VHS to DV Transfer

Hi all, I'm currently transferring consumer VHS video tape to DV. I have had audio sync problems but have solved that by changing the Audio Capture setting to 32 kHz. The problem I'm having is that the dimensions of the VHS footage is different then the standard DV or D1 settings.
I have tried to set the aspec ratio to 4:3 640 x 480 but that does not solve the problem. The video comes in with black areas on either side and at the bottom.
So my question is...does anyone know what the proper dementions are for VHS format in FCP. I would like to set a Capture Preset using the information.
Thank You!

Yes, ofcorse you are correct. I have a consumer VCR hooked up to my Panasonic VTR and was looking for a short cut for transfering the media into FCP.
I have a mountain of VHS tapes to encode so I'm going to take Studio X's advise and purchase the Canopus ADVC-300...and do the job right.
Thanks to all for your input.

Similar Messages

Software for VHS/Video 8 Transfer onto Mac

Hi. I am looking for some software to be able to transfer footage from our old cancorder, which I think is mini video 8, onto our Mac. I am a a complete novice at this type of thing so don't want anything to whizzy but I am willing and able to learn! Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you :0)

Hi,
There is no software that will do this. You need a hardware device called an analog-digital converter. The Canopus ADVC-110 is a good example that is used by many people in these forums.
You would connect the a/v out from your camcorder or VCR to the converter, and connect the converter to your Mac via firewire. Then when you play the videotape in your camcorder or VCR, you can capture the video using iMovie or Final Cut.

Problems capturing VHS video - help please (Elements 11)

I've tried without success trying to capture a VHS tape into Elements 11 for two hours now and really need some guidance please.
The hardware is a Win 7 64 bit desptop and my VCR player is connected to the PC via a Canopus ADVC55 firewire connection, through an S-video and L/R audio inputs. The VHS tape is a Japanese one whihc plays fine through the VCR when it is connected directly to my TV.
The capture process I'm trying to use is "DV Camcorder" but I keep getting an error message in the capture window stating that "Camera settings do not agree with project settings" and that the capture process may not work properly.
To solve this I've tried almost all the NTSC settings in the New Project dialogue box. Sometimes the Canopus isn't recognised, sometimes it is but I get the above error message but nothing gets captured.
I would have thought the correct project setting would be NTSC/DV/Standard 48kHz but i just get the error message. When I ticked the "force these settings for the project" box I got an immediate blue screen of death!
I'm obviously doing something - or several things - that aren't right. I'd be very grateful if somebody could put me straight. All over the internet are articles saying how easy this VHS to DVD transfer is!!
TIA. John.

Thank you very much gentlemen for your help and advice. I've had a whale of a time this afternoon trying to make some sense of the problem.
I've downloaded WinDV and updated the Firewire drivers. I've checked Device Manager and there is nothing there about dropped frames or timcodes. I've also tried every combination of the Canopus dipswitches making sure that I reboot bewteen setting changes. I've tried 2 different VHS players and also swapped out the cables. I've also found an old Miglia capture device and tried that as well in case the problem lies with the Canopus.
The conclusions so far:-
1. Using WinDV with the Canopus set to NTSC I get a picture straight away no problem and audio works as well. BUT the pictures are in black & white not colour.
2. The Canopus doesn't pass the video through to WinDV with the dipswitches set to PAL - the status light stays red.
3. So going back to elements 11 I've tried both dipswitch settings. With PAL the Canopus doesn't pass the signal through as for WinDV.
4. With Elements 11 with the dipswitch set to NTSC and the New Project settings at PAL/HD/Standard 48kHz I get the error message about "Camera settings and Project settings being different" and my PC hangs completely.
5. With Elements 11 with the dipswitches set to NTSC and the New Project settings at NTSC/HD/Standard 48kHz I get the message as above but if I close it then the "record" button is inactive and no video is recorded.
6. And those results are the same for both VHS players.
7. With The Miglia device I get no picture or sound with either WinDV or Elements 11 no matter what type of VHS tape I try to record.
And that's as far as I've got.
Are there any other Project settings I should try? Can anybody help with the Black and White issue with WinDV?
I just want to get the VHS recorded via any piece of software now!
Thanks again.

