Hi guys, I am trying to transfer 8mm analog camcorder tapes to dvd with Studio Moviebox plus (710) and Studio 11.1.   I am losing a significant amount of quality and sharpness after the capture.   Edges are somewhat blurred, video is a little grainy, features on faces are also blurred and the picture is not anywhere near as sharp as when playing directly from the camera to the tv.   I have tried several different settings, read other posts, tried burning to dvd then playing on the same tv, it still looks awful when compared to the original tape.   All I am looking for is a result somewhat near the same quality as the original (when viewed on same tv).   Can anyone tell me what settings they used to get good results or any tricks or advice to improve the resolution of the final result?    I believe all my drivers are up to date.   Camcorder is attached to Moviebox with RCA analog cables.

Vista Home Premium

Athlon 64x2, 2.8ghz

300 gig ram

ATI Radeon HD 3650

Studio 11.1

Studio Moviebox plus 710

 

A couple of things. Do you have your preview set for 'full resolution' in the setup window?

If you render a portion of your captured video to an AVI file, is it still showing a great loss of resolution?

Don

     Yes, set to full resolution preview, captured as AVI and Mpeg and there really is no difference between the 2 in playback, I guess the real question is should I expect a capture with the same clarity as the original?  Or is Moviebox and Studio not capable of this with an analog source?

After capturing into Studio, have you done a 'make movie' and saved it as an AVI file. If so, how is the quality of this AVI clip when played back through Microsoft Media Player?

 This is the true test.

Don

    Yes I did the "make movie' both to file and to DVD and there is no noticeable difference in the quality between the capture and the AVI movie file whether played on Media Player or thru a dvd on the tv.

None are anywhere near the original.   The quality problem only exists for an analog source 8mm and VHS transfers, I don't really have any problems with digital transfers, from dvd or digital camcorders.

 

Mike 

For yet another test; feed the video from your VCR into your digital camera. Record the video and capture into Studio from the digital camera. If your camera has a video pass through mode, you won't have to make the recording. Also, try another video cable from the VCR. Be sure you're using a yellow video cable and not a red or black audio cable.

Don

     Thanks for your help, the solution to the problem was stupidly simple, it wasn't the RCA cables but the usb cable.  I foolishly trusted that the provided cable that came with the Moviebox to be adequate in quality to do the job, WRONG.  I tried connecting the Moviebox to the computer with my printers's cable which seemed to be a heavier guage and gold plated and voila!   Now the quality of the final dvd is indistinguishable from the original 8mm tape, near perfect.

 Thanks again
 

Note my signature. It works every time.

Don

mrpost:

     Thanks for your help, the solution to the problem was stupidly simple, it wasn't the RCA cables but the firewire/usb cable.  I foolishly trusted that the provided cable that came with the Moviebox to be adequate in quality to do the job, WRONG.  I tried connecting the Moviebox to the computer with my printers's cable which seemed to be a heavier guage and gold plated and voila!   Now the quality of the final dvd is indistinguishable from the original 8mm tape, near perfect.

 Thanks again
 

I am surprised to hear about this solution. Just for future's reference, what's the printer's brand or is it a 3rd party USB cable?

it wasn't the RCA cables but the firewire/usb cable

was it Firewire or USB? I assume you mean USB?

Power issues again? I can't see how a low quality/damaged digital cable would a affect analogue quality, but it might be affecting the power supplied to the moviebox.

     It was the cable that came with my new HP printer, I don't know why it worked.  I AM well aware that it is a digital cable and it should have nothing to do with the quality of the analog signal.  There may have been other factors at play, it may have been a power issue, or maybe the faulty cable may have been causing some sort of interference with the analog signal entering the capture device, who knows?  all I know and care is that it worked.  I tested the theory by switching back to the supplied cable (leaving the printer unplugged) and got the same crappy results.