This may seem like a strange way to do this, but I am doing it for money reasons. My (untested) way for capturing LD's to my PC is to run the analoge audio and video outs from my LD player to my miniDV camera. I would record the LD's onto the miniDV tapes. Then I would transfer the tapes losslessly to my PC.
My questions are:
1) Is the DV compression significant enough to matter for restoration and DVD-authoring purposes?
2) Am I losing significant quality by using the analoge out from my LD player? I am using the digital tracks on the LD, but using the analog outs.
Basically, is it worth it or should I buy a capture card with optical digital in?
BTW, my LD player DOES have optical out. (It's a Sony MDP-455.)