Analog capture device

Alvin81 · Post by **Alvin81** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:39 pm

Hi,

Does anyone know the Ulead recommended capture device for analog and any others that do work with latest version of videostudio.

Thank you

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:58 pm

There is no recommended device. In fact, the whole question of analogue capture devices which Video Studio generally -- let alone the latest version -- can use, is very murky.

The easiest device for many people who have mini DV digital video cameras, is to use those as a pass-through device. You connect the analogue source (analogue camera, VCR) to the mini DV camera using an AV cable. The mini DV is connected to the computer via Firewire cable, and the analogue signal is converted in the mini DV to digital and transmitted to the computer in DV format where it can be captured by Video Studio. Note that VS11 requires the update patch of 6 November 2007 in order to be able to do this.

There are a number of capture devices out there which are rather expensive (in the order of US$300), which have a built-in chip which converts an analogue signal to DV, and the device is also connected to the computer via Firewire as above. This works well in previous versions of VS, but VS11 has a problem, it seems, with at least some of those devices and the 6 November patch does not seem to correct the problem. However, you can use third party software to capture from them in DV format. These devices are made by companies like AdsTech (the Pyro), Plextor and Canopus.

When talking of DV capture (which in my view is still the best capture and editing format), you can also use the older Sony Digital 8 cameras as they also connect using Firewire. They can either be used as pass-through devices as described above, or you can actually put an analogue 8mm tape or Hi8 cassette into them and play them in the Digital 8, and they are sent to the computer via firewire. VS11 still cannot capture in this mode, though earlier versions can. The 6 November patch, however, allows a Digital 8 to be used as pass-through with VS11/11.5.

Then there is a veritable slew of other devices which cannot capture in DV format, but can do so in DVD compatible mpeg-2, mpeg-1, mpeg-4 and uncompressed AVI formats (plus some other formats with certain devices). The problem is that VS cannot work with some of them. The better ones among them will have a hardware chip which does the conversion on-board, thus relieving the computer of that conversion problem. One of the best is the Adstech DVD Express DX2 device. However, that is one that VS cannot 'see'. However, you can use the capture software which comes with it (called CapWiz) which does an excellent job, then open the captured files in VS for editing/authoring.

And in fact, we tend to recommend using the software provided by the manufacturers for capture with all these devices since the software is usually developed especially to work with the device.

Alvin81 · Post by **Alvin81** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:06 pm

Thank you, it appears it is as not as easy as I had hoped.

I originally had an older laptop and bought a belking high speed usb dvd creator which came with ulead 6 se. I did like videostudio and wanted all the features of the newer versions and purchased a new laptop along with the software in the hope it would all work.

I guess i was wrong.

Am i better off installing ulead 6 se on my current laptop (vista) along with 11. Use 6 to capture and 11 to edit?

Thank you

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:46 pm

The problem is that no version of VS apart from VS11 and VS10 will work with Vista (and even VS10 required a special patch for this).

I am not sure what to suggest in your case if you wish to continue using the Belkin. I know nothing about it, though from a quick Google search, it only seemed to come with the earlier version of VS you mentioned for use in both capture and editing. The problem there is that quite often the capture device manufacturers tweak the version of VS they distribute so that it will work with their device, but later versions of VS made by Ulead and now Corel, do not since the hardware manufacturers do not share their secrets.

You would probably need to contact Belkin to see what they advise.

Other than that, you might have to think of an alternative device, and make sure that whatever software it comes with is compatible with Vista...

I take it you don't have a mini DV camera...?

Alvin81 · Post by **Alvin81** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:10 pm

Hi

no dv camera, will try and contact belkin and see what they have to say. dont particularly want to pay for another piece of hardware

Thanks for your help

bkersh1 · Post by **bkersh1** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:52 pm

Ken - I have a question. I have several analog tapes, a sony dig 8 handycam and i also bought a few years back an AverMedia EZMaker device which converts analog to dig.

Would you recommend using the EZMaker device with the USB connection or using the camera as the pass through using another capturing software?

Which will work and which will be better quality

Bruce

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:26 pm

Capture with firewire as dv.avi, maybe using movie maker, then import the file into VS for editing.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:51 pm

If your digital 8 is one of the models which can play back analogue 8mm or Hi8 tapes directly (and you'd need to consult its manual for that info), then certainly I would do it that way and use WinDV to do the capture. If your digital 8 will not actually play the analogue tapes, then check its manual to see if it will allow you to connect an analogue video camera to it via its AV connection, which would then send a signal to the digital 8 as a passthrough device, with the signal then converted to DV and transmited via firewire to the computer. Either way, you would be capturing in DV format which gives you the best quality and easiest editability.

I would only contemplate the EZMaker if neither of the above two methods was possible.

bkersh1 · Post by **bkersh1** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:34 pm

Thank you both for your prompt response. I had one additional question which you may have answered but i wanted to confirm. When Movie makers opens it gives you 3 choices
1. best quality for playback on computer (recommended)
2. digital device format - (dv-avi)
3. other settings

Which one do you recommend?

thanks

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:52 pm

Definitely 2 -- DV. I suspect (1) is WMV -- highly compressed and somewhat difficult to edit in other programs, and takes ages to convert in VS to DVD compatible mpeg-2.

bkersh1 · Post by **bkersh1** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:00 pm

Thanks ken!

bkersh1 · Post by **bkersh1** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:27 pm

Does it sound right that capturing a 120 minute vid 8 tape will consume 23gb of space? I know it will shrink some once i edit stuff out but will it shrink more when i use VS11 to create a video file?

This is huge!

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:31 pm

Are you capturing to dv-avi as suggested? If so, dv-avi is around 13GB per hour, so your 23GB for 2 hours is pretty close.

Yes, it is huge but that is because it is not as compressed as other formats such as MPEG2, WMV, DivX, etc. That's also why it is so much easier to edit. When you are finished editing you will compress it by converting it to MPEG2 for DVD.