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Digital Video to PC [Firewire to USB]

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Posted on February 25, 2019 at 02:48:38
cawson@onetel.com
Audiophile

Posts: 2381
Joined: September 27, 2004
 Not posted here before but hopefully someone can offer a simple solution to a simple problem.

I have many hours of video on DVCAN digital tape. I want it in my PC so I can ditch the tapes and sell the machine that plays them.

So 2 questions:

What hardware do I need to connect the Firewire output from the VCR to my PC?

What software do I need to capture the video and provides a minimal level of editing? All I really want to do after capture is to cut each 3 hour recording into several separate scenes / files.

The next problem will be with my SVHS recordings. Again hundreds of hours that need to be transferred to my PC. This will be S-Video and phono audio to USB, then digitise and capture. Any suggestions appreciated?

Peter

 

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RE: Digital Video to PC [Firewire to USB], posted on August 21, 2019 at 12:41:30
bassbinotoko
Audiophile

Posts: 469
Location: Vancouver Island
Joined: January 27, 2009
 Install a Firewire port on the computer? I've had the best results using the Firewire port on an Audigy 2 ZS sound card (compared with motherboard Firewire or a Firewire-only card). Those cards could be picked up cheap at computer recyclers like Freegeek. (It's nicest to get the version with the Live Drive front panel, but a bare-bones version still has the back-panel Firewire port.)

As for capture software, I've recently been using WinDV to transfer MiniDV recordings. It can also record streaming video from a camcorder. So, play your SVHS recordings into a MiniDV camcorder (that has analog inputs) and the camcorder will digitize the audio and video and send it to the computer over Firewire. For the best quality analog captures, there should be a Time Base Corrector involved; TBCs can be standalone pro devices, but VCRs, camcorders, and capture devices may also include that function. My setup involves an SVHS Sony VCR that claims to have TBC, and the analog video from that goes to a Sony camcorder that also claims to have TBC. Either way, I'm getting better looking captures than I got when I used various PC analog capture cards.

 

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