Converting analog to digital video

Does anybody know a cheap way to convert analog video (from a VHS) to digital video that can be burned on a DVD? A converter box is probably my best option as I have no digital camcorder, but I was looking for one under $150. So far the only ones I can find send the analog signal to the computer, where it is converted to digital by software. This would be fine, but the software is Windows only. I either need a converter box that converts the signal within the box and sends a digital signal to the computer, or one that comes with converting software for Mac. Preferably composite video (yellow, red, white), and preferably something that uses firewire, although if I have to I can use USB
Thanks,
Tom
iMac G4 15-inch 800 Mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9) iMovie 3.0.3, Toast 7 Titanium, no iDVD

Not sure what you mean by "breaks up in places".
In iMovie4, the maximum clip size is 2 gigabytes. When importing from a camera or converter, iMove will just start a new clip ever 9 1/2 minutes (2 gb), but you don't lose a single frame.
If you're getting irregular breaks, including the loss of video (may be hard to tell, if it's only a frame or two), you either have a cable problem (maybe just not plugged-in securely) or a VHS tape that is a bit out of synch. For that, you might need Time Base Correction, where the hardware will basically ignore the synch data on the tape and replace it with it's own. There are VCRs and video converters that have TBC built-in, but they're more expensive. There are also separate pieces of gear that do only that. I dunno whether digital cameras are available that do this.
First, I'd see if it happens with other tapes, then try another VCR, before spending megabucks on more gear.

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I have a USB-based Analog-to-Digital video converter that I used when I had my PC, for transferring old family video tapes to digital to burn DVDs.
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Mike Rivera wrote:
... Can I use this with my Mac with iMovie 08), or will the Mac only accept digital video via a Firewire input?
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Analog to digital video

Does anyone know the quality difference between the analog to digital video converter in the Canon Elura 100 camcorder vs stand alone converters. I own an Elura and am converting older Hi8 video to my Mac and it is hard to find specs on these devices regarding resolution, sampling rate, etc. Has anyone noticed any problems with video converted using the Elura ?

Faedo,
Cheapest ways:
1. Do you have a DV camera? If you do and it has "digital in" then you can take the output from your VHS player, route it through the camera and into your PC. The manual would explain if it is a feature.
2. Secondly, search ebay for Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge. This is a hardware converter that takes the analogue and does the conversion for you.
Good luck.

Converting Analog to Digital

Hi,
Really quick - what's the best option for getting video via my DVD player into FCP - an analog capture card or an external converter (the ones I've seen are USB 2.0?
Thanks,
Craig

If you need to pull video off of a DVD, use MPEG Streamclip (free).
As for Analog vs digital, it has to be digital to work with the video. If you have a firewire camera, use the inputs on that to pass the video through.

Small thin line at the bottom when converting analog to digital

I encounter a small line at the bottom of my videos (this is also on the DVD that I burn) when I try to convert my Sony Hi8 to Digital while using iMovie HD6. When I try this at home on my Sony Viao PC with the built in Giga Pocket Converter there is no line. I thought that it might be my DV converter a datvideo DAC-200 so I got a PyroA/V Link converter and the result was the same. When I use my Sony DV Camcorder every thing is great. I talked to apple support and they said that it was probably the tape. I told them that I had tried several HI8 tapes and the result was the same. (they were no help) Does anyone have these issues BB
MacBook Pro2,2 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Intel Croe 2 Duo 2.33 GHZ

See also:
http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~f76998/video/conversion/#faq
4. Frequently Argued Questions
4.1 Isn't 720 the real width of a 4:3 image? If not, then why are 720 pixels sampled instead of 711 or 702 (or whatever)?
720 pixels are sampled to allow for little deviation from the ideal timing values for blanking and active line lenght in analog signal. In practice, analog video signal - especially if coming from a wobbly home video tape recorder - can never be that precise in timing. It is useful to have a little headroom for digitizing all of the signal even if it is of a bit shoddy quality or otherwise non-standard.
720 pixels are also sampled to make it sure that the signal-to-be-digitized has had the time to slope back to blanking level at the both ends. (This is to avoid nasty overshooting or ringing effects, comparable to the clicks and pops you can hear at the start and end of an audio sample.)
Last but not least, 720 pixels are sampled because a common sampling rate (13.5 MHz) and amount of samples per line (720) makes it easier for the hardware manufactures to design multi-standard digital video equipment.

Need converter - analog to digital via firewire

I'm looking to buy a converter to convert analog (VHS home movies) directly into iMovie via firewire. What are you using and have you had any problems? Thank you for your suggestions.

My Analog to DV passthrough settings memo:
1. Take the tape out of the camcorder
2. Connect the analog device's audio and video to the camcorder's minijack, use the S-Video jack for video if the output device supports S-Video
3. Put the camcorder into VTR-mode
4. Select A/V->DV out: ON, in VTR mode's menu choices
5. Disable the info display on the the camcorder by toggling its DISPLAY button
6. Put iMovie (or other DV application) to the Camera Mode
The analog image should now appear on the camcorder's screen as well as on the iMovie's screen.
Note that if you have a tape in the camcorder, you have to put the camcorder's VTR into REC mode (you may pause the tape) but this is not advisable because it produces wear to the tape.
* Note that the SCART which comes with the European nEUtered TRV320E camcorder is Out-only.
Is it possible to install iMovie 4 on an Intel iMac
I believe iMovie 4 works only on PPC Macs.

