VHS>420XPS Video Degrades

[mrobo]

Hey. Love the site.

I have the same XPS 420 you recommend for "Middle Of The Road System".
Exept I have Quad Core, 3GB Ram, 24" Monitor,
and the digital converter is this Xcelerator device: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/s ... /setup.htm
that connects internally with the Hauppauge WinTV 885 Video Capture.

It all works harmoniously in bring VHS video/audio in (using Roxio Media Import) and then edited in Premiere Elements 4.0.

EXCEPT:
THE VIDEO IMAGE DEGRADES / GETS FUZZIER WHEN IT ARRIVES IN THE COMPUTER. I CAN SEE ON THE MONITOR and EVENTUALLY ON THE DVD THAT I WATCH ON MY MY 27" TUBE TELEVISION THAT THE IMAGES HAS GOTTEN FUZZIER/LACKING THE CLARITY OF THE SOURCE TAPE.

I've tried using an S-Video VCR>Xcelerator, connecting the VCR to the Co-Axel on the TV Tuner. It all looks the same. Note that the source quality is pretty good to begin with

SHOULD the quality be degrading from VHS to CPU? Is there anything I should try?

[Chuck Engels]

TV Capture/Tuner cards can cause many problems, especially with quality. They are very fussy and require a rocket scientist to figure out the codecs and all of the settings to get just a decent capture.

For capturing VHS tape there are some great digital converters out there that do an amazing job and are very simple to use.
The ADS Pyro Link or any Canopus model converter are highly recommended and used here at muvipix.

The converters connect to the computer Firewire port and you capture directly into Premiere Elements with no loss in quality from the original. I have even seen some improvement in quality at times, I know that some of the Canopus models can improve quality.

The VHS player hooks up to the converter and the converter connects to the computer, you capture with Premiere Elements, what could be easier than that?