at all.  Assuming you are running Windows, you can download a free copy of HarddiskOgg from www.fridgesoft.de

It basically just records whatever comes in via the audio card inputs and makes an ogg or mp3 file.  Nice for transferring LPs because you can hit the spacebar on the fly and start a new file, which allows you to separate out the songs while you do the transfer.

 

I've used it that way just by hooking up the output of a turntable directly to the input of the computer.  No amp or anything.  Seemed to be able to record just fine at a pretty decent level.  But I'm no audiophile so YMMV. 

I don't want to hook a computer up to my stereo. I'm looking for something that I can intermittently use to record things for transfer to a computer later. So far, the options seem limited. Cowon have a couple media players that can at least record audio but the better one needs a special cable that is hard to get outside of the U.S.. Pinnacle's system looks like a more all round solution but they don't seem to talk about recording just audio - although DVD audio specs are certainly good enough for the task..