VHS to laptop...

used2jeepused2jeep Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
edited August 30, 2006 in Digital Darkroom
...for purposes of motorcycle ride cheesy movies. OK, not even a movie really but more so I can share the ride highlights with family at home.

I've got an older Sony mini8 (?) cam with s-video out and a Tohiba laptop with what I think is a firewire port.

I tried one of those Camera Mate things from Radio Shack but the softwre wouldn't install. Back it went!

Thoughts and help is much appreiated. I tried the search but might have had poor syntax or I just don't understand phototalk.

Comments

  • photodougphotodoug Registered Users Posts: 870 Major grins
    edited August 29, 2006
    concentrate on "video capture" devices....here's an example of what TigerDirect has. Start with something from clearance....cheap to experiment with until you get a handle on what works/doesn't work. Dazzle is a popular model.
  • David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,250 moderator
    edited August 29, 2006
    Hang in there U2J, someone with video importing skills will probably stop in here and help out soon.

    EDIT:
    Hehehehe. See, someone did, above, just as I was composing this.
    My Smugmug
    "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
  • used2jeepused2jeep Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited August 29, 2006
    Thanks folks! Everyone has to start somewhere. Once I get that figured out, most likely time consuming. I'll work on the camera choice or maybe just learn on how to frame and realize what a god shot will/would be. :D
  • cmasoncmason Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited August 29, 2006
    I recommend Pinnacle Systems products. Been a user of their Studio line of products for MiniDV video editing for a long time.Their Studio software gets very high ratings in PC Mag etc.

    Oh and yes, this is extremely time consuming!

    Looks like you might be a candidate for the Studio 500 USB
    Photos
  • used2jeepused2jeep Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited August 29, 2006
    hmmm...
    Couple of good suggestions. I'm very pleased about the same mfg. of them as well. I might be in trouble though because I think I only have 1.1 USB ports on my Toshiba M35. Probably still ok though. I'll ask the support folks at Tiger.
  • colourboxcolourbox Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited August 29, 2006
    USB 1.1 might actually be OK for the very very low resolution of VHS. If you need USB 2.0, stick a cheap USB 2 card in your Toshiba PC card slot (assuming most laptops have them).
  • ChrisJChrisJ Registered Users Posts: 2,164 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2006
    I use a Canopus ADVC-100. It accepts input from composite or S-Video, and has a firewire interface for use with your favorite video editing software. I use Sony Vegas; the *only* program I could find for the PC that I found usable. Otherwise I would have bought a Mac just for Final Cut.

    It has been replaced with the ADVC-110 [canopus.com]. I believe it's functionally equivalent.

    At $200-$230, it's more than the cheaper converters, but I believe the quality is worth it.
    Chris
  • cmasoncmason Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2006
    Don't even think about USB 1.1. It is intolerable for transfering digital photos, digital video is much larger. 4mins of video is about 1GB.

    The Studio software I mentioned above helps by doing a quick, low res capture, and you edit on that. Then when you are ready to create your video file, it goes and grabs the hi-res video segments, and puts it all together. So you really transfer twice, but the hi-res stuff only in small bits. I use a Firewire card, and it takes really only minutes to transfer say 20 mins of low res video, but the final video rendering takes several hours, even on my 3000+AMD, 1GB, with a higher end vidoe card. Chances are, you laptop will be smokin'...be patient.
    Photos
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