tech help wanted

[Officer Dibble]

"Hi Dibble,
First of all let me say how chuffed I am that you trying to help me."

Don't mention it, Mike. This is what I do - and have been doing for the past decade.

Regarding ?Firewire?. It?s not just a one-way connection; it?s for transferring video and sound both in and out. It?s a digital connection, and hence it is ?lossless?. You get out at one end exactly what you put in at the other end. This is not always true with analogue connections like scarts, composite and S-VHS.

VHS and S-VHS are both analogue connections ? i.e. they are not digital. If you go down this route the signal you put in might conceivably degrade. You might lose a small mount of information in the transfer. But if you must go this route always go via S-VHS, as this is the higher bandwidth, higher resolution, route.
You can pump your video into your computer via firewire, but as I explained, you will have to digitize it first. There are various ways of doing this -

1) You buy a dedicated analogue to digital converter (with time base corrector, preferably) like the one I provided a link to.

2) You play your analogue feed from your VHS deck (via S-VHS) into a digital DV camera and record it to tape. Your footage is now ?digitized? and you can play it via Firewire into your computer or any other Firewire enabled recoding device.

3) Get a dedicated digital tape deck. It will record your analog video signals and digitise them to DV tape just like a digital camera - though they are expensive.

Converting your footage to DVD first is not the way to go for video professionals (people in the know, like us). Converting to DVD squeezes your footage down into the MPEG2 codec ? by throwing away huge chunks of data. Data you will need if you are going to apply any form of video correction to the footage or even if you simply wish to archive it at the best possible quality. Your footage is a precious asset, it is your livelihood. Don?t abuse it or sell it short.



Officer Dibble

[jimslip]

If you click on the link, you mayfind a couple of devices that can interface your composite out from your VHS into a format that enables you to capture.

[planeterotica]

All i use to capture vhs to comp is a WIN-TV capture device which i purchased years ago for ?50.00 new but you can now pick them up on ebay for a few quid !wink!

[jimslip]

I'm sure ive seen those in Dixons.

[planeterotica]

I do have two of these devices but i would be reluctant to part with one as they are great for loading vhs, but if you do a search for WinTV-usb on ebay there are some listed and you can pick them up for ?5-?10 !happy!

[eroticartist]

Hi Officer,
I cannot go out of my VHS machine on S VHS cable because it does not have one nor does it have a firewire out. My lapton ASUS notebook has an S VHS and DV in and out but there is no way out out of the VHS except SCART which can be coverted to left and right audio and video signals. It looks as if I am back to the DVD recorder!
Mike.

[eroticartist]

Jimslip,
I could use this card if I had a PC but I now have a laptop. Perhaps there is something like this that I can use with a laptop?
I must say I do appreciate help from an original filmmaker like yourself.
Mike.

[eroticartist]

Graham,
This WinTV looks like a way to output analogue VHS into my laptop via a USB port. I if I can go SCART to USB? Incidentally Stanleys of Wardour Street, Soho convert VHS to DVD but as I am in mainland Europe I don't trust HM Customs! Mike.

[eroticartist]

Is this this the answer?

Mike.

[andytaylor]

Nope.

You need a device to convert the analogue output to USB - Pinnacle do a couple, search for Dazzle on the Maplin web site.

S-Video (4 pin mini connector) is also an option - it's not just for Super VHS.