Analog capture to iMovie

Preface: I'm a nubie to video, and brand new to Mac...
-> I would like to capture about 20 old VHS home videos and edit them in iMovie.
-> I'm not terribly concerned about the quality, but want to get something decent to stream to my TV with my appleTV.
-> I've been reading and searching online for nearly 2 hours now and it seems the ADVC110 will do what I want, but it's too expensive.
-> The Pinacle Video Capture looks like a decent option, but converts to MP4 and sends the video directly to iTunes. I assume I can export from iTunes and import to iMove, but it seems like I'll loose quality.
-> There are many $50ish options for the PC to capture video via usb. It seems like there must be something similar for the Mac.
-> Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

hey there PortlandSteve & welcome to Discussions.
you might be able to find an older Sony, JVC or Panasonic Mini DV cam w/ analog in(pass-through)on eBay or from a local Pawn shop. i found a Sony Digital 8 cam w/ analog to digital(FireWire) conversion @ a local pawnshop a few months ago. you might even be able to find an older or a lightly used newer model of the Canopus device on eBay. but some device that will convert your analog video to digital as a DV stream & go into your Mac over FireWire is what you need for iMovie. check w/ your family & friends to see if they may have such a camera.
good luck.

Similar Messages

I can capture with iMovie 6, but not with FCP 6.0 ('no data from device')

I didn't have any problem with FCP 5, but am getting nowhere with FCP 6 using the same settings (I think). FCP seems to see the camcorder, but can't control it and, even if I manually start the camera, reports 'no data from device' when I do a 'Capture Now'. Device control isn't critical, but I'd sure like to find out why it doesn't see the data stream from the camera (Sony HDR-HC7 / FW400). I must be missing a setting some place, but sure can't find it. On the other hand, I have full device control and zero dropout capture with iMovie (exact same hardware configuration). Any ideas?

Wolfgang Matzl wrote:
canopus works fine, as well as all other devices.
i have tons of tapes and tried a few, none worked.
i tried to capture on both my new imac and my mbpro, no way.
but now i'm sure there is something wrong with the sony handycam, i tried to import with my old final cut studio, and it's not possible, also. fc pro says: waiting for timecode.
so i'm confused now. does the sony dcr-trv not send a timecode? maybe, and this will explain the troubles. but on the other hand i imported successfully some footage with exact this device.
maybe i used the canopus then to correct the timebase, i can't remember how i did it. but this would mean i have to accept loss of quality, since i have to connect the sony with s-vhs with the canopus and convert it.
right now i'm importing a tape with imovie and will have a look how the result is, but as far as i remember, the audio has to be re-rendered when importing in fcpx…
My finger is pointing to a Timecode issue.
Is timecode enabled in the camera?
Is it continuous on the tape?
Al

Capturing with iMovie and importing into fce 4

Hi, everytime I try to capture mini dv footage from my Panasonic camcorder using final cut express, the transfer/capture crashes.
However, capturing using iMovie 08 gives me no problems at all.
Before I spend more time looking into the errors, if I capture using iMovie 08 and then import that into fce 4, am I losing any audio / video quality? I read somewhere that iMovie works off raw dv files - is this what would get imported into fce?
Note: I would import the iMovie project into fce and not be exporting first from iMovie and then importing into fce.
thanks

My video is on mini-DV. The camera I used to record was a panasonic ag-dvx100 PAL. I am using DV-PAL easy setup. I am playing back with a panasonic nv-ds30 camcorder (I rented the other one).
I have now managed to get past the dropped frames - that seemed to have been the test tape. I am now using a different tape, the actual tape i used for the footage. Now everytime I capture (using either mark in/out or capture now) the capture stops with a locating timecode and then breaks. I can't seem to capture it all in one go. This scene when I shot it was a single scene so there were no stops/pauses during the recording.
There seemed to be some discussion on this in the thread (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4183209#4183209) but that was a different camera.
any help would be great.

713x BDA Analog Capture defaults to SVideo?

