Hello,
Done homework reading forum questions but still way too confused - my question is:

a) I have a sony analogue cam (S-VHS) and want to convert to digtial - make dvd films of all my old holiday footage etc.

- I believe buying a digtal cam with analogue/digital pass through wil work...

NOW - do I still need a converter of sorts like Dazzle etc....or camera to camera to PC will work?

I have enough HD space, and am going to get a good graphics card (have windows XP).....any specific card to use if going the camera to camera option.

What I'm asking is that I don't understand the digital camera connection to my analogue camera and what else is needed to convert? Have only been looking at converters etc until I saw this option on the forum here.

Heck - any help appreciated and sorry if being incredibly dense.

THANKS

Depending on the spec of the camera and the type of software you intend to use you will need to do 1 of 2 things:

If you have a higher spec editing package (i.e. Premiere) you should be able to specify a live capture through the firewire connection (by disabling the device control). If your camera supports AV-DV pass through this should work fine.

The second option, more timeconsuming, is to dub your SVHS cassette onto miniDV then do a capture using the regular method, this means that you only capture the clips you actually need (saving HD space) and that you have a DV copy of your source tape.

[MarkE19]

NOW - do I still need a converter of sorts like Dazzle etc....or camera to camera to PC will work?

If you get/have a DV camcorder that has the AV-in enabled then that is all you need to get your analogue video into the PC, other than a firewire port on the PC that is. No additional capture devices are required.

I have enough HD space, and am going to get a good graphics card (have windows XP).....any specific card to use if going the camera to camera option.

TBH you probably wont need to upgrade your graphics card as video editing on a PC does not rely too much on the card. As you say you are running Win XP I assume it is a fairly modern PC and therefore the graphics should be good enough.
Other than a firewire card, if not already on the PC, no other cards/upgrades should be required for now.

What I'm asking is that I don't understand the digital camera connection to my analogue camera and what else is needed to convert?

Connect the analogue camcorder to the DV camcorder with an S-Video lead (or the yellow phono connection, but this is not as good quality) for the picture. The DV cam should have been supplied with a lead with probably a jack plug on one end and phonos, red & white for stereo sound and a yellow phono for video (that should only be connected if not useing an S-Video lead as suggested above).
Put the DV cam into VCR (or replay or whatever its called on the cam) mode and either connect to a PC via firewire and capture directly, or put a DV tape in it and record to the DV tape from the analogue cam.

Mark.

[LizzyF]

Hi Mark

I have a Sony DV Cam with AV In and an old Sony HI8. I bought a Pinnacle Studio Card to get good analogue copy on my PC but can't get it to work with the Hi8 - it just crashes -
Using the transfer method you described above - is there any loss of resolution ie would it be as good as the card - that is if I could get it working .

LizzyF

[MarkE19]

Well there's a surprise - Pinnacle software that keeps crashing

as you might gather from the above comment, Pinnacle software is renowned for crashing on a regular basis. To get it working (perhaps) you need to get all the latest updates/patches for the software. Do this and get it to work reliably and it should be an excellent package.

Useing a DV camcorder to do analogue to digital conversion should give a capture quality at least equal to a dedicated capture card. The quality will be set by that of the origional recording and the leads used to connect the equipment together. Once in the digital domain the quality will remain 100% at all times as long as you keep the files as AVI.

Mark.

[LizzyF]

Thanks very much for that Mark

One more bit of advice if I may. You say that the quality of transfer is governed by the quality of the original - but I know that bit, and of the type of leads. I know that SVHS out of the Hi8 is the best option but can I get a SVHS to Firewire and if so any advice on particular types makes or will any do.

Regards

Lizzy F

[MarkE19]

No, there is no such thing as an S-Video to firewire lead.
S-Video is an analogue connection, but firewire is digital. To go S-Video to a PC you will either need an analogue capture card or an analogue to Digital converter. This converter in your case is the DV camcorder, but could also be something like the Canopus ADVC converters.
Just use an S-Video to S-Video lead for the video from the analogue cam to DV cam. Use the lead supplied with the DV cam to connect the red & white phono sockets for audio. Now connect the DV cam with a 6 pin to 4 pin firewire lead to the PC - this will carry both video & audio.

HTH,
Mark.