How do i convert analog video to digital?

HG · Post by HG » 04 Nov 2004 14:14

The only real quality camera i have that would pickup movements of freestyle is an old analog camera from 1990.

Is there i way i can convert it to digital?

do i put it on VHS first? How do i get it from VHS to digital?

Wiktor · Post by **Wiktor** » 04 Nov 2004 14:22

It depends on what kind of camera you have.
If It`s 8mm i can help you.

The only way is to buy a TV Tuner (PCI Card) to your PC.
Connect your camera to it (video in/audio in) and
capture movies in the same way as TV programs.

The quality in this kind of vids is rather poor.
Maximum resolution is about 352x288@25fps.

You need a lot o programs and codecs, so....

Good luck.

david · Post by **david** » 04 Nov 2004 14:38

there are things called dazzle adaptors that work i think... search for dazzle recorders on google.

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 04 Nov 2004 14:40

There are also analog video capture devices (probably no longer manufactured) and my brother told me, when I was asking about the same thing, that most video cards come standard with audio/video in/output. I do it the loooong way with horrible quality results -- vcr > camcorder > pc...

EDIT: Yeah -- what David said. Dazzle is a brandname, though, (I think) but I used a Dazzle before my digital days. It may not be compatible with more recent operating systems though.....I had trouble using mine on XP (I think even Windows 98...)

HG · Post by HG » 04 Nov 2004 15:34

hey thanks for the help guys. it would be real helpful if i could use the old analog

it is way better quality than my digi cam, that isnt supposed to be used to record. You'll see when you watch my sick 3, all blurry the whole time.

FootbagFrenzy · Post by **FootbagFrenzy** » 04 Nov 2004 16:06

i have a hi8 camera and i use a dazzle. i have the DVC 150 model. it works well with windows 98 and 2000 both. i have not tried it with xp, but xp is the devil and it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't compatible. it would add to a long list of things that aren't compatible with xp lol my dazzle is great for capturing video but i can't get the software supplied to allow me to edit videos. i can capture a clip and cut peices out of it with no problems, but it doesn't work properly when i try to combine 2 clips together. that's the problem i have been having.... dazzle software captures in .mpeg form and premiere uses .avi so that causes a problem for me because i can't figure out how to capture in premiere. i lists the dazzle as a capturing device that i can use but it doesn't work when i select it. maybe there are some programs that convert mpeg to avi that would solve that problem? i'd like to know myself..... as far as resolution goes with a dazzle you can still capture DV resolutions off a hi-8 camera... the only REAL lack of quality i have noticed is that the picture is tented a lot darker than in reality. not really a problem for footbag videos but it is not ideal for still frame pictures. The only other thing i can think to mention is a dazzle is pretty expensive i think mine was like $150 but it's been a while since i boguht it... i haven't looked at cameras recently but it was still much cheaper than a digital camera at the time. (especially if you already have an older camera) i think you said you have a VHS camera tho? and mine is hi-8 so you might suffer a lot higher quality loss than me. hi-8 captures like twice as many lines as a VHS so it has a higher picture quality.

FootbagFrenzy · Post by **FootbagFrenzy** » 04 Nov 2004 16:09

i forgot to mention that to use a dazzle you must have a hookup for s-video on your camera. (you said yours was from 1990 so that's problably an important detail that i left out)

Muffinman · Post by **Muffinman** » 04 Nov 2004 16:34

I didn't have the USB Dazzle (which caused my unendless frustrations) -- I forget the model. For mine you didn't NEED to use s-video, I don't think. I think I used the standard audio-video -- I remember capturing directly from my VCR, but I also remember using the s-video cable, so I'm not sure.

As for using Premiere with your MPEGs you can simply capture your clips and then import them to Premiere, or does that not work?? I've editing MPEG video in Premiere, I'm sure.

FootbagFrenzy · Post by **FootbagFrenzy** » 05 Nov 2004 00:13

no you can't edit .mpeg in premeire i've tried it and the frames just skip around. i really wish you could :/ i think the most ideal sollution would be to use some kind of software to convert them to .avi but i'm not familiar with any software like that. i can convert them to .avi with the dazzle software but the resolution for that is different than what premiere likes... i got around that by setting my own resolution size when i started my premiere file. so i was atleast able to edit a video but the resolution for .avi with the dazzle is soooo small you can't even see what's going on and it's a complete blur in double size

as far as s-video goes... i believe you need to use s-video to capture directly from the camera but yes there is a way to capture from VCR and it uses different cables, but I haven't messed with it and don't have my manual out to say exactly how that works