The camcorder is an old one so it's analog not digital. Have any of you done this
If you have I'd appreciate hearing from you 
Cheers,
Chris.
Analog video to PC?
Analog video to PC?
I would like to transfer some video footage from my camcorder to my computer so I can then burn it to DVD, and back it up on my external hard drive.
The camcorder is an old one so it's analog not digital. Have any of you done this If you have I'd appreciate hearing from you
Cheers,
Chris.
The camcorder is an old one so it's analog not digital. Have any of you done this
If you have I'd appreciate hearing from you Cheers,
Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
If you have not got a dedicated video card with analogue or component inputs for plugging the camera straight in then these little USB devices (A/D Converter) work pretty well http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Copy-Transfer ... 4ab4e4be2a I have used a similar product (for Mac) to capture old VHS cassettes from VHS player. Or the next one up which supplies a component cable if you haven't one already with the camera, to go from the camera to USB plug http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Copy-Transfer ... 33754ad19f If you have not got a video editing software installed for capture purposes then these items come with a software. I don't know anything about the software that comes with it but it will be basic, and will most probably suit your purpose.
I expect the software will have various codecs that you can import as. Codec (compression decompression) being for want of a better word the format ie MP4, AVI, DVPal, uncompressed. You are best to capture in the highest possible quality for storage purposes. I would suggest going for the straight DVPal 4.3 size 720x576 which is the old square size before 16.9 anamorphic/widescreen. Uncompressed would take a long time and need a lot of processing power and MP4 is highly compressed and would leave artefacts. It's always better to capture in the highest possible quality you can. You limitations being disc storage, processing power and time. You can always copy and convert the footage to a more compressed format at a later date. You can always loose quality but you can not gain it hence it's best to capture at the highest possible.
The other thing I should mention is, when you say put it on DVD, do you mean put the raw data files on DVD for storage purposes or are you talking about a DVD that you can put in you DVD player and view the footage. If the latter then after you footage has been captured it will need to be run through a DVD compilation software to convert for viewing purposes on a DVD player. If it was me I would capture and store the data files and then go from there, for the quality reason mentioned above. It takes time to capture footage and you don't want to be doing it again because you need another format in the future.
(:-})
I expect the software will have various codecs that you can import as. Codec (compression decompression) being for want of a better word the format ie MP4, AVI, DVPal, uncompressed. You are best to capture in the highest possible quality for storage purposes. I would suggest going for the straight DVPal 4.3 size 720x576 which is the old square size before 16.9 anamorphic/widescreen. Uncompressed would take a long time and need a lot of processing power and MP4 is highly compressed and would leave artefacts. It's always better to capture in the highest possible quality you can. You limitations being disc storage, processing power and time. You can always copy and convert the footage to a more compressed format at a later date. You can always loose quality but you can not gain it hence it's best to capture at the highest possible.
The other thing I should mention is, when you say put it on DVD, do you mean put the raw data files on DVD for storage purposes or are you talking about a DVD that you can put in you DVD player and view the footage. If the latter then after you footage has been captured it will need to be run through a DVD compilation software to convert for viewing purposes on a DVD player. If it was me I would capture and store the data files and then go from there, for the quality reason mentioned above. It takes time to capture footage and you don't want to be doing it again because you need another format in the future.
(:-})
==============================Enter the Darkside
Re: Analog video to PC?
Hi Carl,
Many thanks for the in depth reply and links, very much appreciated and helpful
One thing I hadn't thought about was the quality of the video capture, to be honest I hadn't got that far yet, I was still concentrating on the capture bit first Windows Movie Maker, and I see VLC Media Player both have Video Capture, so I'm hoping one of those will do the job.
No I don't think my PC has the required card for a straight plug in from the camcorder. I did try an S-Video lead from the camcorder to my graphics card, although this didn't work. I think the issue being is that there is nothing there to convert the analog into digital, so it sounds like I need to get one of those adapters that you have suggested.
Yes, when I suggested saving the footage on DVD that was for use in the DVD player.
Thanks for your help Carl,
Chris.
Many thanks for the in depth reply and links, very much appreciated and helpful
One thing I hadn't thought about was the quality of the video capture, to be honest I hadn't got that far yet, I was still concentrating on the capture bit first
Windows Movie Maker, and I see VLC Media Player both have Video Capture, so I'm hoping one of those will do the job.No I don't think my PC has the required card for a straight plug in from the camcorder. I did try an S-Video lead from the camcorder to my graphics card, although this didn't work. I think the issue being is that there is nothing there to convert the analog into digital, so it sounds like I need to get one of those adapters that you have suggested.
