What do I need to buy to capture the family vhs tapes to the domestic imac (anglepoise style).
Not even contemplating tying up the work's G4 for this stuff!!!
Suggestions please - the old g3 and miro dc30 have bit the dust...
Hi
Put the old DC30 (or better still a DC30+) into a faster G4 tower Mac and in makes an excellent analogue>DV capture card with drivers from alfanet.it/squared5
In an iMac the best solution is a Canopus ADVC100 or 110 converter box (or the better ADVC 300 which has a timebase convertor for stabilising VHS footage). Or a camcorder with analogue to digital pass through.
You could buy a Sony TRV-240 Digital8 camcorder, which is under £300.
I had one of these and it worked very well as an analogue to digital converter.
You hook up your VCR to the camcorder with a SCART to composite and phono lead and the signal is converted in the cam and passes through and then along the firewire lead into the iMac as a digital signal.
You can also record simulaneously onto 8mm tape if you want to, resulting in a pure digital copy of the original but in 1's and 0's.
The cam can also be used with the firewire and its analogue signal can be hooked up to a monitor. You can also use it as a camcorder!
I used my TRV-240 for a number of jobs when I had my video business and was very impressed with this excellent piece of kit and can well recommend it.
Of course, bear in mind that if you won't need the camcorder or analogue>DV converter box after the transfers are done and dusted, you can then sell off the hardware and cut the real cost substantially.
Bob C
Or make it even cheaper and have someone like myself or others on this forum who offer a analogue to dv transfer service and you end up with everything on Mini-DV tape which you can keep or use again.
A Datavideo DAC100 is the cheapest bidirectional AD converter at £149 Inc VAT. It has composite and S-Video in and out as well as FireWire.
You could buy a Sony TRV-240 Digital8 camcorder, which is under £300.
I had one of these and it worked very well as an analogue to digital converter.
You hook up your VCR to the camcorder with a SCART to composite and phono lead and the signal is converted in the cam and passes through and then along the firewire lead into the iMac as a digital signal.
I have a Sony DCR-TR7000E Digital8 camborder. Using a Digi-8 Widget i have enabled (yes I hate the EU!) DV-IN. The Widget also enables the Analoge-IN Once I connect the Fire Wire "DV-IN" appears in the vewfinder. So, how would the camcorder know that I want to use the analogue input and not the digital one? Which buttons do I press? For the moment I first have to record on tape.