I have a panasonic camera recorder. Is it easy?
Let’s start with the obvious:
Does it have playback capability?
If so, does it have an output mode? A yellow RCA jack is a “composite video” port. It is, by current standards, obsolete, but good enough for VHS work.
There was a very recent VHS-to-DVD thread.
Find some kind of recorder with a yellow VHS jack and you’re good.
If you are near a biggish city, there are commercial services for this.
I burned my tapes to DVD+R on a Philips stand-alone DVD recorder.
I also had a Pinnacle DC-30 A/V card in a PC and did capture with it.
All this stuff is now antique.
Your video camera likely won’t be able to do it all by itself. VHS was a long time ago and it’s unlikely it has any sort of digital output. You’ll need a special device to convert the video to a digital format. Search on amazon for ‘video converter’ and you’ll find a lot.
The main issue is how many tapes are you converting?
At the low end, take it someplace and pay to have it converted.
Once you get up a bit, maybe 10+ depending on relative costs, etc., then get something that captures video.
The easiest is a standalone video-to-dvd converter. But that’s usually more expensive. But if you want just the digital file you need to rip the DVD and waste a disc/recording. (And rewritable DVDs are costlier.)
The next step down in price is a capture card that goes into a PC. Lots of hardware/software install/setup stuff. But you can do a good job converting a lot of tapes.
Even lower priced are USB capture devices. Cheap, easier to install hardware-wise. But generally also lower quality. While VHS isn’t all that great to begin with, you still might not get the best quality conversion.
With the latter and possibly the second option, you need a reasonably speedy CPU to do the conversion. More upscale capture cards have their own hardware to do this. Unless you’re using a PC from many years ago, you should be good. But then you want to make sure that the PC is only doing the capture/conversion with nothing else of significance running.
If your VHS recorder/camera has higher quality output, e.g., S-video or component, then make sure your capture device can handle that to squeeze out a little more quality.
I use Audacity to convert audio cassettes into mp3/digital;.
Are we saying that there is no software that does this on the video front?
Because there must be an output on the recorder.
Since nearly every PC ever built has audio inputs, it’s a trivial matter of which free software you want to use to capture audio.
A video input of any kind is quite rare, except for the “TV master” line of video cards that were so popular for a while. Without an integrated input, you need some device to capture the analog video signal and convert it to digital… which takes hardware, and *then *maybe some free software.
OP hasn’t answered my questions, so I assume he/she has found a suitable method.
It just occurred to me: I still have the ability to record VHS (both NTSC and PAL) o DVD and then to thumb drive.
Sometimes I need to pinch myself to make sure I haven’t fallen down a rabbit’s hole…
The recorder camera is in my car trunk and It was given to me. I never had one, and I have to go down and get it and fiddle with it before I can say anything about it.
You say you have the ability to…what is the equipment software that you use?
I have a Philips stand-alone DVD burner - the first gen DVD burner for home use.
It requires a format called DVD+R (note the “+” this is/was different that the DVD-R.
Format wars go way back.
Therre is no software other than the firmware built into the device.
It has 3 RCA jacks - red and white (standard audio) and yellow (composite video).
Put the tape in a good VCR and run red, white, yellow lines between the R,W,Y jacks on the back of the VCR to the jacks on the burner.
If it is a PAL tape, use a multi-format VCR to get the PAL signal and run it through a converter box (get a real one, not a toy). Note: North America and Japan use a video format called NTSC; Most of Europe uses PAL, most of Asia uses SECAM. These affect only the video feed - the audio, having been analog (microphones work the same way everywhere) is not affected.
Another option was a video card for a PCI slot on a desktop/ Mine is a Pinnacle DC-30 - same deal as the back of the Philips burner - red, white, yellow jacks. The card came with capture/edit/playback software.
Add a DVD burner drive and record to disk and burn from disc image (the burner needs data faster than the VCR can provide it - use the “copy to disc” and then “create from disc”.
The higher end video cards have more software options - want to add a title? Re-arrange the scenes?
The recorder should not be in a trunk - it needs to be kept warm and dry and stay that way until you’re done with it.
If there is a local shop which does this - the folks who used to do telecine to create a CD from film have gotten into the format conversions.
Decide if you would be better off:
Having the shop do the work*
Scrounge around for something with a yellow RCA jack as an input and do the work yourself.
(maybe) just have them do one, less-than-important tape. If you like the result, have them do the rest)
Note the use of “VCR” - even if the camera dies, a VCR has the same capabilities needed.
I suspect Goodwill still have a few in the $10 range.
Keep in mind you are merely converting the file format, and nothing more. An analogue video converted to a digital file format is still an analogue recording.
A digital copy of an analog source is still digital now no matter what it started as. It’s not going to have the same look as something originally “filmed” in digital, but just because it originated from an analog source doesn’t change that it’s digital now. Hell even things originally recorded digitally, were analog in the real world when the camera was pointed at them. Only CG images were never analog at all.
Sometimes I feel like I was never analog at all.
I once copied a tape from my VCR to my digital 8mm camera using line cords, then fed the video from the camera into my computer over the 1384 cord. From there, it was pretty easy to make it into an mp4 and transcribe to DVD.
What software converted it into MP4?
I use a Canopus ADVC 100. It takes analog in and outputs digital over Firewire. So you need a Mac (my system of choice). I edit and convert using iMovie.
It might be a bit clunky, but it works good for clearing out [del]commercials[/del] unwanted video out of what I am converting. The output can then be converted into Video TS files to be played on any digital DVD player, or burned to disc and played like any DVD, or converted to any other format desired.
I can convert old VHS tapes, camcorder video, even live TV (standard definition) but of course that requires the express written consent of the NFL, so obviously that’s just theoretical and I never do that.
I was using a Mac, so I just imported directly into an iMovie project.