Yes, when I suggested saving the footage on DVD that was for use in the DVD player.
Thanks for your help Carl,
Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
It looks like Windows movie maker will be your best bet. I don't know anything about it but had a quick google. It looks like it will allow you to edit the footage. Ie cut unwanted, bad footage out, add titles, transitions (effects), colour correct and things. Maybe add soundtracks if needs be. Could be a learning curve for you and you will have fun with it. It also looks like the later versions of movie maker allow you to compile to dvd as well. So this will make things easy if everything is all under one hood. Otherwise you would have to export in the appropriate format and import into other software's.
Something else worth mentioning. The old footage you have I suspect will be in the 4.3 (square) aspect ratio which is size 720x576. To accommodate the newer TV's you will want it in wide-screen 16.9 size 1024x576 In you editing software there may be the option to make this anamorphic which stretches the foot for wide-screen which may or may not work as you might not like the way it looks. If not you can start with a DV Pal Anamorphic file and import the footage into that and letterbox it, so basically it will have a black border around it. Or you can enlarge it to fit, but will loose footage from the top and bottom. Also if you are going to be adding any titles then it is vitally important to keep the text within the title safe area. There should be a box/guide for this. In fact for DVD I find it best to keep it slightly smaller than the title safe area. If any text is outside this area parts of it will then be cut off and not seen when viewed on TV's. And try to stay away from white text. If you have to use white then turn the opacity down to 90%. Things look a bit brighter on TV's.
I think the VLC palyer is just a media player, an alternative to windows media player with more options. Have you checked out you CD/DVD burning software, some of these allow you to create menus and burn to dvd for viewing on a player. This would be handy if you wanted the footage as it is without any editing.
The problem is once the footage had been compiled onto DVD it has been compressed and put into a format that is only any good for DVD players. So once you have imported the footage into you editing software, keep the working files as well, as a backup and this will allow you to export for other uses ie MP4 for web or better quality formats for viewing locally on you computer with the VLC or other media players. I never mentioned The format for DVD compilation in my above post, but MP2 would be the appropriate codec (format) for DVD's. But as mentioned if you capture as DV Pal this would be the best you could get off the tape and then it can be converted to whatever you need for whatever purpose. So if you imported as DV Pal into Windows movie maker, edit in this format and then either compile to DVD in this software or export as MP2 to compile in another DVD authoring software.
I hope I haven't confused you, it's quite a lot to take onboard and may sound complicated, but it's not as bad as it sounds. It's all in the preparation and best to know/be aware of these things before you start.
Out of curiosity what's the footage you have. Wedding, kids growing up, old memories, sports. And how much of it do you have to convert? The reason I ask is because what you are about to embark upon is a time consuming task so it's best to keep it to important things that you can not buy/replace on DVD, so keep to the personal things that are of importance.
Is this footage on the really old VHS cassettes that the really early camera's used to use or Video8/hi8/Digital 8
I personally use Apple Final Cut Studio for all my editing and DVD authoring and Adobe After affects for composition/effects work.
(:-})
Something else worth mentioning. The old footage you have I suspect will be in the 4.3 (square) aspect ratio which is size 720x576. To accommodate the newer TV's you will want it in wide-screen 16.9 size 1024x576 In you editing software there may be the option to make this anamorphic which stretches the foot for wide-screen which may or may not work as you might not like the way it looks. If not you can start with a DV Pal Anamorphic file and import the footage into that and letterbox it, so basically it will have a black border around it. Or you can enlarge it to fit, but will loose footage from the top and bottom. Also if you are going to be adding any titles then it is vitally important to keep the text within the title safe area. There should be a box/guide for this. In fact for DVD I find it best to keep it slightly smaller than the title safe area. If any text is outside this area parts of it will then be cut off and not seen when viewed on TV's. And try to stay away from white text. If you have to use white then turn the opacity down to 90%. Things look a bit brighter on TV's.
I think the VLC palyer is just a media player, an alternative to windows media player with more options. Have you checked out you CD/DVD burning software, some of these allow you to create menus and burn to dvd for viewing on a player. This would be handy if you wanted the footage as it is without any editing.
The problem is once the footage had been compiled onto DVD it has been compressed and put into a format that is only any good for DVD players. So once you have imported the footage into you editing software, keep the working files as well, as a backup and this will allow you to export for other uses ie MP4 for web or better quality formats for viewing locally on you computer with the VLC or other media players. I never mentioned The format for DVD compilation in my above post, but MP2 would be the appropriate codec (format) for DVD's. But as mentioned if you capture as DV Pal this would be the best you could get off the tape and then it can be converted to whatever you need for whatever purpose. So if you imported as DV Pal into Windows movie maker, edit in this format and then either compile to DVD in this software or export as MP2 to compile in another DVD authoring software.
