RT.X2 converting analogue to digital

I've been asked to edit some old VHS footage and am having trouble digitising it at a decent quality. Playing through the RF cable into a TV it all looks very sharp, surprising considering the age of the tapes, however, when I use the same SVHS VCR to play the footage via the SVHS connection on the RT.X2 breakout box the picture becomes very noisy and dull.

I've checked the RT.X2 using a DVD player connected via the same SVHS cable, and the component inputs and the picture is great.

I'm therefore wondering whether I need some kind of converter to link in bewteen the SVHS deck and the breakout box to convert to a digital signal I can then firewire in. I've tried hooking up a DVcam deck between the SVHS Recorder and PC to act as a converter and this has helped with a couple of tapes, but on others, while the picture is sharper, the colours flicker in and out, which I assume is some kind of timebase correction thing.

Sorry for the longwinded explanation but if anyone has any tips to pass on re: digitising VHS, or experience of using a converter I'd really appreciate it.

Many thanks

Frank

Dear Lyn,

Many thanks for your response. I've a feeling that this is mostly down to the age of the VHS tapes I'm trying to digitise. I've now had a chance to use another SVHS deck and I've still been getting what I'd consider to be poor results from digitising straight from the player to the Matrox breakout box via SVHS.

However, in the capture window I have the option of digitising the footage as a Matrox AVI, or as DV. I have been using the Matrox AVI preset, but when I changed to DV there was a marked reduction in picture noise and a general overal improvement in picture quality. I can't see how this would make such a big difference but it appears to be working anyway.

Thanks again.

Frank