I have footage on several vhs tape cassettes that i'd like to use on a Ulead project.
How do i go about converting from video to computer?
Is there a lead that connects from a vhs video to my 'windows xp' laptop?
I'd be grateful for any suggestions....thanks
Help coverting vhs videos to computer
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No, you need some kind of intermediate device. You can use an analog capture device, use the pass-thru function of your camcorder (if so equipped), or even record from VHS to your camcorder, then transfer from camcorder to computer. This, of course, is assuming you do, indeed, have a camcorder.
Also, you don't tell us which version of VS you have, as v11 has a bug which prevents the capturing of analog video. If that's the case, the VHS to camcorder to computer would be about your only choice, until (if) the patch comes out.
Also, you don't tell us which version of VS you have, as v11 has a bug which prevents the capturing of analog video. If that's the case, the VHS to camcorder to computer would be about your only choice, until (if) the patch comes out.
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I see that this is your first post and I will try to answer it - but some more information about your system (read the notes at the top of the main screen) would have been helpful.
You will need a cable but this cannot be connected directly to your computer.
You need a capture device - this can be internal and the choice there depends on the slots that are available to you - PCI, AGP or PCI-e.
If you do not wish to take your PC apart then there are external capture devices available and you run a cable from your VCR into this and connect the device to your PC by either USB or Firewire (1394) if this is available to you and gives better options.
Be careful in chosing the device because many these days only support digital recording and not analogue which is what you want.
A typical cable will be a scart connection from the VCR and RCA plugs at the end which plugs into the device.
A word of caution, if you are using Video Studio 11 at the moment it will not do ANY analogue capturing so you would have to use any software that comes with the device.
If you do have Firewire then a better, but more expensive, option is a analogue/digital converter. Same lead as before but a firewire cable connects to the PC and you can 'capture' the footage from your VCR direct to the PC and use VS11 to do it.
A more detailed response is really beyond the scope of this forum but there are countless guides etc at www.vcdhelp.com and they also list many capture cards/decvices currently available.
You will need a cable but this cannot be connected directly to your computer.
You need a capture device - this can be internal and the choice there depends on the slots that are available to you - PCI, AGP or PCI-e.
If you do not wish to take your PC apart then there are external capture devices available and you run a cable from your VCR into this and connect the device to your PC by either USB or Firewire (1394) if this is available to you and gives better options.
Be careful in chosing the device because many these days only support digital recording and not analogue which is what you want.
A typical cable will be a scart connection from the VCR and RCA plugs at the end which plugs into the device.
A word of caution, if you are using Video Studio 11 at the moment it will not do ANY analogue capturing so you would have to use any software that comes with the device.
If you do have Firewire then a better, but more expensive, option is a analogue/digital converter. Same lead as before but a firewire cable connects to the PC and you can 'capture' the footage from your VCR direct to the PC and use VS11 to do it.
A more detailed response is really beyond the scope of this forum but there are countless guides etc at www.vcdhelp.com and they also list many capture cards/decvices currently available.
NOTE - This is called "video capture". Currently, analog capture is not working at all in Video Studio 11. (See this post.) So, you need to use the capture software that comes with your capture hardware. It's generally best to do that anyway.
The best solution is a MiniDV camera that has analog-to-digital "pass-through" capability. This will give you an AVI/DV file. This is generally the best format for editing. You connect the analog VCR to the digital camera, and then conect the camera to you laptop via Firewire. It is important to use Firewire, because USB-2 is not quite fast enough for real-time DV transfer. (The specs "look" good enough, but in practice it does not seem to work as well as Firewire.)
There are USB capture devices. These often have a built-in MPEG encoder, and USB-2 is fast enough to handle MPEG compressed video. MPEG can be difficult to edit.* I have a Hauppauge capture card that's MPEG only, and I had to buy a special-purpose MPEG editor. (I've had no trouble making DVDs from unedited MPEGs.)
Analog capture is tricky and I would avoid cheap capture devices.
A couple of capture device manufacturers:
Hauppauge
Pinnacle
You can find more information on analog capture at:
digitalFAQ.com
VideoHelp.com
* Some of my edited MPEGs were OK, some of then resulted in DVD's with "lip-sync" problems, and some caused Video Studio and Movie Factory to crash. Even with a special purpose MPEG editor, most "real editing" (anything other than cutting and splicing) requires the video to be decompressed and re-compressed. This can degrade the video quality. Since MPEG is "lossy" compression, you loose some quality every time it's compressed.
No. You need a "capture device" (a special type of analog-to-digital converter).Is there a lead that connects from a vhs video to my 'windows xp' laptop?
The best solution is a MiniDV camera that has analog-to-digital "pass-through" capability. This will give you an AVI/DV file. This is generally the best format for editing. You connect the analog VCR to the digital camera, and then conect the camera to you laptop via Firewire. It is important to use Firewire, because USB-2 is not quite fast enough for real-time DV transfer. (The specs "look" good enough, but in practice it does not seem to work as well as Firewire.)
There are USB capture devices. These often have a built-in MPEG encoder, and USB-2 is fast enough to handle MPEG compressed video. MPEG can be difficult to edit.* I have a Hauppauge capture card that's MPEG only, and I had to buy a special-purpose MPEG editor. (I've had no trouble making DVDs from unedited MPEGs.)
Analog capture is tricky and I would avoid cheap capture devices.
A couple of capture device manufacturers:
Hauppauge
Pinnacle
You can find more information on analog capture at:
digitalFAQ.com
VideoHelp.com
* Some of my edited MPEGs were OK, some of then resulted in DVD's with "lip-sync" problems, and some caused Video Studio and Movie Factory to crash. Even with a special purpose MPEG editor, most "real editing" (anything other than cutting and splicing) requires the video to be decompressed and re-compressed. This can degrade the video quality. Since MPEG is "lossy" compression, you loose some quality every time it's compressed.
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It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
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No time to think.
It's like the whole world's
Out of... sync.[/i]
- Head Over Heels, The Go-Gos.[/size]