I hope I haven't confused you, it's quite a lot to take onboard and may sound complicated, but it's not as bad as it sounds. It's all in the preparation and best to know/be aware of these things before you start.
Out of curiosity what's the footage you have. Wedding, kids growing up, old memories, sports. And how much of it do you have to convert? The reason I ask is because what you are about to embark upon is a time consuming task so it's best to keep it to important things that you can not buy/replace on DVD, so keep to the personal things that are of importance.
Is this footage on the really old VHS cassettes that the really early camera's used to use or Video8/hi8/Digital 8
I personally use Apple Final Cut Studio for all my editing and DVD authoring and Adobe After affects for composition/effects work.
(:-})
==============================Enter the Darkside
Re: Analog video to PC?
Carl,
Yes it does sound more complicated than I had anticipated, but I find that's quite often the case with most tasks when it involves a computer
A very good point about the wide screen TV's 16.9, that's something I will need to look into nearer the time.
I'm not in any rush to get this project done (but after saying that I don't want this project hanging around forever if you know what I mean
), so long as I end up with a reasonable result, then I'll be happy.
I agree Windows Movie Maker looks to be the best option, my version is Ver 5.1.
I've now ordered the USB adaptor and will let you know how things go once I can get around to it.
As for what I want to convert, it's manly footage of our family growing up, holidays and things from over the years. Looking over the recordings it's surprising how many little things that happened some years ago that you forget.
It's on four Hi8 tapes which I believe are 90mins long for each tape. Out of those four tapes I'm guessing there will be around one and a half hours in total, that will be worth converting.
Talking about wedding footage, you've just reminded me, ours is on a VHS video tape, so that is something else I ought to convert before the tape decides to give up.
Many thanks for the additional information Carl it looks like it'll becoming very handy.
Cheers,
Chris.
Yes it does sound more complicated than I had anticipated, but I find that's quite often the case with most tasks when it involves a computer
A very good point about the wide screen TV's 16.9, that's something I will need to look into nearer the time.
I'm not in any rush to get this project done (but after saying that I don't want this project hanging around forever if you know what I mean
), so long as I end up with a reasonable result, then I'll be happy. I agree Windows Movie Maker looks to be the best option, my version is Ver 5.1.
I've now ordered the USB adaptor and will let you know how things go once I can get around to it.
As for what I want to convert, it's manly footage of our family growing up, holidays and things from over the years. Looking over the recordings it's surprising how many little things that happened some years ago that you forget.
It's on four Hi8 tapes which I believe are 90mins long for each tape. Out of those four tapes I'm guessing there will be around one and a half hours in total, that will be worth converting.
Talking about wedding footage, you've just reminded me, ours is on a VHS video tape, so that is something else I ought to convert before the tape decides to give up.
Many thanks for the additional information Carl
it looks like it'll becoming very handy.Cheers,
Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
Glad I reminded you of the wedding video. That the most important one or you will be in trouble I recently had to do my Parents wedding which was original shot on an old Cine cam back in the 60's.They had it converted to VHS many years ago, and now I have put it on dvd with a sountrack added to it for aesthetics. The biggest problem I had was trying to improve the quality as it was originality Cine. I basically reduced the noise and colour graded it.
An hour and a half will take some time to edit through, maybe a couple of weeks taking into consideration the learning process as you go along. And just so you have an idea of file size with regards to storage. 1h:30mins captured at DVPal Standard def 25fps (frames per sec) will need about 19gb of storage.
If I had the means to capture High8 here, I would have offered to do some for you, but I don't unfortunately. But any advice or guidance I am am all ears and will help where ever I can.
Have fun
(:-})
I recently had to do my Parents wedding which was original shot on an old Cine cam back in the 60's.They had it converted to VHS many years ago, and now I have put it on dvd with a sountrack added to it for aesthetics. The biggest problem I had was trying to improve the quality as it was originality Cine. I basically reduced the noise and colour graded it.An hour and a half will take some time to edit through, maybe a couple of weeks taking into consideration the learning process as you go along. And just so you have an idea of file size with regards to storage. 1h:30mins captured at DVPal Standard def 25fps (frames per sec) will need about 19gb of storage.
If I had the means to capture High8 here, I would have offered to do some for you, but I don't unfortunately. But any advice or guidance I am am all ears and will help where ever I can.
Have fun
(:-})
==============================Enter the Darkside
Re: Analog video to PC?