Best Analog-to-Digital Video Converter?

What's the best and most inexpensive analog to DV converter for importing video from a VCR onto my eMac?
I'm using iMovie 4 if that makes any difference...
Message was edited by: daftboychemist

Faedo,
Cheapest ways:
1. Do you have a DV camera? If you do and it has "digital in" then you can take the output from your VHS player, route it through the camera and into your PC. The manual would explain if it is a feature.
2. Secondly, search ebay for Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge. This is a hardware converter that takes the analogue and does the conversion for you.
Good luck.

Recommend an analog to digital video converter

The video camera I own is analog but I want to transfer some home movies to my computer to make DVD's.
I don't need anything too fancy, we're talking home movies here.
Thanks.

I've used the entry level converter from Canopus, which works great for converting VHS home movies we made to DVD. You can see it at http://canopus.com/products/ADVC55/index.php .

Analog to digital video converter for DVD

I have a DVD burner that came with my G5. I have a lot of VHS analog tapes that I would like to digitize and turn into DVDs. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive product(s) that will allow me to do that?
Thank you.
Power Mac 2.5GHz Dual Mac OS X (10.3.7)

Faedo,
Cheapest ways:
1. Do you have a DV camera? If you do and it has "digital in" then you can take the output from your VHS player, route it through the camera and into your PC. The manual would explain if it is a feature.
2. Secondly, search ebay for Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge. This is a hardware converter that takes the analogue and does the conversion for you.
Good luck.

Converting analog to digital: Canopus, etc. vs. Camcorder

I have a bunch of old analog tapes and, unfortunately, a digital camcorder that doesn't take analog input. So I need to acquire some new hardware to convert the tapes (I have the old analog camcorder for playback). Is there any reason I should get something like a Canopus, or other converter box, rather than simply buying a used camera off Ebay (understanding the risks of buying used), and then reselling it when done? Looks like there are more used camcorders than used Canopus units. Or, the Canon Elura 100 is available around $300. Guessing that I could use that for a week, in the house only, and sell it on Ebay and lose less than the cost of a Canopus unit. Of course, I guess a Canopus could be resold as well.
Any ideas on the best option here? Part of the equation, of course, is the quality of conversion.

the step of creating a digital tape from the analog tape, with a digital camera, adds an extra step.
Some camcorders feature also analog-to-DV passthrough so you don't have to store the material on a tape if you don't want to.
But it also creates the digital tape to save as an archive, right?
Yes. This is why I 1st transferred my old VHS tapes to digital tape, eventhough my camcorder supports* a-to-dv passthrough. I fianlly wanted to backup those precious tapes.
*This works with iMovie 1-4 only... iMovie 5-6 broke the a-to-dv passthrough feature of my Sony TRV320E. This is why I still have also iMovie 4 installed.
BTW, I haven't seen any good tests whether dedicated converters offer any better quality than the a-to-dv chips inside camcorders.

Universal analog to digital video converters

I have an old Formac Studio converter that requires a $75 EPRON upgrade to work with the newer editions of iMovie; Therefore, I am considering just buying a new video converter to convert old video tapes to DVDs. I could only find a 2004 review, and the top pic was the Datavideo's DAC-100, which only states Mac PowerPC with iMovie 5 compatability (and Windows) on their website (no response yet from their tech support on Intel Macs and iMovie 6 compatabilities). As I have searched for other converters in the $100-200 price range, I can't find any that claim Intel Mac compatability. I don't want to purchase something with issues. Can anyone steer me to an affordable, quality video converter?
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Go to Apple's online store and search EyeTV Hybrid.
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Simultaneous analog and digital video output?

Does anyone know for sure whether the integrated DVI-I port on a MBP can (or cannot) generate analog (VGA) and digital (DVI-D) signals simultaneously?
P.S.
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http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&partno=01780&rsite=f .01780
I am assuming if this works at all, then the MBP will dumb down to the resolution supported by the VGA projector on the DVI-D output (just as it does for the internal display).
Tx, -CR

Depending on which version of the MBP you have, this may work under Windows. But it does not work under OS X. There has never been driver support for it.

Converting analog to digital-no audio

I'm trying to convert some Sony Hi-8 camcorder tapes to ditigal through my new Canon Elura 100 directly into iMovie. The set-up looks good and seems to work as I am importing (video looks good, audio sounds good in iMovie window) but when I play back the clip in iMovie there is no audio.
Sony Hi8 Handycam connected to Canon Elura 100 through A/V ports, Canon Elura connected to iMac through Firewire.
I tried the same thing using my VCR to play a tape and the same thing happens-looks good during import, but no audio on playback.
Anyone else experience this?

I have found my problem
There is this white lead, a yellow lead, and even a red lead....!
Don't worry Ruth, we have all done it!

Analog to digital video conversion

I have some old VHS tapes I'd like to digitize so I can dump them. Is there a way to connect my VCR to my laptop and load them into iMovie? What do I need to be able to do this?
Or is there a better way?

Elgato makes some good products for this. See attached:
http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/Video-Capture/product1.en.html
Regards,
Captfred

Converting analog to digital video

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