LaserDisc Capture Advice

Hello,

I was wondering if I could get some advice on the best practice to capture my PAL 1997 SE LaserDiscs. I have the following equipment

2007 20" iMac with FCP on Snow Leopard
ADVC-55 brought in the last month
Pioneer CLD-D925 LaserDisc Player

Unfortunately I can't afford the equipment needed to capture the Dolby Digital audio track, so I will be capturing the stereo track instead. I don't have a surround sound system so I wouldn't get the benefit of 5.1 surround any way.

I just want to make sure I am keeping quality loss to a bear minimum. I plan to output these to both DVD and MP4 for viewing on my media centre attached to my 26" 720p TV, in both cases I would be looking to crop from 4:3 letterbox to 16:9 letterbox.

Any advice on which input to use (Composite vs S-Video), best practice for capturing with my set-up and any recommended filters / effects in FCP would be a massive help!

Many Thanks

Lee

LeeThorogood said:

Unfortunately I can't afford the equipment needed to capture the Dolby Digital audio track, so I will be capturing the stereo track instead. I don't have a surround sound system so I wouldn't get the benefit of 5.1 surround any way.

The PAL laserdiscs don't have an AC3 audio track.

Any advice on which input to use (Composite vs S-Video),

Test both, and use the one that gives the best picture quality.

best practice for capturing with my set-up and any recommended filters / effects in FCP would be a massive help!

Sorry I can't help with the Mac side of things.

Hi Moth3r,

Thanks for the reply, I will try your advice and let you know how I get on.

Lee