Converting Video Tape to Digital Format?

MrChris · Jan 19, 2006

Hello guys,

I have a slight dilemma in the fact that our old family video's are beginning to look/sound as though they are going to snap. Which would be bad

(they were shot back in the day when VHS was the daddy lol).

Now is there a low cost way for me to hook up a VCR to my computer, import the video and digitally enhance it (take out some jumps/flickers, adjust colour etc etc...) and transfer it to DVD?

Regards,

Chris :mac:

rman · Jan 19, 2006

If you have a miniDV camera, you can use it as a bridge (analog/digital) between your VCR and computer.

MrChris · Jan 19, 2006

rman said:
If you have a miniDV camera, you can use it as a bridge (analog/digital) between your VCR and computer.

I don't have a MiniDV Camera but i can borrow my sisters, how does this bridging work? do i need any more cables or can i simply use what i have (i.e. the cables that come with the camera...

Regards,

Chris. :mac:

PowerBookG4 · Jan 19, 2006

MrChris said:
I don't have a MiniDV Camera but i can borrow my sisters, how does this bridging work? do i need any more cables or can i simply use what i have (i.e. the cables that come with the camera...

Regards,

Chris. :mac:

You wil need a firewire cable to go from the camera to the computer.

rman · Jan 19, 2006

If the camera is like mine. All of the cables came with the camera except for the firewire cable. What type of camera does your sister have?

_humfy · Jan 19, 2006

I used an eyetv wonder to convert all my vhs to digital. £100. did the job.

MrChris · Jan 19, 2006

rman said:
If the camera is like mine. All of the cables came with the camera except for the firewire cable. What type of camera does your sister have?

She has a Sony Mini DV Camera, not 100% sure on the model but i think its either the DCR-HC30e or one very similar.

Regards,

Chris.

rman · Jan 20, 2006

Hopefully the camera have a firewire port. I believe it is iLink on the Sony. I have a Canon, I connect to both the VCR and computer. Turn the camera on in VCR mode. Then change a setting (turn on the AV/DV option). Then you start the iMovie application. Near the botom left of the screen in Imovie, you should see a sissor and acamera icon. Select the camera side of the toggle switch. You should be in import mode now. Press play on the VCR and press the import button in iMovie. You will need to set the proper setting on your VCR to get the data out to the camera (line settings).

MrChris · Jan 20, 2006

Thanks for the walkthrough rman :mac:

The camera does have a firewire port on it because i have used it before to do some filming for a project.

One more question,

The only MAC i currently own (because i havent got enough for an iMac yet

) is a 12" iBook G4 with no DVD-RW drive.

Now i can borrow a friends external LiteOn DVD-RW drive but can i plug that in to my iBook and burn from iMovie?

If i remember correctly i had problems doing this in the past in the fact that iMovie, iDVD etc etc.. just would not acknowledge the external drive was there at all!

Regards,

Chris.

rman · Jan 20, 2006

With PatchBurn and iDVD. You should be able to create a DVD. That is after you imported the material into your system with iMovie and finish editting it.

rs2sensen · Jan 20, 2006

Thanks a lot for the walkthrough. How is the quality when running it through the miniDV? I use Final Cut Pro to capture off of the camcorder all the time, but I've never done it with VHS tapes. I've been considering purchasing a tape deck (makes sense for me anyways, I'm slowly building up a video studio), but if this offers fair quality, might as well save money for a bit...

rman · Jan 23, 2006

I am not sure of the quality, yet. I have only done this one time. That was to try and get my wedding video on to my PowerBook to clean it up some more. I will have to pick up that project and complete to see the results.