analog video transfer to pc , best way?
 

I have an old analog cam and no way to get it on the pc for editing.
I have been researching ways to do it and been reading nightmare stories of different product reviews. I would like to know the best ,cheapest way transfer my analog video from camcorder to pc. Im sure there is one or two pieces of hardware out there that is the most popular and reliable , hopefully some of you will know what they are. thx in advance
john

Canopus and ADS Pyro are two good converter boxes. Canopus actually makes several different models depending on whether you want single or bi driectional and other bells and whistles you might want

A google search with lead you to their websites

John,

Your best option is to use the Search feature hear and read the NUMEROUS threads that have discussed exactly what you want to do. In fact there is a very recent thread on this exact topic in the Open DV Discussion forum.

You'll find the Search function a real aid to getting the most out of these forums, there is an amazing amount of great info here shared by some very knowledgable folks.

if you have a newer camera with firewire that has a passthrough you can simply plug in the old camera and run the video signal through the new one into the PC's firewire port

I did the same with old VHS tapes.

I have an old Canopus ADVC 100, has s-video and RCA connections in-with DV/firewire out to PC. The PC will recognize it as DVCam for capture (minus DV controls of course). The current model is ADVC 110 and will set you back $350. Higher-end model, the 300 for $600 has a video cleaner (uses it's own TBS? Not sure, and I don't think it'll deal with Macrovision -if that's an issue).

the ADS Pyro, as Steve mentioned, would be much cheaper/generic solution. Videoguys.com is selling those.

If you have only a few tapes or one shot deal, then renting a decent DV cam as a pass through, as already mentioned by Michael, would be the cheaper deal.

Why cant i just record analog to dvd?
 

isnt it possible to simply plug my analog camcorder into a dvd recorder/player and just record it onto a dvd+rw and then play that dvd on my computer in order to capture the dvd data onto my computer. once on the computer I can edit it and make the final dvd out of it???
this seems like the cheapest way dvds cost bout 1 buck and could even reuse it i think.
am I missing some major road block here or is this possible?

I just had to do this and used the firewire bridge through my JVC DVL820 dv camcorder from the VHS camcorder ... we initially tried doing it from a newer VCR, but got very bad pulsing and rolling. So we got the camera it was recorded on (older) and it came through great. I choose the JVC partially based on its ability to act as a firewire bridge. I think alot of the newer equipment has copy protection built in that disallow you from copying anything to anything else. So I like to stick to my older equipment for these types of projects.

Yes, John, I think this is possible, but from my very base knowledge of this technique, it might not be worth the effort, and in fact, it may even suck a little bit.

I have played around with this somewhat because my brother-in-law bought a consumer DVD recorder, and as I have been asked by others i know about using this method for archiving and editing their home movies, he asked me to run it through a number of tests and play around with it a bit. After doing so, I also did some reading on these machines and although it seems that 'standards' are all over the place...I have drawn a few generalized conclusions:

For consumer archiving of tv programs onto re-writable discs, these work pretty well...they are designed for convenience and are generally adequate for the task.

For 'real video work', including producing great imagery and providing allowances for further detailed editing, convenience takes a vacation and image quality does not even come close to touching a good 2-pass VBR 'slooooow' burn.

I suspect that these DVD recorders generally use a low-quality non-dynamic compression that can often produce washed-out blacks, pixelated whites, and choppy motion. Discerning viewers would likely notice the results if comparing to professional authoring techniques.

Also, as the video is automatically recorded into a form of the standard mpg2 DVD compression (which can be as much as up to a 5:1 compression compared to a basic DV stream file that most NLE's are designed to work with) you are setting yourself up with significantly less latitude in image manipulation when extracting the compression for the NLE environment. While I believe there are a few apps that can directly import the mpg2 file, many of them may not, and will require the extraction to dv first.

Granted, it is possible to manipulate the mpg2 file in some editing apps and retain this same format as ready to export into a new DVD project, but remember, it is not likely to be much of an image improvment than the low quality compression of your source material.

You made a mention of 'capturing' onto your system from the DVD, as far as I know this is generally a complicated process, and is not done in the typical manner in which capturing is usually done from a dv source. Either way, once you get the DVD source uprezzed to work in the NLE environment, inferior factors of the source compression will likely be evident.

As far as anti-piracy or proprietary factors that different manufacturers implement into their DVD recorders (these are not standardized as of yet), you may run into a few roadblocks once you attempt to edit, or at least to export your project into a new form of finalized medium. For example, you may be able to record your material into the recorder, and then play back the DVD, and you may even be able to extract the source material from the VOB files and find that they play great, and they even work well in your NLE, however, upon rendering out your edit to a new format or to a new disc, you discover that all the audio has disappeared. Of course, there are always a number of work-arounds for any of these hurdles, and I won't go into any details here, but just know that IMHO, this process is not likely to be as simple as you outlined, and not as productive as one may hope.

Sorry.
-Jon

yep, I tried one and recorded on sp
 

I recorded some hi 8 to a dvd rw recorder in the sp mode, (not high quality, but standard). I notice the edges of the subjects were blurred, color bleeding.
I havent tried to import, edit or re burn yet, but I will see how that goes.
When I get my new camcorder I should be able to use a pass through, but until then I wanted to start editing this old stuff from my analog corders. all I got to lose is my time, and a few coasters if it doesnt work. first thing I notiiced is that the sound did not come through to the tv or the recorded disc from the camcorder.
thx for the info, I learn so much from those generous enough to contribute to the complicated questions that come up.
thx

I use my ATI X800XT All-in-Wonder to capture. It uses a Windows Media Driver (WMD) to capture with. I end up using Pinnacle Studio (VirtualDub will too) capture an AVI and then edit from there. It does not have too much noise, but I suspect that the Canopus devices might be a little cleaner. I just did a 'rap' video that was part of a grade in Literature for some kids in Atlanta. It was on a reused VHS tape (you can see some crude in the beginning). And since this is WMV, no overscan. (32MB?)

http://versatilemediasolutions.com/a...eo/othello.wmv