Using Canopus ADVC300 (or similar products...)

Question

Hi - figured I'd start this in a new thread....
I'm trying to import a lot of old home movies into iMovie (or Final Cut) from both VHS and DVD. The usual DVD conversion tricks (Cinematize, etc.) get the job done but result in a LOT of noticeable quality loss, which is a big problem when dealing with bad quality home footage to begin with. I was thinking about investing in this Canopus ADVC300, which seems to be the perfect solution for my VHS tapes... but can I use this product for DVDs as well? I.e. can I plug a 3rd party DVD player into the Canopus and have it "clean it up" and convert to DV the same way it does to VHS? Is there another product that would do the same thing? I'm perfectly willing to invest in the $500 or so that the Canopus costs - but not if there's a better option or if this won't work for my purposes.
Any help or suggestions would be great -
Thanks!

Answer 1

REPEAT OF ANSWER POSTED ELSWHERE FOR YOU:
Will this product allow for conversion from a DVD player as well, or just VHS?
Yes. In fact, they will work with an device capable of outputting a composite and/or S-Video analog signals and mono/stereo analog audio signals that you would normally plug directly into your TV to watch -- TV tuner, Sat receiver, VHS, VHS-C, beta, Video8, Hi-8, camcorders, some digital cameras, DVD player, iPod, etc.
I'm able to put my DVD home movies into iMovie through Cinematize (using my computer's DVD drive), but the quality loss, combined with the quality loss of iDVD, is almost unbearable... especially since I'm using old, low-quality footage to begin with.
The preferred method here is to keep the content in a digital format rather than converting to analog and then recapturing to DV for use in an editor. Since it sounds as if these are personal, unencrypted DVD content, normally you would simply copy the the VOB title sets to your hard drive, convert them to an editor compatible format, import them to your editor, and re-edit as needed. The strategy here is to convert the moderately high distribution compression format to a low compression, high data rate compression format for editing. This process is not designed to improve the quality of your DVD content, but rather to prevent further loss in quality. When done properly, there should be little "visual" loss between the original DVD content and your final product. In fact you may be able to adjust contrast, brightness, or and/or saturation of the video if it is a poor as you indicate.