I am having trouble using the MSI TV@nywhere Plus to stream live video from the composite input to a provider like ustream.tv.
Using a free version of webcamxp/webcam7, I am able to view/stream video ONLY when I select '713x BDA Analog Capture', then 'Video Input > Composite'. Some other clients (such as the ustream.tv producer client), there is only an option to select '713x BDA Analog Capture', which does broadcast (i can see the static being broadcast), but not from the right input port. Unfortunately, I am not able to select the 'composite' video input source, which I think is the problem.
Is there a way to change default the video input for this card? Is there another way to work around this?
I have tried connecting the camera (BNC output) to the TV@nywhere card differently, but found it only worked using: BNC -> RCA -> composite cable -> svideo port on the TV@nywhere card.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt.
Technical Details:
TV@nywhere Plus
Windows XP Home Edition SP1
AMD Athlon 2400+
512MB RAM
DirectX 9.0c

Have you tried BNC female to f male adapter using the antenna/cable in? I didn't have any luck finding BNC female to male PAL, native connector for the cable in is male PAL (card socket is female PAL) but PAL is hard to find in US since it's mostly used in Europe.
I don't know if this type of input would work but the adapter is cheap enough to give it a try.
http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=5368

Importing Files Captured in iMovie HD

Hello,
I'm running Final Cut Express 2.0.3. When I try to import clips to FCE that I captured in iMovie HD 5.0.2 and double-click them so they play in the Viewer, the clip will appear in the viewer but when I press play it will play fine for like a second and then the video stops moving and the audio keeps going and then it gets out of sync. For every single file. They are not HD files, just plain old Mini DV clips. Files captured in FCE play fine, but these files originated from iMovie and just will not play in the viewer. However, if I drag them down to the Timeline and play back in the Canvas window, they play fine (after having to render the audio).
Anyone know why this would happen? They are both Apple software products and one would assume you could simply import files from the lower end to the higher end software. Better yet, why should I have to sit and wait to render the audio? I don't understand why FCE can't just natively handle that format. But I digress; my biggest problem is at least getting them to play properly in the the Viewer window.
Thanks...

OK, here's what I'd do based on what I've tried so far in getting iMovie .dv files into FCE and avoiding having to render.
Open your iMovie .dv file in Quicktime Pro.
Extract the audio track
Export the audio track as a Quicktime Movie, Linear PCM format, Channels Stereo (L R), 48kHz, 16bit sample size
Delete the audio track from the .dv file
Open the exported audio file, select all and copy.
Select All in the .dv file
Add the exported Audio file using Add to Movie
Export/Save As the .dv file as a self contained Quicktime Movie
Use this movie in FCE
The benefit of this approach as opposed to exporting .dv file in one go is that the only thing that is truely exported, etc is the Audio track which is relatively quick. The video track is left unchanged so there is no loss in quality.
The resultant file never has to be rendered in FCE.

Is capturing in iMovie before transfer to FCP affect clip quality?

Capturing in iMovie detects all the start/stops. Then, importing in FCP is a fast and easy way to get all start/stops. But, does the resulting video quality just as good as if the capturing had been done entirely in FCP ?
jcjber
PowerBook 12" Mac OS X (10.4.6)

#20 Using iMovie to Capture for FCP edit
Shane's Stock Answer #20:
iMovie handles the media differently from FCP, specifically where audio is concerned. So it is not a recommended workflow. Here's why...
iMovie captures using DV Stream (.dv) standard which does not use timecode. That is a big disadvantage over the way that FCP captures in that you can't go back and recapture the material at a later date if you need to revisit a project.
The DV/NTSC specification (the one FCP uses) also calls for seperate tracks for audio and video, even if you capture it as one clip. iMovie' DV stream format is muxed audio and video, which means that they are tied together (I can't get into specifics because I ain't no engineer or programmer). FCP is a bit more demanding and captures the seperate audio/video tracks, either in a single media file or as seperate video and audio files. With FCP you could capture video only or audio only because each is defined by the DV specs. while with iMovie you can't.
Also, if you drop the iMovie footage into the timeline, your will get the RED render bar forcing you to render the footage in order to see it...
Shane

Reading files captured in iMovie

I read somewhere that it's good to capture footage in iMovie and then edit in FC Express. I tried that but now I can't figure out how to transfer to FC express. When I try to save a hi rez Quicktime it takes about 6 hours for a five minute clip.

if u want to capture in imovie then send it into fce....then when ur done importing u go to the top click share...then click quicktime...then when it say compress for..youll put full quality..then after that ull save it. and then open fce and go to import and itll be there.

