Video Capturing

[toddiscool]

Ok so I got a digital video camera for christmas, and I really was not expecting it so I do not know a whole lot. I am firmiliar with how to use the memory card, simple enough, but I am going to need to capture from the cassettes aswell.

I took a quick look at capture cards, but am not usre what i need, or want. I think that my current video card could capture the video, as it has a tv in/out -0 but of course I wiould need to do it in two steps to get the audio aswell, so i think something designed for that would be better.

So in short, what is the best, and cheapest way to capture from a video camera (from the old school cassetts)

BTW the camera is a canon ZR 70 MC.

Thanks guys,

[3RA1N1AC]

i'd think you should just be able to dump the video straight onto your hard drive via Firewire, without needing to capture it. if your DV camera has a Firewire connection (also known as 1394), then you just need to have a Firewire card-- certain audio controllers like the ones on Soundblaster Audigy soundcards or Nforce motherboards have Firewire built-in, and it's standard issue on Apple Mac computers. but you can get a Firewire card separately, as well. http://www.dvcentral.org/Firewire.html

[adamp2p]

Very thoughtful post, brainiac. Merry christmas and happy new year, old pal!

[3RA1N1AC]

whoops. i just edited my post, 'cause i thought he meant he wanted to capture from an analogue camcorder as well. i'm pretty sure that since this is a digital camcorder, he just needs a firewire card.

edit: okay, "The ZR70MC is designed for the transfer of digital video and audio to and from either a PC or another IEEE 1394 terminal-equipped camcorder or professional DV VCR. The DV terminal allows high-quality transfer with virtually no deterioration in quality of images. You can edit and process images by connecting the camera to a PC with the IEEE 1394 terminal."

you just need a Firewire card, and some editing/converting software, to turn it into whatever format you prefer (DivX, VCD, DVD, etc). transferring from a DV camera is a lot more simple (and cheap) than capturing from really old-fashioned video sources, because the DV camera already has a PC connection built into it. just understand that the DV cassettes are a digital format (unlike VHS tapes), and the PC will treat them as such when you connect it with Firewire.

[toddiscool]

That is what I was hopping.

Thanks, that little snippet was about 400X more helpful than the manual.