It's funny you mentioning our wedding video, it nearly ended up at the dump (OK recycling center ) My Wife was asking me to get rid off around almost 200 (yes you read that right two hundred ) video tapes, and to be honest they were getting past their best. They were mainly to do with motorcycles and motorcycle racing on the TV that I'd recorded over the years. I had been intending to go through them and pick out the bits from each tape I wanted to keep. I'd even bought a DVD recorder for this purpose, but never got around to doing it, probably because being realistic the task was too big. The video tapes ended up in my garage ready for the dump, I was determined to go through the boxes before they got dumped. A good job I did as our wedding video tape was amongst them 
WOW 19gb for 1.5hrs worth
that is rather a lot more than I had expected, although I do have enough space on the hard drive for that and more.
Thanks for the offer of advice and guidance if needed, I might be glad of it,
Cheers,
Chris.
) My Wife was asking me to get rid off around almost 200 (yes you read that right two hundred ) video tapes, and to be honest they were getting past their best. They were mainly to do with motorcycles and motorcycle racing on the TV that I'd recorded over the years. I had been intending to go through them and pick out the bits from each tape I wanted to keep. I'd even bought a DVD recorder for this purpose, but never got around to doing it, probably because being realistic the task was too big. The video tapes ended up in my garage ready for the dump, I was determined to go through the boxes before they got dumped. A good job I did as our wedding video tape was amongst them WOW 19gb for 1.5hrs worth
that is rather a lot more than I had expected, although I do have enough space on the hard drive for that and more. Thanks for the offer of advice and guidance if needed, I might be glad of it,
Cheers,
Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
Carl,
Update. This has been quite challenging so far, and that's just trying to get the video and audio to work with the pc I've been using the supplied software (Ulead Video Studio SE), as I had been struggling to get the sound to work, I still can't get it to work with WMMaker. Quality wise i think I need a better graphics card Anyway as they say, onwards and upwards
Chris.
Update. This has been quite challenging so far, and that's just trying to get the video and audio to work with the pc
I've been using the supplied software (Ulead Video Studio SE), as I had been struggling to get the sound to work, I still can't get it to work with WMMaker. Quality wise i think I need a better graphics card Anyway as they say, onwards and upwards Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
It could be something really silly which are often the hardest things to find. The wrong setting somewhere. As I have not used the ULead software I don't know anything about it, so had a google search. Don't know if this is of any help but there is an option via the wizzard for switching the audio on http://www.rickysays.com/convert-hi8-vhs-to-dvd It appears this is not on by default.
Just capture 30secs or something as a test, there's no need to capture loads as it's a waste of time. Once you have your capture setting all set up properly and your happy with it, you can then go back and capture the lot. Once you have it all set up properly it should all be straight forward from there.
Which format where you capturing with.? this will effect the quality. The other thing is there may be a playback quality setting within the software. It could be playing back within the software at a lower quality for preview purposes only, to aid with processing power. Especially if you are watching the footage as it's being captured.
(:-})
Just capture 30secs or something as a test, there's no need to capture loads as it's a waste of time. Once you have your capture setting all set up properly and your happy with it, you can then go back and capture the lot. Once you have it all set up properly it should all be straight forward from there.
Which format where you capturing with.? this will effect the quality. The other thing is there may be a playback quality setting within the software. It could be playing back within the software at a lower quality for preview purposes only, to aid with processing power. Especially if you are watching the footage as it's being captured.
(:-})
==============================Enter the Darkside
Re: Analog video to PC?
Carl, very good of you to have a look on google and find that link, thanks. That EasyCap is the same type as I have. I have been looking online myself (as you do ) to find out why I couldn't get the audio to work. The only way I can get audio to work is to use the red phono connector with the S-Video connector. I know the S-Video lead is supposed to do both video and audio, but no matter what I've read or tried I cannot seem to get audio with the S-Video lead only. The trouble is some say one thing and others say conflicting things when searching online. This link actually says you'll need to use the red phono lead with the S-Video connection:- http://www.acomputerportal.com/easycap/ ... age_2.html although I only came across this after I'd figured it out myself.
Below are the settings I've had the best results with so far, note aspect ratio is 4.3 (as you suggested may be the case) and 720 X 576 is the largest size available. The second pic is showing the extra data in the box not seen in the first pic. The last pic is the advanced settings.
Chris.
