Analogue capture device advise please

ibbotson · Post by **ibbotson** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:44 pm

Could someone be able to advise me on an Analogue to DVD capture device that is known to be compatible with VS11+. I would like to copy some old holiday VHS tapes.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:26 pm

The device itself doesn't have to be compatible. It should come with it's own capture software. The captured files have to be compatible. The best file format for editing (and for converting/compressing to other formats) is AVI/DV (the same format you get from a DV camera). The highly compressed formats like MPEG-4, DivX, WMV, etc. tend to cause lots of trouble (when you try to edit or convert them). MPEG-2 is usually OK, but it can sometimes be difficult too.

DVDdoug wrote:It's usually best to use the software that's made to work with your analog capture device, because apparently, there are no industry standards for how capture-hardware/drivers interact with capture-software.

I don't have a specific recommendation, but I'll tell you what I know...

I have a Hauppauge card. It it works great (with it's supplied software). But, it's MPEG only, and I did have some trouble editing the MPEG-2 files. But, that was with VS8. I bought a special purpose MPEG editor, and since then I have not tried editing MPEGs with the newer versions of Video Studio.

The ATI All-In-Wonder series seems to be very popular.

Some digital video cameras have analog "pass through" (actually analog-to-digital conversion), and these can be used as an analog capture device. Or if the camera has analog A/V inputs, you can record to the camera, and then transfer from the camera to your computer.

Most internal (PCI & PCI Express) capture cards have TV tuners, so you can use your computer as a "TiVo". Some external USB capture devices have tuners too.

Most USB devices have built-in hardware MPEG endcoders, because USB2 is not quite fast enough for real-time DV transmission. A hardware encoder means there is almost no "load" on the computer during capture. The CPU doesn't have to do any "work", and since the data is pre-compressed, there is less data on the data bus. (My Hauppauge card also has a hardware encoder.)

Finally, avoid "cheap" capture devices. Analog capture is tricky. You need good hardware that comes with good software.

Here are a couple of websites with more information about video capture (not related to Video Studio):
digitalFAQ.com
VideoHelp.com

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:52 pm

Most USB devices have built-in hardware MPEG endcoders

In fact, I would tend to say the opposite. Most USB devices, in my experience, do NOT have hardware MPEG encoders, and this is particularly true at the cheaper end of the marker, where most users tend to look. And I think this is why many of them have trouble with those devices because in fact their computers have to do all the encoding on the fly...

A relatively cheap, but very good USB capture device which *does* have a hardware mpeg encoder built in is the Adstech DVDXpress DX2 (note that it must be this exact model as the older Adstech VideoExpress devices, still available, do not have the hardware encoder). It is (well) under $100 but does an excellent job.

However, for capture, the device is NOT compatible directly with Video Studio. But it comes with its own very good capture software called CapWiz, so you can capture with that, and then open the resulting mpeg-2 files in Video Studio for editing.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:45 pm

Canopus ADVC range.
Connects by firewire.
Allows capture as dv.avi
Compatible with all programmes.

http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/p ... ersion.php

ibbotson · Post by **ibbotson** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 2:31 pm

Thank you all for your assistance which I have taken onboard. My original Capture Device (Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 DVD Creator) came bundled with VS6 and works OK with that version. So I will try Doug's suggestion of capturing with VS6 and then edit with the higher speck VS11+ until I get more knowledgeable with the process of video editing.

Thanks once again for the help.

EltonNoway · Post by **EltonNoway** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:02 am

skier-hughes wrote:Canopus ADVC range.
Connects by firewire.
Allows capture as dv.avi
Compatible with all programmes.

http://desktop.thomsongrassvalley.com/p ... ersion.php

Hello... hope someone can provide some additional feedback on this subject. Here's the deal...