Capturing in iMovie vs FCE

Hello all,
I have just returned from vacation with a little over two hours of film and as I wait for FCE to arrive, I am wondering exactly what the difference is between capturing this footage with iMovie and FCE because I could just capture it now and then edit in a few days with Final Cut. I know that there is another post about this recently, but I don't really know enough about timecodes etc. that are involved in the explanation. Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

In Anthony thread "Backing up unedited family video: Should I capture using FCE or iMovie?" I explain my ideas about capturing in iMovie vs FCE. See:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2950085#2950085
In that post I suggest that capturing in iMovie might be a possibility in some specific cases where recovering unused media files is important. However, there are two major assumptions when working in FCE:
- you do not need timecode
- you accept to render audio of all imported clips from iMovie
Timecode
It is a counter in the format like 00:01:00:12 (here meaning 0 hours 1 min. 0 seconds and 12 frames) that is recorded by the camcorder while shooting video and audio.
This is not saved by iMovie into the .dv files it creates during capturing; instead it is saved by FCE/P into the QT movie during capturing.
FCE makes use of it to reconnect media and capture project, even though it does NOT display it in its interface.
(Note: what is called "timecode" in the timeline, viewer, and canvas windows has the same format but refers to the beginning of the clip or of the sequence, NOT to the original timecode recorded by the camcorder)
Audio rendering.
The .dv format recorded by iMovie during capturing is not a native format for FCE. FCE can import it as I think most video/audio format, but it has to convert it by rendering.
This isn't a major issue in my opinion (others may disagree...) if: a. you don't mind waiting for audio rendering the first time you import from iMovie; and b. you use the following steps to prevent from rendering more times:
- import the clips from iMovie to the browser
- drag the clips to the timeline (all of them get a render red bar for audio)
- render all (opt-R) (the only time you do it because of the iMovie import...)
- drag back the rendered clips to the browser
- delete the original imported clips
Now in the browser you have clips ready for editing that do not require more audio rendering than any other clip directly captured by FCE.
I hope this answers your question
Piero

Analog capture issue

WHILE capturing vhs through an analog capture deck, many videos hit a snag, where they will freeze sporadically on an individual shot and hold for a few seconds and then continue recording. id say this happens about every 5 minutes..any thoughts?
Thanks

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1452436&tstart=0

Video captured in iMovie is split with frames missing

I have a client who sends me video to edit for him in FCP that he captures in iMovie.
Always around the 15 minutes mark there is a break in the footage. Looking in the 'iMovie Events' folder I see two files clip-2165-02-15 22;26;25.mov & clip.mov.
clip.mov is the first part and clip-2165-02-15 22;26;25.mov is the second part.
This would not if when I joined them in the FCP timeline they matched up, but there seems to be a few frames missing.
Does anyone one know what is going on?

FCP's 20 year old, nomenclature and file management are clumsy and capturing is unstable.
FCP isn't even 10 years old. Not even the app that Apple bought and made into FCP is 10 years old yet. And I beg to differ on the capturing being unstable. If it was so unstable, why would over 1 million people be using it? Why would over half of the production companies in Los Angeles be using it if it was so awful and unstable? No. The application is very stable, and very easy to use. If it isn't working right, then something is wrong... Bad tape, bad deck, bad cable, bad install of the app, machine issues, user error.
I've often captured footage in iMove that was causing too much grief in FCP Or when I actually wanted separate clips on TC breaks.
iMovie captures without timecode, nor reel numbers. That is a hugely important thing for professional editors. That is the basis for good file management, and since iMovie lacks that, it's worse at file management then FCP. A professional wouldn't work without TC and reel numbers. It also captures in a codec that mixes audio and video in ways that make the format uneditable in FCP without rendering.
And, BTW, FCP will make separate clips. It has a SCENE DETECTOR that will break up a big clip into subclips (or does it just add markers)...if you want that "easy button."
Attempting to capture this footage in FCP would probably just cause even more headaches.
What footage?
And there are at least as many threads about capturing problems in FCP as there are "iMovie footage" threads. The two are directly correlated.
No...iMovie is consumer, FCP is professional. And capturing problems can be caused by one of a dozen reasons. I listed them above.
If Apple isn't going to fix FCP the least they can do is allow iMovie to share the codecs that are installed with FCP and encourage cross compatibility rather than hobbling it.
Allow FCP to use consumer codecs? Lacking timecode and reel numbers? Ugh...I hope not. And what is broken about FCP? Is EVERYONE having the SAME capture issue? You see a few dozen posts about how capturing footage doesn't work and you think EVERYONE has the issue? With over 1 million FCP copies out there, unless you saw nearly that many posts about the issue, it isn't something that is broken in the application. It is an isolated event happening to a few people.
Looking at posts on FCP is much like sitting in a hospital waiting room. You only see the problems that occur. If you see a dozen people coming in with broken arms, you now assume that EVERYONE has a broken arm? Or that with all these sick people wandering about, that the whole town is sick? No, only a small percentage is sick.
Shane

