Cable adapters - bad idea?
 

My vcr (Panasonic AG-5710) has S-Video and BNC outputs. My capture card (Hauppauge PVR-250) has an S-Video input. Some of the VHS tapes I am in the process of capturing are in need of some color correction. The hardware processors I have been able to find in my price range only have composite connections. Am I setting myself up for some really bad results by using cable adapters? Thanks for any advice.

Composite connections are inherently inferior to s-video (separated video).

• Composite carries both chroma and the luma channels in a merged signal, which leads to degraded quality.
• The s-video connection, however, separates the luma and paired chroma signals, resulting in less color noise, dot crawl, and chroma/interlace noise.

You would do best to avoid composite-only proc amps entirely. Look for proc amps from Studio 1 Productions, SignVideo and Elite Video.

The higher-end broadcast proc amps vary in price.

• Used Elite Video BVP-4 Plus (BVP4+) modules are typically $400 average used price, but I recently saw one on eBay for $99 with no bids and less than 2 days left on it.
• New SignVideo units can be bought for $300 new, rarely see used ones available

The s-video > composite and composite > s-video crossover adapters are awful, quality is very degraded. The comb filtering (if any) is pathetic. You would do just as well to do composite from start to finish.

Note that proc amp work is best served by a s-video signal, too -- the composite signals don't adjust nearly as well.

Your BNC connectors can be fitted with inexpensive composite adapters. Now those are fine. I use those on my Panasonic AG-1980P unit, although I almost never use the composite output.

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.