best way to record signal from a video mixer

[Jeremy Davidson]

OK, here's what we finally decided to do. We're getting a couple of Sony TRV120 Digital8 camcorders (obviously used). One will be used to record from the mixer (through S-Video), and the other will be used as a playback deck into the computer (at another location through Firewire). Since it's compressed as DV the digital signal will be the same as MiniDV. The older codec used in this camera may not do quite as good of a conversion from analog, but it should still do well enough.

Once it's edited in Premiere, we'll output to DVD-R and take that to the station (they can broadcast from DVD's after all!).

Once again, thanks to all who provided suggestions on this thread. We took a test DVD to the station last week to make sure it would play, and it already looked much better (even though it still went through one VHS generation).

[Ben Lynn]

That sounds great. I'm sure everyone will be happy with the quality increase.

Ben

[Jeremy Davidson]

Well, we've got two Sony cams in place (one as a record deck and the other to replace a dying camera), and it's made a huge improvement. Currently we are recording via S-Video from the video mixer into the TRV-120. One audio channel is fed by the house mixer, and the other comes from an ambient mic (used for recording only -- mixing between the two is done in post). We did an A/B comparison between the DVD and the old VHS, and it was incredible (like that wasn't predictable).

We're still working on improving the audio (apparently the last disc we took to the station was so loud it was hitting their broadcast limiter), but that's a topic for a new thread.

Once again, thank you to all who provided input on this topic. This has really made the video look much better (and for about $200 per unit it's been reasonably cheap too!).

Goodbye, VHS!!!