Can`t detect ATI AVSTREAM ANALOG CAPTURE

I got a problem when i try to detect a TV Tunner Card: ATI AVSTREAM ANALOG CAPTURE with jmf. I got this message:
" the dispositive can`t be use when another applicacion like video, DVD conference, video edition o webtv for windows
is using.If WebTv has been instaled and is running in your sistem, make a pause at video datos services of webtv."
The card works fine with movie maker so it `s not problem of the card, and i don`t have another aplicacion that is using the card.

Miguel Angel wrote:
well actually the message is in spanish and is this:I don't think JMF would spit out Spanish... which makes me think this isn't a JMF message.
Is your ATI card VFW or DirectShow compliant?
so if you understand spanish maybe you can help me.The device cannot be used when in use by this or another video application, like DVD, video conference, WebTV for Windows. In order to use this device with the current application, close the other application that is using it. If WebTV is installed and running, pause the "WebTV Video Data Service" in the taskbar by right-clicking its icon and selecting "Pause Service"...

Interlacing methodology: analog capture, export AVI, DVD authoring?

My question concerns when to interlace and/or deinterlace a video?
The original medium is VHS tape.
The final products will be VHS tape (interlaced) and DVD (progressive).
1. I do an analog capture of a VHS Tape with a Matrox capture card. I assume the new AVI file is interlaced because the tape was interlaced. But maybe I am incorrect.
2A. For the final VHS product, when I export the video to an AVI file, do I need to turn interlacing on or do I need to use the progressive scan option? (If I use the interlacing option, am I doing a double interlace of the video? If I use the progressive scan option, am I preserving the already interlaced video?)
2B. For the final DVD product, when I export the video to an AVI file, do I need to A) use the interlacing option, use the progressive scan option, or C) deinterlace at this point?
3A. For the final VHS product, I merely play the newly exported AVI, and the interlaced video in analog form is outputted from the Matrox capture card and recorded by the VCR. Is that it?
3B. For the final DVD product, I use TMPGEnc (Tsunami MPEG Encoder) to create MPGs prior to authoring the DVD. Do I need to use interlacing or progressive scan options here? See step 2B for previous options performed.
Thank you for your expertise,
John

The source media is interlaced. Leave it that way for all exports.

Analog capture device ?

I need to buy a analog capture device, can anyone recommend one that works well with Adobe premiere elements

If you mean an A-D "bridge," then I'll add a few:
The ADS Pyro gets a lot of high marks, and many here, plus on Muvipix use it. IIRC, the price is about US$150. You might want to survey this forum and also Muvipix for comments on this device.
Canopus offers at least two: the 110 & 300 versions. Were I buying, I'd probably opt for the 300, but it is more expensive. I like the TimeBase correction available. The 100 is about the same price as the ADS unit.
I happen to use a Turtle Beach caputer card and it works well. If I did not already own it, then the Canopus 300 would get my vote.
Good luck,
Hunt

Final cut captures but iMovie won't

Using Sony A-D converter box, firewire, NTSC DV. Final cut recognizes this and captures, but iMovie HD will not.

Thanks Sue
Unfortunately following the steps in that article don't help. I also tried the same on my Macbook- iMovie only gives a choice to use built-in iSight. iMovie doesn't recognize the Sony DVMC-DA1 converter on either computer. Yet Final Cut initializes and sees video right away if you select capture, so the DV-Firewire signal must be getting in there. Any ideas?

Importing problems (hi 8 camera-capture device-imovie)

i am importing from an old canon es3000 hi-8 (analog) camera, through a miglia "director's cut" capture device, to imovie (via firewire) ... there is fragmented line at the bottom of the frame in imovie during import. will that show up in idvd later? also, the imovie is not seperating the clips, so i end up with one long clip. after about 10 minutes the digital footage in imovie becomes fragmented throughout the frame. does anybody know why this is happening? thanks in advance, R.B.
Mac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

see the other post
Don't double post Your questions but address right forum.
Yours Bengt W

Analog capture to iMovie

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