Limiting capture when capturing VHS via DV converter

Hi,
Is there any way in FCPX or iMovie 11 to limit the capture of a VHS tape via a DV convertor (e.g. Canopus ADVC)? Alternatively, will capturing stop when the VHS tape comes to an end, or will it keep capturing until I click stop?
I have hundreds of VHS tapes to transfer and I don't want to have to babysit the machine!
Ideally, I want all the files in .mov or .dv format so I can edit in FCPX.
Many thanks!

BenB - thanks for confirming there isn't a way to limit the capture duration
Thomas - thanks for info about analog not being able to capture in FCPX - I have also come to that conclusion, and I am currently using iMovie to transfer my 8mm tapes using a Digital 8 camcorder. I also assume canopus would have the same issue as there wont be timecode in the signal.
1 Open Loop - My specific question on this post is about limiting the capture duration, which I now have confirmed you cannot do (i.e. is a VHS tape is 1hr 20min, I want it to stop after that time, rather than recording a blank signal till I click stop. Same goes for iMovie).
Do anyone recommend other software to do this job (other than FCP7 which I am trying to avoid using for now)?
Thanks

(newbie alert) - simple question?

My Dell is four years old and dying. I am considering an iMac G5. One of the main things I would want to be able to do with it, right out of the box, is as follows. I asked someone at the Apple store if this was easy to do, and his response seemed very complicated. Would a new iMac G5 using just the pre-loaded iLife stuff be able to the following:
I have burned many old home family movies from VHS to DVD using a DVD recorder hooked up to the VCR. The DVD recorder is a cheap model, so it doesn't allow me to edit much at all; I more or less get just a straight transfer of whatever is on the VHS tape, over to the DVD.
I'd like to be able to pop in one of those DVDs I've generated from those VHS tapes, and then be able to really aggressively work with that "footage" to create montage clips into a new "movie", so maybe out of 60 minutes of raw footage of a family picnic from 1985, I want to be able generate a watchable 5-minute DVD clip that just shows the interesting stuff. I'd like to be able to lay music from iTunes over top of this, add titles and credits and whatnot, and then burn to DVD to share with family members, or upload to a web location (.Mac?) for family members to access and view.
It would be nice if I could also incorporate digital still photos from my digital camera, and/or short MPEG movies my "still" camera can take (each just 15 seconds long).
Is this all within the easy grasp of the iLife suite?
Thanks!

Thanks.
Last night, I took a close look at the inputs and outputs on my little JVC mini-DV video camera, which is about four years old. It's pretty clear it has no analog-in ports, so I don't think I can use it as the go-between unit from the VHS for a transfer of the VHS content onto the iMac. Reason being, the only "in" port on the mini-DV camera is a little "DV in /out" port, and I certainly don't believe the VCR has any type of corresponding "DV" output line. So, as for getting the old home movies from the VHS tapes into the iMac for editing and DVD buring, I believe -- based on the responses I've received in this forum -- it does boil down to using something like the Canopus ADVC-100 to allow me to make that transfer.
The related question for the overall project then becomes, am I confident I'll be able to get content into mu iMac from my other main source: a small library of home movies on mini-DV cassette tapes. The JVC mini-DV camcorder has an S-video out port (plus a "headphone" audio out jack that splits to RCA audio lines), so where can I run that to get it into the iMac? Would the Canopus ADVC-100 take that in? The only other "out" line on the camcorder is that "DV in/out" line I mentioned above. Nothing anywhere says anything about firewire... is that "DV" line a standard thing? Can the iMac take it in directly? Could it run through the Canopus unit?
Thanks a million.

