Capture Audio with Video

[wfox]

I have been trying to capture both Video and Audio in Video Studio Pro X4. I have a program called Diamond One-Touch Video Capture V500 that uses a USB connection for the Video and Stereo output from my Sony Handycam Digital 8 Model DCR-TRV740. The one touch software works well to capture both the Video and Audio, however, I was hoping when I purchased the Corel Video Studio Pro X4, that I would be able to record both video and audio with the capture feature, since V500 Video shows under sources in the capture screen. Does anyone have any idea about why the Video Studio will not record the audio while the One Touch Video program will?

[Ken Berry]

First, we *always* recommend that people use the software which comes with their capture device to capture the video. The device manufacturers often tweak their devices to work only -- or better -- with their own software.

More importantly, however, you have a Sony Digital 8 camera (as I also do in my collection). The camera will have a mini-DV port on it, and it will be a million times better if you used that port to capture from rather than using your caspture device. That will require you to have a Firewire port on your computer plus a firewire cable to connect the two, but these are cheap and easy to install these days. Then you will be able to capture in the highest quality DV/AVI format from your camera. Not only is this format high quality, but it is also easy to edit. And when you have finished editing, it is also easy to convert to DVD-compatible mpeg-2. You might be happy with the quality you are getting from your capture device, but you should try using Firewire for best results from such cameras.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

I totally agree with Ken and you should use firewire to capture your video.
Doing so literally transfers the video to the pc without re-coding, the file is DV-Avi.

Using the V500 will require that the cameras footage is recoded during capture.
Video Studio provides some capture property choices under the Options cogwheel.
Here you should find the Source audio option which should be set as USB Audio.

However I stress you should try Firewire to DV format, it is possible that you have the Firewire card/socket already on your pc.

[wfox]

Thank you for the responses. I really would like to have the best video transfer possible. My computer (Acer Laptop) does not have a firewire connection. Is there such a thing as as a firewire to USB cable or converter? If there is, would the transfer be as High Quality? The computer does have an HDMI connection as well as the USB ports. What software is required to capture the video using firewire?
I found that I have a Sony DVD recorder that has a DV in port. It doesn't say in the manual, but does anyone know if transferring the video from the Sony Digital 8 camcorder to the Sony DVD recorder with a DVD-RW disc using a Firewire cable will result in a file I can then load on the computer for editing? I also found I have an older desktop computer with a firewire connection. Will I be able to capture the video to that computer an then transfer the file to the laptop for editing?
What are the steps to capture video using firewire? Are there tutorials somewhere for how to do it and what software is required?

Thanks

[skier-hughes]

You could use the dvd recorder, but it'll present you witha lower quality file than the uSB connection.
Do you have a pcmia port to insert a firewire connection into?
If not, try changing the audio setting as Trevor says, or use the software as Ken says to capture, then import into VS X4 for editing and production of your final file.

[Ken Berry]

What software is required to capture the video using firewire?

The firewire driver and DV codec come as part of Windows. So the only software needed is a program, like VS, which can deal with DV. AFAIK, all major software editing packages can do so.

I also found I have an older desktop computer with a firewire connection. Will I be able to capture the video to that computer an then transfer the file to the laptop for editing?

If you don't have a PCMCIA or PCI Express slot in your laptop for a Firewire card, then your old computer would be a good alternative. If it is too old to be able to support your loading X4 on it, then you can download and install on your old computer a small freeware application called WinDV which a lot of us here use for DV capture from http://www.windv.mourek.cz It works with all versions of Windows from at least XP onwards, and I seem to recall it also worked on my older computer which ran Windows ME...

The only downside of such a workflow would be the time taken to transfer the captured DV to your laptop. DV files are large -- around 13 GB for one hour of video. But if you can stomach that, then you will be getting the best quality video for editing.