How do you upload an analog video onto a computer?

[Avarik]

Hello, I am making a video for a school project, and I was wondering how to upload the analog video from my camera (Sony Handycam CCD-TRV308 NTSC) to my computer? I have adobe premiere to edit it there, just need to get it there

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Avarik

Hello, I am making a video for a school project, and I was wondering how to upload the analog video from my camera (Sony Handycam CCD-TRV308 NTSC) to my computer?

That's a Hi8 camcorder, so you're right about needing to capture analog video. The way to do it is with analog video capture hardware. You'll need either an external box or an internal card with analog video inputs. Such things come with software and instructions, and can cost between 50 and 500 dollars depending on quality and features.

It would be easiest for you to find a friend who has a computer with video capture capability. If you can't do that, visit a local computer store and see if you can find someone who understands what you want to do, and can recommend an appropriate solution.

[Avarik]

Thank you very much!

[evulish]

To list some products, an ATI All-in-Wonder card would do it, or a Hauppage WinTV (which won't be too great.. not really what they're made for), any of the products made by Pinnacle should be good. I'd recommend something like http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...144-019&depa=0 . That's probably the best bang for the buck. You can spend alot more, but those are pretty decent.

[Venkatesh]

If you are getting an All-in-Wonder for a PC, stay away from the pre-Radeon models. They tend to have very little driver support, and are quite a pain to work with under both Windows and Linux.

At one time, I needed to transfer video from a camcorder to a PC and an adapter was not available. I used someone's digital camcorder and focused its lens on the viewfinder of the analog camcorder. The video quality was poor, but usable, so if you need to do this very cheaply....

[OneAngryDaisy]

my brain is all fuzzy right now and I can't think clearly, but if your camera has an ieee port (firewire) then you could always buy a firewire card at a local store. That is what i did for a school report a while back, just plug in the firewire and go to file: capture : movie capture in premiere then select ieee cable.

[edit] Now that i actually think about it, thats for digital video. bleh. I have an All-in-Wonder for that [/edit]

[Clark Gilbert]

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned yet are Dazzle products.

My brother has the exact same camcorder and uses a Dazzle 80 with it. It's basically just an input for your video out cables from your camcorder. It connects via USB. It works with both Composite and S-Video outputs as well as stereo sound. Overall it works pretty well, and the quality is decent for importing analog video. It also works great for importing video from VCRs and other video devices. I've even used it to capture video from my Playstation 2 (worked great). Plug it in and play/record at the same time.

I purchased a TV tuner card for 50 bucks and hooked a VCR up to it. I now can digitize tapes, plug a camcorder into it and digitize, or whatever....that works too especially if you have VHS tapes you want to digitize...oh yeah and i can watch cable TV on my computer

[Collin Fultz]

a Matrox analog converter works very well...especially with Adobe Premier. I've been using them together through high school and while I've had some problems (mainly slow computer stuff though) it works very well.

[iamnafets]

You get what you pay for, I originally had a TV Wonder from ATI but wasn't satisfied with the subpar quality. A USB solution may be an option, but I would avoid it because of the poor quality due to lack of bandwidth. 11megabits per second sounds like a lot but really isnt. I eventually went with an all in wonder radeon 8500 which works like a charm, the video out is really nice to to record onto VHS. I can make some pretty sexy stuff just gotta tweak the capture settings to get it just right between compression strain on the processor and the max load your hdd can take down. If at all possible, I highly recommend the ati all in wonder series especially since the cards that accompany the vivo capability are sexy for gaming.

[FizMan]

What kind of quality loss do you get on a USB capture device? I'm going to be picking up one soon...

I'm using a DV Camera, so would the quality loss be comparable to going down to hi8? Do you get a lot of dropped frames using the USB?

[stevek]

Another solution that may not cost you a dime. I assume if you have edit software you have a capture card, so if your asking this question, you're card is DV. If you have that you may have or can barrow a Digital Camera (Digital-8, Mini-DV or what ever has DV I/O on it) YOu can typically connect the output from one camera to the input of the other (assuming you have the cables for both Cameras, you can use barrels (Female-Female coupler adapter or patch it through a VCR) This is taking Analog out of Cam 1 to Analog In on DV Camera. Then you will have a Tape that you can feed into your computer via Firewire. NOTE: Some DV Cameras don't allow Analog In for Recording, so you have to try it and see. If it doesn't work borrow another!

If this works for you, great. I've used this to tranfer from VHS Tapes to get into an edit- prior to buying an Analog-DV Convertor. Now I use a AVID Mojo that has both Analog and DV I/O. But both of these methods cost money, while the above method is Free of Charge if you can get your hands on the Equipment.

[Jeff K.]

Pinnacle

I prefer Pinnacle because the editing software is really easy to work with and also I got the Studio AV/DV http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPa...50&Langue_ID=7
It's really easy to install the card into your computer and if I'm correct, also has a 4-6 pin firewire cable - 30 bucks, the software - 80 bucks, and the card is also analog video imput, the yellow one, and firewire, has 2 ports of each -30 bucks, and I got that at Costco for only 80 bucks, I think good deal, but you still need to find a way to import the sound, but it also includes the RCA adapter - Dont know how much, to change the red and white wire into the stereo plug ins for connecting it into a microphone port in your computer. I see it as a good deal because getting everything seperate can run you up to about...150 bucks including tax or somewhere around there.

And good luck with your project