So my mom recently came to me with an interesting proposition - If I organize all of our old home videos and put them on DVD's I don't have to pay car insurance this time around. I was kind of planning on doing that anyways, this just gives me incentive to do it now.
Obviously, our old home videos are sort of old. They were all taken on an analog (I think I'm using the word right) recorder. I have my computer set up for digital video capture with Firewire. How might I go about putting these pesky analog tapes on to my computer?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Get an analog video converter. Lots of 'em exist.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
You have a few options. The computer tv tuners would do it. I have the hauppauge brand and it works great for that kind of thing.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Tom, do you have any specific suggestions for brands or anything? (I'm doing a Google search right now)
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
I don't know when ATI started doing it, but to my great surprise I just noticed recently that my "normal" X1900 card already has composite and s-video input. Thus, I imagine that many of the current generation of their cards would have this feature as well. I suggest double-checking whether your computer might "already" have this capability.
Since you probably only need composite or s-video output from your home videos, you can skip the need for a dedicated tv tuner.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
Do the analog video converters also capture the video to my computer? Could I hook up a DVD player to it and then record a DVD on to my computer?
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: Do the analog video converters also capture the video to my computer? Could I hook up a DVD player to it and then record a DVD on to my computer?
If you have a dvd rom you wouldn't need to.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: Do the analog video converters also capture the video to my computer? Could I hook up a DVD player to it and then record a DVD on to my computer?
Actually, I don't think it would work. Its the same copy protection that prevents you from copying dvd to vhs.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: Do the analog video converters also capture the video to my computer? Could I hook up a DVD player to it and then record a DVD on to my computer?
Technically yes, your DVD player would likely output composite or s-video. You could feed this into your video input on your "normal" video card with video input.
There is a possibility it might output component or HDMI, in which case I'm pretty sure you'll need to get a "speciality" product for HDTV input.
Of course with a DVD, its much easier to just rip the thing normally in your DVD drive and then you would also not have to deal with Macrovision.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
If you don't already have movie-editing software, you may want to buy a Pinnacle card or USB-based converter (since they come with Pinnacle video-editing software). I've also used ATI's Radeon All-In-Wonder series with some success, as well as a few cards by Hauppage.
Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
My sister just bought a VHS to DVD backup system. A quick glance at CNET reviews reveals the following two are good.
Lite-On LVC-9006 Panasonic DMR-ES30V
My sister bought the Panasonic model and is doing well with it.