Anyone imported Video8 (analogue) into PC

[bob_a_builder]

I want to import my video 8 (analogue) footage from camcorder to move it to another media

Any suggestions on how/best way to do the input side of things
pci card / usb box/ units to be avoided.
Don;t really want a Tv card, just a input device

Most of the conversion is done by pc/software isn't it so how important is input device to final quality ?

Over to you ...

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by bob_a_builder

I want to import my video 8 (analogue) footage from camcorder to move it to another media

Any suggestions on how/best way to do the input side of things
pci card / usb box/ units to be avoided.
Don;t really want a Tv card, just a input device

Most of the conversion is done by pc/software isn't it so how important is input device to final quality ?

Over to you ...

what outputs are on the camera ???????????

[Stuart]

You will need some sort of TV card or capture card. TV cards are generally cheaper & can recieve TV. Capture cards can't necessarily recieved TV but usually capture at better quality and are more expensive.

You will pay between £40 and £60 for a good TV card, and can pay over £100 for a capture card.

Most TV cards & capture cards will come with and s-video connection. If your camera can output to s-video (most can), use this connection as it is very good quality.

Unfortunately, you will need to install some sort of capture device, and these are always USB or PCI cards, unless your computer is a laptop in which case you may be able to find a PC-Card based capture card.

If the camera has a Firewire/iLink/IEEE1394/DV out (four names for one socket) and your PC has the same, use that. This is unlikely, however as an Analogue camera is unlikely to have a Digital output and very few PCs have Firewire inputs.

[paulyoung666]

and also make sure you have a large 7200 rpm drive in your pc as well

[Sociable]

As for software there are a number of free programs that will let you capture and manipulate the video so once you have sorted the capture/tv card and connections let me know what sort of things you want to do and I can steer you to free solutions that should cover most of what you want to do.

On the general point of quality the basic rule is work in uncompressed format until you have the finished video and then encode that to a suitable format depending on size and use constraints as the final stage. Note this will be space intensive though as video takes up a lot of space when it is uncompressed.

It is conversion to one of the compressed format that tends to be the major source of reductions in quality. (A bit like working with a copy of a copy of a copy) This is why I have suggested you work with uncompressed files if you have space.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by bob_a_builder

I want to import my video 8 (analogue) footage from camcorder to move it to another media

Any suggestions on how/best way to do the input side of things
pci card / usb box/ units to be avoided.
Don;t really want a Tv card, just a input device

Most of the conversion is done by pc/software isn't it so how important is input device to final quality ?

Over to you ...

What Camcorder do you have. What outputs does it have? Composite / SVideo.
Is this the only Camcorder you have or do you have a newer Digital Camcorder (or access to borrow one?) - Many have analogue capture functionality, my Cannon MV530i does.
How much do you want to convert? If there is not much you may find it easier to outsource.
What do you want your final output to be VCD/SVCD/DVD

Re Conversion quality. Garbage in = Garbage out. You want the best quality capture of the original source to work with.

[bob_a_builder]

Sorry, should have said.
old Sony with Composite video output, no access to newer camera, would want final output on dvd, got about 15-20 90min tapes to do , I'm assuming about 1 dvd per tape - how big a drive for 90min uncompressed vid ? - although not looking to do much (if any) editing, so going straight to compressed may be ok.
More a case of archiving/move from old media to to new media

[paulyoung666]

if you are using win xp then windows movie maker would do the job , i have got an old hauppage wintv card that has inputs for composite and s-video so that could be used for capture then it would be a case of getting it onto dvd

[Sociable]

Ahhh 90 min uncompressed would swamp any drive sorry I thought you were working with short clips.

Ok in that case using a compression like Divx makes perfect sense but seeing as you intend to go back to DVD the mpeg1 (VCD) or Mpeg2 (SVCD) are maybe the better codecs to use.

Most DVD recorders come with the software to make DVD's so the final stage is conversion using the DVD creation software this should allow you to fit one tape per DVD.

If you don't have a DVD recorder then you can create VCD or SVCD that will play in most stand alone DVD players. VCD will allow about 73 mins per CDr and SVCD allows about 45 mins per 700MB CDr. The software for burning these is built in to Nero and the later versions of EZCD btw.

The editing software you need is obtainable from doom9.org as I posted earlier and you will also find many help sites for step by step guides to the whole process whichever route you decide to try.

Edit: Just did a quick check on a test file and the space required is close to 1 gig a min for average frame size and rate of video, so you would need 100 gig drive to be safe if using fully uncompressed video and further space for working room to create the compressed version. LOL

[SMHarman]

My DV Cam uses about a Gig per 4 minutes (I think, will check tonight), thus 25Gb for 90mins. Certainly the 100Gb I have allocated to my Video drive is adequate for editing two tapes at a time and having 2 DVDs of MP2 awaiting burning.

Ms Movie Maker II and TMPGenc will work nicely as a pair to create the DVD files, you can scan through each tape to find the stuff you really don't want and also find index points, or just mark the DVD at 5 min intervals.

I then use TMPG disc creator or Nero to burn using the Sony DMU10 (or something like that) from ebuyer.

Panasonic have just bought out a standalone machine to do this in the US. Pretty cheap, you might want to wait for that.

[SMHarman]

Just looked at some imported tapes. Around 11Gb/hr.

Yes you need a good bit of space but a 60Gb HDD should have enough headroom on it.

[vaiolator]

Forgive me if I am making a false presumption here, but it appears you are looking for an easy transfer from analogue tape to dvd without getting in to technicalities. If so, this may help you.
http://www.averm.co.uk/avermedia/pro...D_ezMaker.html
It comes with leads to plug video into the card and sound to the 'ext' of the sound card. It has s-video too.
I bought mine last summer from Maplins for just under £50. Just choose the best setting for mpeg2 and it converts as the tape plays. You then follow the various steps including making of index and chapter pages. Also, update the software when it's installed as there are a few tweaks and bug fixes in that. I've used it and it seems fine to me.
If you have any questions, I will try to help.
Cheers, Sean.

[bob_a_builder]

Originally Posted by vaiolator

making a false presumption here

Nothing false about that - the simpler the better, The avermedia looks good

THIS is damm cheap and claims 640x480

Thanks for all the pointers - goes off for a think ....

[bob_a_builder]

Ordered
THIS in the end, have to say very impressed with image quality and it will go up to 768 x blah. AND cheap as chips

Just got to decide the right compression / files size to use, tried VCD, but wasn't vey happy with that, so think it'll be one DVD per 90min tape.

Works fine with its own software and Microsoft Move Maker ( ver 2 is now available for free d/l from MS - much better that std one, should be about right by ver 3)

Had a trial of most of the s/w out there, Ulead DVD workshop seems to hit the right balance for me, but some minor (i hope) importing issues to be sorted yet

[vaiolator]

At that price you can afford to try it and get something else if you're not pleased with it. VCD is ok for recording things off the tele and watching at work, when quality isn't an issue. Let me know how you get on.
Good luck.
Sean.