ADVC - What to buy???

[chem101]

I am the volunteer a/v person at my church and I want to utilize our VHS video cameras as TV cameras and pass the image through the computer and onto the projection screens. I am in the discovery phase of this quest, so I am totally ignorant. Will one of the advc devices (55/100/300) serve as the signal converter? If so, which one will be best suited for the task? I do not need audio. I do want color.

Thank you
Larry

It sounds like the ADVC55 will be fine for you. It sounds like you are using your camera in "live" mode with no tape.

The ADVC55 will convert the analog signal from your camera to a digital FireWire signal which you can capture on your computer.

The ADVC110 is a bidirectional version, so it can convert FireWire to analog as well.

The ADVC300 is bidirectional like the ADVC110, but it also has image enhancement features which is helpful if you are converting less than perfect source tapes.

If you don't need bidirectional operation or the image enhancement features, the ADVC55 should do the trick for you.

[kbosward]

I'm not sure that a signal conversion approach passing through your computer is the best solution. Note that there is a conversion delay in the ADVC when converting from analog to DV (2 frames = 66.7 ms NTSC), then you need software on your computer which can receive the DV stream and decode it for display on the projector which may introduce additional delay. Since you are routing audio through other means (probably straight through your mixer to front of house) there will be a slight delay in the video when it is projected on the big screen. Whether it is noticeable is another thing -- probably not, but I haven't tried this myself so I am only guessing.

Also, unless you have good lighting, conversion of the analog signal to digital can introduce noticeable artefacts, particularly in dark regions which might be showing a bit of noise.

Unless you absolutely need it to pass through your computer (e.g. to be able to overlay the video on other computer generated images, and if so you are going to need software to do that), you may be better off passing the analog signal from the camera directly to the projector. Of course this will require extra cabling to the projector if you haven't already laid A/V cables.

At my previous church we had a fairly simple projector setup. We connected both a VGA and composite video cable to the projector, and we simply used the projector remote control software (it had a wireless link) to switch from computer input to video input as required. We rarely used video (mostly DVDs) so it was sufficient. In my current church we haven't used any video at all, other than what can be played directly on the computer.

Ken.