Can't publish-project too long

I will give more background later, but to put my issue shortly, I will give the following info:
I have one video clip that I have trimmed (by taking a bit from the beginning and a bit from the end). It is almost 2 hours long (1:56 to be exact).
So, I have one clip in the project and no music. A pretty simple project. I say share with iDVD. It says it will take about 2 hours or so... and it seems to be going through all the appropriate processing, then, as it approaches the end of the process, it pops up with an error message from iMovie:
Unable to prepare project for publishing.
The project could not be prepared for publishing because an error occurred. (Project is too long.)
(I'd give the little illustration, but whenever I bring up "Grab", it hides the pop-up error. Once I click on iMovie, the pop-up error returns. Weird!-- But this is a moot point as this isn't the problem- I need to publish my project to iDVD.)
Other facts:
I have 11.4 GB available on my hard drive, so this is not the issue. (I had cleared up space thinking that was the problem as this is the second or third time I've attempted)
The original movie file that is in the project is about 2.29 GB in size.
Oddly, it seems that an error pops up under my Aperture saying I don't have sufficient space for the library volume. I was doing nothing on the MacBook while this project was publishing, so not sure why that is coming up... and not sure why it would say there isn't sufficient space for the library if I have tons of space on my hard drive. And, why is it popping up each time I try to publish my iMovie project? There aren't any photos from Aperture even in the project.
This mp4 file that I am using is actually a file produced by Elgato Video Capture (This is a VHS to digital transfer), if this matters at all.
Previously, I had imported some jpegs into iPhoto, (for another iMovie project that I needed photos for), but iMovie could not "see" them even though they were there plain as day. So, I imported into Aperture those same photos, and iMovie was able to "see" those in Aperture (these 11 photos are all I have in Aperture as I have not ventured into Aperture much yet-- but needed a work around for some reason on this OTHER project). I give this info in the instance that this Aperture to iMovie link could be causing any issue with this project despite no photos being included in this project.

Even though it might seem like a lot of space those 11.4GB of space, you still might need a little more especially as iDVD can only just about handle 2hr. worth of video material to fit on one DVD-R. The target free space you might want to get closer to is something like 25GB of open free space (almost double what you have free now). Partially the reason is all that 2 hours needs to be converted from the format it's in now Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) to full MPEG-2. That's where things really start to expand and inflate. Then iDVD takes that whole MPEG-2 encoded file and makes an equally large Disk Image out of it that can then be burned to DVD-R. So the space requirements balloon up very quickly.
Sharing directly to iDVD can be full of surprises. Instead what you might want to try rather than Sharing to DVD is instead sharing it to the Media Browser from iMovie first (Large Size). Quit iMovie wants it completes the encoding. Open iDVD, go to the Media button down in the lower right hand corner of the Window and at the top of the Media Browser choose Movies. In the window you should see an iMovie Star icon with the project you shared immediately beneath that. Create a new project and drag that shared iMovie into the project window.

What cables do I need to hook up my vcr to a minidv

Hi, I want to take my home videos (currently on vhs tapes) and transfer them to my mac mini computer so I can create dvds using imovie and idvd. I have the Sony DCR HC32 minidv (that has the "pass-through" feature). What cables do I need in order to hook my vcr up to the minidv, and what cables do I need to hook my minidv up to my computer? Thanks.

VCR to Digital Camcorder using whatever the highest input interface the camcorder has in common with the VCR (be it S-Video, etc.).
You need a FireWire cable to connect the Camcorder to Mini most likely if its a Sony unit. Check the manual. You will need a Mini-FireWire (probably 4-pin) to 6-pin adapter (this side plugs into your apple mini).
That should do it, most likely iMovie will detect the Camcorder and start sucking down video.

Keeping track of multiple projects

I have an 84min movie I made years ago and want to edit a 3min trailer and a longer 12min trailer from footage I captured via the original VHS 4:3 transfer to mini-DV. I want to maintain the original 4:3 transfer but add 16:9 mattes to the two trailers.
My concern is how to keep track of the various versions I want to make. I have already created a New Project for the full 84 min 4:3 and created a 2nd New Project that I put a 16:9 matte over. Framing is quite good too.
I plan to make new projects for each version unless there's an easier way to keep track of everything. Nesting is also a consideration but I've never really done that before.
Any comments, suggestions, warnings, etc. greatly appreciated.

Not sure I understand what's wrong with the way you are doing it now.... creating new projects for each change? Or you could have one project with different sequences for each change.... Should be simple to keep track of things as long as you come up with a naming convention that works for you and then stick to it.
rh

What cable can I use?