In another thread in this forum I read the following:
__________________________

There can be an issue if you are attempting to use Vista and VS11/11.5 to capture with an analog device like the Canopus ADVC. ... When VS11 was first released, there were very few analog devices that VS would accept. After a patch was released, most analog to digital converters were accepted. However one for sure that doesn't work is an analog 8mm tape in a digital-8 camcorder. It still refuses to allow this.
___________________________

Does anyone know if this is still the case? I'm running Vista 64bit which has no problems working with my Canopus ADVC. I was planning on buying VS+ but the other thread scared me away. Problem is I have a lot of 8mm tapes and my camcorder is Digital Hi8. Will VS not play with this configuration?

The other thread was 5 months old so I'm hoping there has since been a patch or something to address the problem.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:21 am

Nope. Nothing and nada! Digital 8 is out with VS11/11.5+. But you can capture from the camera via firewire using a small freeware program called WinDV from www.mourek.cz or Windows Movie Maker set to capture DV (not wmv). Then you open the captured files in VS for editing. I used WinDV more often than not anyway, even when I could capture using VS in previous versions.

Post by **Ron P.** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:25 am

Sorry to say the analog tape in a digital camcorder issue is still valid. Most all the other "bugs" with analog to digital conversion/capture were fixed when they released the Update Pack, however not that one.

Try using the free capture utility called WinDV. It works with Firewire only, and captures DV. Several of us use it over VS or MSP capture.

EltonNoway · Post by **EltonNoway** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:18 pm

EltonNoway wrote:I'm running Vista 64bit which has no problems working with my Canopus ADVC. I was planning on buying VS+. Problem is I have a lot of 8mm tapes and my camcorder is Digital Hi8. Will VS not work in this configuration?

Ken Berry wrote:Nope. Nothing and nada! Digital 8 is out with VS11/11.5+. But you can capture from the camera via firewire using a small freeware program called WinDV from www.mourek.cz or Windows Movie Maker set to capture DV (not wmv). Then you open the captured files in VS for editing. I used WinDV more often than not anyway, even when I could capture using VS in previous versions.

vidoman wrote:Sorry to say the analog tape in a digital camcorder issue is still valid. Most all the other "bugs" with analog to digital conversion/capture were fixed when they released the Update Pack, however not that one.

Try using the free capture utility called WinDV. It works with Firewire only, and captures DV. Several of us use it over VS or MSP capture.

Ken, Vidoman, Thanks your both for the quick replies. I'm familiar with WinDV and comfortable with Windows Movie Maker. Actually the newer version with Vista Ultimate isn't that bad... (more transitions and Effect to play with.)

So if I interpret your responses correctly... my concern should not be a show stopper because both WinDV or WMM offer acceptable work-arounds. NET: I should not let this one minor glitch deter me from purchasing VideoStudio. Is this a correct assumption?

Anyway, since this is a known bug... do either of you know if the VS development team is actually working on a fix? Maybe fixed in V12.0?

FYI... I have yet to make a purchase and keep going back and forth between Pinnacle 12 and VS 11.5+. The main reason why I'm leaning towards VS over Pinnacle is because of this most excellent forum. As everyone knows, support is crucial... and I find this forum to be very informative. Granted, Pinnacle also has a forum, but this forum beats theirs hands down. Better replies, better response time, and the majority of the VS threads are in English! (a plus since for me since its the only language I know).

mitcs0ke · Post by **mitcs0ke** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:21 pm

You can always buy a used or new camcorder that has "Pass through
Mode" or has a "Analog Dubbing Mode"

The "Pass Through Mode" lets you play your old video camera into the
new camera with AV cables, at the same time the new camcorder
then passes the video to your computer through a firewire connection.

The "Analog Dubbing Mode" lets you play the older video into the new
camcorder through the AV cables and the new camcorder records
the video on to its mini dv tape. You can also do this with a VCR
playing into the new camcorder.

You will have to do a web search to find which video camcorders
have this feature as it has been discontinued in most camcorders.

Here is one site with a list of camcorders with Pass Through Mode.
Now I can tell you for sure that the Panasonic PV-GS150 on the list
does not have Pass Through Mode because I have that camcorder
and there nothing in the manual about it, but I have also learned that
some of the camera makers did not put this feature in their manuals.

http://www.homevideo101.com/dv-camcorde ... s-through/

You want to try this you could pick up one of these camcorders on Ebay
cheap.