Video from camcorder

[stackdump]

Sorry if this question is a bit basic but I'm not very computer savvy when it comes to interfacing video. I have a camcorder with a video output, but no USB or similar connector. The only connector I have is a cable which plugs into the camera at one end and the other has red, white and yellow plugs on the end.

How can I get the video up onto my PC? I guess I need some kind of tuner card or something. I'd like to be able to store the video, maybe edit it and email it to relatives.

Any help appreciated, but be gentle with me.

 

[electronicsfreak]

Check to see if your computer supports 1394(firewire). If so you can use that. Otherwords your going to need a capture card for video.

http://www.newegg.com

has some.

There is a point in wisdom and knowledge that when you reach it, you exceed what is considered possible - Jason Schoon

 

[stackdump]

ok, thanks. In that case I just need a 4-4 firewire cable.

 

[ATLMatt]

If your camera is not one of the newer digital camcorders with a firewire connection (aka: IEEE1394, iLink), you will need to have a video card or video capture card with RCA inputs.

If your computer has USB2 or firewire connections, you can purchase an external capture card that plugs in using one of those connections. The best option however, is to go from firewire to firewire, plugging your camcorder directly into your PC. Firewire equipped camcorders are really cheap these days if you don't have it and decide you want to upgrade, and the transfer quality will be much better.

As far as recording video to your PC, the capture device you add will mostly have the software with it, or you can purchase software once the connection is there. You may not be able to e-mail very big videos to relatives, as the file sizes for video start out really big, although they can be compressed. You can always make your own DVDs with your computers DVD writer driver, and mail the DVDs. That will keep the quality alot higher and save the e-mail hassle. Just a thought.

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, it doesn't seem like you have a firewire output on the camcorder. Therefore, look into buying a video card that has a composite video input (RCA).

Personally, I recommend the Hauppauge brand. It gained a lot of fame back in the day with Linux users, because of its superior quality and flexible compatibility across different operating systems. I have the PVR-250 model, which has a coax, S-video, and composite input to suit a variety of sources. It also runs in tandem with my main video card and doesn't interfere. Most of all, the bundled capture software gives you a lot of options to control quality as well as the video format that you're saving to the hard drive.

I'm not sure if you can find that model retail anymore and may need to look on eBay for ones from that product line. Otherwise, just get a newer model which should have a lot of the same features and then some.

http://www.hauppauge.com

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[stackdump]

Using firewire I managed to load the video into MS Movie Maker. I edited it a little, added a few titles, saved it and now I have a wmv file of the whole tape! Only problem is... Media Player won't play the wmv file! It complains that the sound card has something wrong with it (which it doesn't).

So having loaded 2 hours of video and tarted it all up, the end result is a video file that won't play. If I open it back up in Movie Maker, it plays fine (including sound).

Is there some other application I can use which can capture video and is preferably not written by MS?

 

[felixc]

Can you create a DVD from MovieMaker?

 

[cdogg]

So it did have a firewire port...you didn't mention that before. You must have also had a firewire port on your PC as well. Interesting...

There are many video capture programs out there - some cheap and some not: Adobe Premiere, ArcSoft EasyVideo, Pinnacle Studio, etc...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[stackdump]

I don't have a firewire port on my PC, but I do have one on my company laptop, so I used that.

I have Pinnacle already, so I'll try some tests with that.