What cable can I use to transfer old VHS tapes from my VHS player to my new IMac and IMovie (VHS to DVD transfer)? And where would be the best place to purchase such a cable? My VHS has only coaxial or RCA plugs as outputs. The IMac has firewire cable inputs.

Fixit2at,
Welcome to the Discussions.
It's more than just a cable you need.
To go from VHS to iMovie requires converting an analog video signal to digital.
Some miniDV cameras have an analog/digital pass through mode. If you have access to such a camera, that may be a solution.
If not, you'll need some hardware, such as this:
http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC55/index.php
or
http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php
Matt

Test Drive Got Me!

Attempting to install iMovie 4 from the original install disk, I was confident there was nothing I could not recover from, software-wise. I thought I would give it a shot and see what the process was like and if it gave me the proper choices. Worst case I thought was going the Pacifist route.
Totally forgot about MS Office test drive being on it and was surprised that it was the only app restored to original version. When the message 'Test Drive expired..' appeared of course I knew this may not be good.
So--any hope of salvaging office or will I need to use my last key? (maybe the original key is tied forever to my book?)
Joe

Hey JDee, thanks for the shoulder, and the legwork.
Your first two links were for pc's, but the third was useful and comforting. I went ahead and re-installed Office, after making sure test drive was gone, did the security update for Office, and all is well-at least till the other shoe drops.(;>)
Whole thing started when my wife brought home from the museum a four-minute VHS tape to transfer to DVD so it could play to the masses. I thought about bringing it into iMovie, copying and pasting the clip to fill up the disk. iMovie never saw my sony codec a/d converter the way it did for our old family VHS tapes. Then I realized it didn't see that anymore either! As it turns out, iMovie 4 could do it but not 5, not sure about 6. One of the members of iMovie forum runs 4 along side of 5 without any problems, even has both in the dock.
Anyway, thanks again,
Joe

How can i achieve VHS analog to digital transfer with yosemite

I have been doing ours of research and phone calling to find an effective way to transfer old VHS videos to my Mac with Yosemite so that I can burn them to DVDs. These are so important to me as they include videos of my three children from birth until the age of DVDs. There is NOTHING out there that I can find that will work. The "Debut" program available online for free does not clarify whether it will work with a Mac or with Yosemite. If anyone has any thoughts, please let me know. I can't afford to spend thousands of dollars to send my VHS tapes out to a company that does this.

You're going to need additional hardware to be able to import the video.
If you want the cheap and easy way, get something like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Funai-Full-HD-Upconvert-DVD-VCR-Combo/27584753
You can dub the home made VHS tapes to DVD, then if you want to edit them, you can rip the DVDs, edit them on your Mac, then burn new ones.
For $153, you're going to have a hard time beating the price once you factor in the hardware you'd need to be able to connect your VHS player to your Mac for importing the video.

Transfer VHS and Hi8 movies into imovie

I have a bunch of old Hi8 and VHS movies that I want to transfer into imovie so that I have them in digital format for the future. I know you need a device that you plug your analog player into (like your VCR or camcorder) and then that device will go to the mac via usb2 or firewire. Can anyone recommend a few devices that will work seamlessly with imovie. Preferably inexpensive?

From VHS to DVD
Give New Life to Old Movies
http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/features/fromvhstodvd/
Some tested DV converters:
http://www.macworld.com/2004/07/reviews/firewiredigitalvideoconverters/

Is it Possible to Transfer Movies from VHS and HI8 to DvD via Encore?

I have been trying to figure out a way to transfer my inlaws' home videos from VHS tapes and HI8 8mm tapes to my computer to burn them to DVD. I have been unsuccessful so far. I thought about just taking them to a transfer place, but there are roughly 30 tapes and I need 6 copies of each one. Any thoughts, recommendations, or links to helpful threads would be appreciated.
I don't know what format/resolution to transfer from into the computer or what will work best to burn out to DvD.
I have been told that I can't transfer directly into FCE without a firewire port (which this computer does not have) so I have been using a MyGica iGrabber to transfer files in.
Macbook w/ Lion 10.7.2
Adobe Creative Suite CS5
Final Cut Express
Thanks,
Taylor

