pass through on digital camera

computer, digital, recently, directly, through

I'm trying to advise a friend whether to buy an analog/digital converter or a camera with pass through for converting old VHS tapes.
If you use a camera and bring the video to the camera
1)Do you have to have a VCR with S-video out?
2)Do you then capture the sound directly from VCR to computer at the  same time and then mux it with the video file you captured in through the firewire connection?

I recently bought a Sony HCR-40E to do exactly that.  You take the camera to the VCR (easier!).  This camera accepts both VHS and S-VHS as input and single or two channel sound.  The camera encodes the video to DV type 2 format with associated sound in perfect synchromisation.  This can be recorded to DV tape, or passed through directly to PC via firewire as a DV type 2 AVI file, ready for editing.

Old1

I recently bought a Sony HCR-40E

Thanks. I had assumed one had to do a lot of extra work to get the sound in. I did a search (including Google) for this model number and came up empty. Where did you find it?

Sorry Trolltuning, part poor memory, part dyslexia, the model is actually DCR-HC40E.  I believe the cheaper model, HC30E also has an analogue input.  You connect to the VCR using a special Sony lead/adapter which comes with the camera.  A single plug connects to the camera, the other end of the lead splits to two audio phonos, an S-video plug and a composite video phono plug which you connect to your VCR.  This handles both input and output.  A standard firewire connector is used to connect to the PC.

If your major purpose is to capture analogue video, you have quite a range of other brands and models of DV camcorders to choose from, which also handle analogue input, although they do not all provide a direct pass-through capability.  The key thing is to check for analogue in.

Check out the DV forum for some tips on how to process and encode DV video once captured.

Old1

If you can, check the quality of the conversion. I used to have a JVC DV camera (quite expensive model) that could do pass-through, but it really screwed the luminance levels. Essentially the image became too bright, and consequently the highlights got washed out. I would not recommend a JVC.

I eventually got an ADVC100 (converter only) and about a year later ditched the JVC and got a Canon camera (which can do pass-through).

MM