ADVC 55 or 110 for converting tapes?

[cubeboy1]

I wish to convert old VHS tapes (oldest is about 1987) to digital files on my computer, ultimately to be burned to a DVD. I have a pinnacle dazzle unit which has not dazzled me at all; it has bad audio lag issues.

I will not need the analog outputs of the 110, but does the 55 have this "audio lock" feature as well? Other users complained about the hue changing on very old tapes. What are the chances of this happening? Is the 55 the better option?

[GrassValley_BH]

To be honest, I'd still recommend the 110. Not because of the audio lock, but because you'll be able to preview your capture on a real TV, making adjustments much faster and easier than constantly re-encoding and burning DVDs.

What you see on the computer monitor can vary greatly from what you'll see when you play it back on a TV.

[cubeboy1]

i don't think i will be previewing on a real TV - just my computer (They are on the opposite sides of the house). Bottom line is i want to find a unit that will capture with no colors changing, no audio lag; i just plug it in and i can forget about it until the tape is done. (The oldest of the tapes is about 22 years old and want to digitize them before they get any older)

If it makes any difference, i will post my system specs:

Windows 7 Home 32-bit
Intel Dual Core 3.0 GHz
nVidia Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB
4GB RAM

[kbosward]

In my experience, it is possible to adjust the video overlay settings in your graphics card so that it looks like what your TV would be showing. Just burn a sample clip on a DVD and play it on your TV, and play the same clip on your video editor and adjust the video overlay settings on your graphics card so that it looks the same as the TV.

If you have very old tapes, you may have trouble getting clean, non-jittery captures unless you have a tape player with built-in TBC. For best results, find a tape player that has built-in TBC, noise reduction and S-video output. Then you could get by with a ADVC-55.

Ken.