capturing video

[antimony]

I want to capture from a VCR to my computer via firewire. Is this possible or do i have to get a new pci card?

help greatly appricated
Tim

[WordVirus23]

your VCR isn't firewire... and if it is, well, then it's actually a DV Deck... I've heard that some new camcorders act as digitizers allowing you to plug IN say... a VCR, and have a firewire stream come out. and yes, if your motherboard doesn't have a firewire port, then you'll need to get some sort of interface. I use a PCMCIA firewire card w/ my laptop... love it to death, use it for an ext. HD tho... haven't captured w/ it... no camera w/ firewire for me YET. :)

..james...
NoInput:Visual Product

[antimony]

Ok.... i cant use my firewire card. what options do i have for capruting from an analogue source? I would also like to be able to record onto my VCR from my computer. Could anyone suggest a soulution?

Thank you
Tim

[holly]

There are products that take an analog video signal and convert them to Firewire or USB. Try a google search for "DV bridge" or "analog to DV". Some seem to work well, and others seem to work less well. If you are pulling a signal from VHS, you might consider saving some money and buying a cheaper USB video capture device with a lower resolution. However, a firewire bridge will give higher resolution and if you want to work in the DV codec, firewire is ideal. If you are serious about high-quality video, an analog video capture PCI card will be inevitable.

A few firewire and USB bridges are reviewed under Misc. Hardware (http://www.vjcentral.com/list/hardware/0/2) on VJCentral, but there are many more available.

[fluchtpunkt]

there's two possibilities i know of for recording analog to computer:

- vcr to dv to firewire
or
- vcr to a/v (controller/capture) card

computer to vcr:

-analog output (videocard (http://www.vjcentral.com/faq/show/1572) or a/v card) of computer to vcr
or
-vga output to scanconverter (http://www.vjcentral.com/faq/show/62) to vcr