VHS to Digital

[Mike]

Quick question, looking at recording video whilst at the field from wireless cameras etc...I don't have the equipment to record digitally but should be able to to record to VHS. Whats the best way to convert to digital so I can edit on my computer and post to the web?

 

[cydermaster]

A TV capture card is what your after. Simply have a few here: https://www.simply.co.uk/search/tv+capture/index.htm

If you can connect your vid & capture card by composite vid/audio (the phono sockets, not the normal co-ax arial sockets), the quality will be vastly improoved, as the signal doesn't have to be modulated/demodulated.

Beyond that, I've not had that much experience with using capture cards & the software, but I'm sure there are some people here who can help with that.

 

[stevem]

Mike, I just bought a video capture card for my PC, it was one of these

https://www.ctxtec.com/products/media_md001.htm


The little rocket video I just posted was done with an X10 wireless color camera to a VCR. I was then able to connect VCR to the video input card and convert the VHS to digital.

The card comes with some decent software that lets you edit the videos and burn them to DVD or save them as MPEGs and AVIs.

I bought my card from CDW for about $40.00

 

[Planet Andy]

Mike,

Now here's where my professional expertise comes into play...What cyder and steve said. A reasonably priced capture card and the associated software should do you right. If you are on a Macintosh you may not even need the capture card as a composite video input is standard on Mac. If you want to get more into editing with some effects look into adobe premiere. To post my videos on the web I'm always trying it differently in an attempt to keep file sizes small and accessible. On my 2:00 video of the "long overdue" maiden flight at
www.planetandy.com/palo.html

I recorded it on a sony Digital8 format camera. Captured it in Final Cut Pro via firewire to Macintosh. Exported it as a "still video sequence" THEN I converted each jpg in the 2:00 (60 of them) to 320 x 240 gifs manually in adobe photoshop. THEN I imported the 60 gifs into a little freeware program called gifbuilder which allows you to build animated sequences of gifs and there ya have it. It absolutely was a very convoluted process but the image looks pretty good and is well under 1/2MB.

What you want to do is definetly within your reach.

take care,
Andy

 

[bobkrech]

To reemphasis what Andy said, Sony Digital8 cancorders, or any other camcorder with a standard video input will convert an NTSC input from a VHS recorder to digital format either to 8 mm tape or to DV tape on DV camcorders. If your camera has a firewire or usb output you can direct the output to your computer, or if your camcorder uses a memory stick or other such device, you may be able to directly convert the video to a .mpg format and then transfer it to your computer if you have a card reader.

DVD recorders are also becoming affordable. Direct the NTSC output of the VHS deck into the DVD recorder input to make a DVD and then transfer it to your computer.

Bob Krech