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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> analog video to PC
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 01/28/2009 11:49:49 AM · #1
not sure there is a way to do this properly w/o spending money - but i have a canon 8mm camcorder ( records onto a tape and has S-Video out - and an A/V out - like a head phone jack ) that was given to me. it was my dads but he rarely used it for anything. however there was a tape in it and there is a video of my brother and i playing golf in the yard while my mom was watching/gardening. the thing is my dad was talking to us in the background. shortly after he recorded the video he found out he had tongue cancer and much of his tongue was removed - and therefore he couldn't speak well at all from then until he passed.

so what i would like to is get the analog video onto the PC so i can burn it to disc. then i'd give a copy to my mother and brother...

i have S-video cables, i have an RCA to 3.5mm Y adapter, ihave a 3.5mm-3.5mm audio cable, i have a TV tuner card with both S-video in and RCA audio in, i have a sound card with 3.5mm mic input.

i have some software i found called virtualDub that recognizes the TV tuner card and will record the video to AVI. the problem is the AVI file seems to be corrupted - and it also didn't pick up the audio even though it says it did. and a 15min video was like 30gigs at 720x400 resolution ( or close to that ).

does anyone have an idea about how to record this video and keep it under 4gigs ?

i'm going to look into local services that might be able to do it for me - but it seems it would be simpler than it seems to do it myself..

thanks

ETA - i have a trial copy of corel videostudio, doesn't allow me to import file, windows media player doesn't let me import the file, quicktime does, but it plays sporadically with no audio.

Message edited by author 2009-01-28 11:52:35.
 01/28/2009 01:08:01 PM · #2
AVI is going to be large, It is uncompressed. For smaller file size You will want to save it to Mpeg or WMV or Quicktime Movie etc, You should be able to convert the AVI to any of those formats with just about any video program.
Mpeg would be best if you want to burn a DVD afterwards, But most video software that allows you to burn, will render the video for burning anyway.

As for it not recording the audio, Make sure all your cables are good and that you have the proper drivers installed on your computer.

If all else fails, it doesn't cost that much to have a photo/video lab do the conversion for you.

Message edited by author 2009-01-28 13:23:21.
 01/28/2009 01:43:38 PM · #3
These guys have a really good solution. I used the program before and it does what you need. I'm not aware of any shareware products doing the same thing. Hope that helps.
 01/28/2009 01:58:33 PM · #4
I have done exactly what you are trying to do, except my camcorder had those small VHS tapes. I sent the video signal to the video RCA jack of a TV tuner card and the audio to a sound card line in jack. I did the recording with VirtualDub. It all worked fine with no major issues.

I think you just have to make sure that everything is connected OK and the settings in the software is correct. I needed to play around to get everything set up OK. Don't record everything while you're still sorting stuff out. A 30s sample will also tell you if everything works.

The uncompressed video file will be extremely big. It makes sense to record uncompressed and only do the compression when you're putting it on a video DVD. That way you don't get compression losses twice. If you want to save a smaller avi, download one of the codec packs (google will help you) and choose divx or xvid as the compression codec in the virtualdub video settings.
 01/28/2009 04:04:55 PM · #5
thanks - i figured out how to do it using windows media center.

you need the following hardware ( all came with my gateway desktop )

- TV tuner card
- IR remote ( windows media center remote )
- IR receiver
- IR transmittor. ( IR blaster )
- cables for the specific camcorder ( or adaptors to make other cables work )

i connected the camcorder to the TV tuner card via S-video cable
connected audio (3.5mm to RCA ) via camcorder A/V out - to the TV tuner RCA audio inputs - this one was a mono recording - so i only used one of the RCA plugs. otherwise you get terrible noise coming from the 2nd input.

connect the IR reciever via USB, and the IR transmittor to the IR reciever.

open windows media center - and go to settings/setup TV
choose satelite TV, and yes to i have a set top box.

you'll have to go thru a bunch of stupid config stuff, but just choose things - even though you know they aren't right or you'll get an error and have to start over.

once you get the OK from media center - go back to the main menu and choose 'live TV'
your camcorder should show up and play whatever is on the tape.

at the bottom of the screen - where all the play and pause type stuff is - there is a red dot - click it to record the video. you might get an error popup that says something like ' no data available ' but thats the media center looking for real TV input - the recording will still work.

here's my boring - yet personally important video on youtube.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyT5-_7j2mI

hope this might help some one out.

ETA - the premise of the game we are playing is chip four balls - whoever gets the most closest to the hole wins. usually we have a number of holes we play to - but because of the video taping - we stuck to only one of them. recorded in haddam neck - connecticut.

the 30gig file i mentioned in AVI format was under 1gig from windows media center. and opened in any of my video editing apps - -w no issue.

Message edited by author 2009-01-28 16:17:54.
 01/28/2009 04:24:11 PM · #6
FWIW - the media center recording is higher quality than what i got from virtualDub. not so say it wasn't my fault with the virtualDUb settings. but it seems to be less CPU intensive and a records a usable file right off -vs virtual dubs giant AVI file.

thanks for the input - and i'll look a bit more into virtual dub - though - this vid is likely the only one i'll need to record - gonna invest in a newfangled digital camcorder ;)

Originally posted by gys:
I have done exactly what you are trying to do, except my camcorder had those small VHS tapes. I sent the video signal to the video RCA jack of a TV tuner card and the audio to a sound card line in jack. I did the recording with VirtualDub. It all worked fine with no major issues.

I think you just have to make sure that everything is connected OK and the settings in the software is correct. I needed to play around to get everything set up OK. Don't record everything while you're still sorting stuff out. A 30s sample will also tell you if everything works.

The uncompressed video file will be extremely big. It makes sense to record uncompressed and only do the compression when you're putting it on a video DVD. That way you don't get compression losses twice. If you want to save a smaller avi, download one of the codec packs (google will help you) and choose divx or xvid as the compression codec in the virtualdub video settings.


Message edited by author 2009-01-28 16:24:43.
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