Encore does not do video capture, that would be Premiere Pro via Firewire
A model 55 at http://www.grassvalley.com/products/converters is one way from external to computer, and creates the DV AVI files you need for PPro editing
If you don't need to edit the files at all, those DV AVI files may be used by Encore for DVD authoring
I know nothing about the device you mention... what kind of files does it create?
Some information
PDF http://blogs.adobe.com/adobecustomersuccess/2011/05/14/help-support-pages-for-creative-sui te-applications/
Here Tutorials
Right side of http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL507B3498B4479B96&feature=plcp
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/913334
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/845731
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3234794
A "crash course" http://forums.adobe.com/thread/761834
A Video Primer for Premiere http://forums.adobe.com/thread/498251
Premiere Tutorial http://forums.adobe.com/thread/424009
And http://forums.adobe.com/message/2738611
And http://blogs.adobe.com/kevinmonahan/2012/08/28/free-video-tutorial-samples-from-learning-p remiere-pro-cs6/
-and more from Kevin http://forums.adobe.com/message/4714153
http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2010/06/video_tutorials_didacticiels_t.html
And
http://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2010/06/how_to_search_for_premiere_pro.html
And http://bellunevideo.com/tutlist.php
Premiere Pro Wiki http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
Tutorial http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Premiere/1
Tutorial http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/forumdisplay.php?f=21
Tutorial HD to SD w/CS4 http://bellunevideo.com/tutorials/CS4_HD2SD/CS4_HD2SD.html
Exporting to DVD http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premierepro/cs/using/WS3E252E59-6BE5-4668-A12E-4ED0348C3FDBa.h tml
And http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premierepro/cs/using/WSCDE15B03-1236-483f-BBD4-263E77B445B9.ht ml
Color correction http://forums.adobe.com/thread/892861
After Effects Tutorials http://www.videocopilot.net/
Surround Sound http://forums.adobe.com/thread/517372
Photo Scaling for Video http://forums.adobe.com/thread/450798
-Too Large May = Crash http://forums.adobe.com/thread/879967
-And another crash report http://forums.adobe.com/thread/973935
CS6 http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?282290-New-Tutorial-Working-Faster-in-Premiere-Pr o-CS6
Video Scaling https://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2010/10/scaling-in-premiere-pro-cs5.html
Encore http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-encore-cs4/
Authoring http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/dvd_authoring/
Encore Tutorial http://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/05/encore-tutorial/
And more Encore http://library.creativecow.net/articles/devis_andrew/
Regions and NTSC vs PAL http://forums.adobe.com/thread/951042
-and Regions http://forums.adobe.com/thread/895223

I want to transfer my VHS-C videos to DVD.

I want to transfer my VHS-C videos to DVD using my I MAC (Mid-2011). I have the camcorder (Panasonic PV-IQ305) to use. I also have a VHS player I can use.

Does the Panasonic camcorder have the play thru capability? If it does you can connect the camcorder to your Mac with a FW cable, put in a tape, launch iMovie and play the tape in the camcorder to import it into iMovie. If the camera does not have play thru see if you can find one that does. Then connect your VHS player to the camera and the camera to your iMac.
Otherwise you'll need to use a converter like the Canopus converters. They are not inexpensive but do an excellent job. I used the ADVC-100 model to convert all of my VHS videos to digital and then burn to iDVD. There are undoubtly other converters on the market that do the same function. The Canopus is the only one I've seen discussed in this community.
If you could borrow a camcorder with pass thru you could save a few $$$.
OT

VHS Transfer quality

I transfer my VHS tapes through my camcorder to my computer. What can i do to get good quality when it's time to burn the VHS transfer to a DVD-R.

I captured the VHS footage to DV tapes first, and then imported them to computer. I thought the quality was better that way. Some of my VHS tapes are over 20 years old, and I was surprised that they looked better on DV tape.
My DVDs were the same quality as the DV tapes.
You will probably find that your DVDs look better that the footage in computer. I found that iMovies from my VHS footage looked darker and blurrier than the DV or DVD.
But, as pointed out, VHS tapes are just not good quality.

VHS to DV Transfer

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