) to find out why I couldn't get the audio to work. The only way I can get audio to work is to use the red phono connector with the S-Video connector. I know the S-Video lead is supposed to do both video and audio, but no matter what I've read or tried I cannot seem to get audio with the S-Video lead only. The trouble is some say one thing and others say conflicting things when searching online. This link actually says you'll need to use the red phono lead with the S-Video connection:- http://www.acomputerportal.com/easycap/ ... age_2.html although I only came across this after I'd figured it out myself.Below are the settings I've had the best results with so far, note aspect ratio is 4.3 (as you suggested may be the case) and 720 X 576 is the largest size available. The second pic is showing the extra data in the box not seen in the first pic. The last pic is the advanced settings.
Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
Argh you not using the component cables then. As you say S video does not support audio, well I have never managed to get audio through s video before. I would try the component cables for sound. But looking through your setting in the screen shots audio input source is set to CD Player this should be your camera or one of the cables. You may also want to check the box to preview audio as well. It makes it a little less boring when capturing footage if you want to watch/monitor it as it captures. I'm not sure about the PCI but your not going through a PCI card so it may be best to deselect.
Has it only given the option for MP2? MP2 is OK and is the required format for DVD but is compressed with the mpeg compression and not the best to work with. Is the there the option for DV-Pal. Under the mpeg settings the frame rate should be set to 25fps. PAL is 25 and NTSC is is 29.97. Where you have the aspect ratio there may be an option for Anamorphic or 16.9 which will convert it widescreen so the size would change to 1024x768. Video bit rate is set to constant which is OK but if you want to switch to variable you will get better quality at the expense of it taking longer.
So it's just a case of getting the audio up and running, all the rest is a case of checking through your settings and your good to go.
(:-})
Has it only given the option for MP2? MP2 is OK and is the required format for DVD but is compressed with the mpeg compression and not the best to work with. Is the there the option for DV-Pal. Under the mpeg settings the frame rate should be set to 25fps. PAL is 25 and NTSC is is 29.97. Where you have the aspect ratio there may be an option for Anamorphic or 16.9 which will convert it widescreen so the size would change to 1024x768. Video bit rate is set to constant which is OK but if you want to switch to variable you will get better quality at the expense of it taking longer.
So it's just a case of getting the audio up and running, all the rest is a case of checking through your settings and your good to go.
(:-})
==============================Enter the Darkside
Re: Analog video to PC?
Hi Carl,
I was trying to use the S-Video lead as I thought it would give the best quality from that set-up.
So far I have now tried using the A/V phono plugs as you suggest. However I have not been having a lot of success yet with either set-ups, unless I use the 720 X 486 frame size. Using the Ulead supplied software I cannot get it to work in the largest option (720 X 576), it just keeps coming up with an error. If I reduce the size to 720 X 486 it will work as previously stated. I did give WMMaker a try, but that keeps freezing when it goes to save the video it's captured so it never gets saved. "Input source is set to CD Player" as that is what the supplied manual suggests, although I have tried the other settings out of curiosity, CD player is the only one that allows the audio to work. M-PEG1 or M-PEG2 are the only two options when using the "customize" setting (as in pic two and three).
I'll try out those further suggestions when I get back to it next. Thanks for your help Carl.
One bit of good news, I got a new graphics card for my Birthday
Chris.
I was trying to use the S-Video lead as I thought it would give the best quality from that set-up.
So far I have now tried using the A/V phono plugs as you suggest. However I have not been having a lot of success yet with either set-ups, unless I use the 720 X 486 frame size. Using the Ulead supplied software I cannot get it to work in the largest option (720 X 576), it just keeps coming up with an error. If I reduce the size to 720 X 486 it will work as previously stated. I did give WMMaker a try, but that keeps freezing when it goes to save the video it's captured so it never gets saved. "Input source is set to CD Player" as that is what the supplied manual suggests, although I have tried the other settings out of curiosity, CD player is the only one that allows the audio to work. M-PEG1 or M-PEG2 are the only two options when using the "customize" setting (as in pic two and three).
I'll try out those further suggestions when I get back to it next. Thanks for your help Carl.
One bit of good news, I got a new graphics card for my Birthday
Chris.
Re: Analog video to PC?
That will help as it sounds like either there is not enough processing power or the graphics card is not up to the task with regards to the size. MPEG2 will be the option you want then. Don't forget the frame rate is 25 for PAL. I'm a bit mythed by the sound, maybe a phono plug (headphone jack) from the camera to computer audio input is the answer. A bit of persistence and you will win in the end.One bit of good news, I got a new graphics card for my Birthday
(:-})
==============================Enter the Darkside
Re: Analog video to PC?
Cheers Carl, I'll let you know how it goes when I next give it a try
I think we've got slightly crossed wires (excuse the pun ) with the sound, it works fine with the phono plugs
Chris.
I think we've got slightly crossed wires (excuse the pun
) with the sound, it works fine with the phono plugs Chris.