Help with recording from dvd recorder to camcorder

[janrats]

I have a sony camcorder which I have only just starting using. It has DV in and DV out. I have i-link slot on my DVD recorder. I have used a firewire cable to camcorder to DVD. I put the TV on the DV mode. I can then record my movies to my hard driveor disc But how do I record the other way round. Record something from DVD back into the camcorder? I have copied the instructions but it just wont work no matter what I do. the instructions say you should be able to see the picture from the DVD recorder on the screen of the camcorded but there is nothing there at all just a blank screen. Has anybody any ideas

[lurcher]

Your DVD recorder wont have DV out unless its a JVC MH300 model (from memory) , the DV in feature on your camcorder is there to accept the footage back from the pc after any editing you may wish to do.

[senu]

Unlike Lurcher , I dont know of any settop Recorder with DV out..
As stated the DV on the PC is in/out and the DV in on the camcorder is to enable creation of tape archives after editing on the PC. This will not apply to the Settop.
Certainly, AV in from settop ( and indeed any source will work) but I imagine it will defeat the purpose of digital transfer
Also even recording from settop via av-in may not work for non home made DVDs as macrovision may set in
Just what is it you are trying to do? There may be a workaround but Settop DVD recorders typically will not output via their DV interface

[janrats]

hI I was trying to record a bit of a tv programm onto my camcorder. It was only when I bought the camcorder the man selling it said it was really good because I could record tv programmes. it even says in the manual I can record TV shows back on to the camcorder with ilink. Its not that I particularly want to record anything just wanted to see it work because the instructions say it can. It just says play your dvd, and you can record directly back to the camcorder. it is a DVD which I recorded myself for about 5 minutes to see if I could get it to work. It just annoys me when something says it will work and I have tried everything and I cant get it to.

Originally Posted by senu

Unlike Lurcher , I dont know of any settop Recorder with DV out..
As stated the DV on the PC is in/out and the DV in on the camcorder is to enable creation of tape archives after editing on the PC. This will not apply to the Settop.
Certainly, AV in from settop ( and indeed any source will work) but I imagine it will defeat the purpose of digital transfer
Also even recording from settop via av-in may not work for non home made DVDs as macrovision may set in
Just what is it you are trying to do? There may be a workaround but Settop DVD recorders typically will not output via their DV interface

[senu]

Originally Posted by janrats

hI I was trying to record a bit of a tv programm onto my camcorder. It was only when I bought the camcorder the man selling it said it was really good because I could record tv programmes. it even says in the manual I can record TV shows back on to the camcorder with ilink.

You can via composite if the camcorder has AV in or if doing it to camcorder from a PC...If the PC has a TV tuner

. It just annoys me when something says it will work and I have tried everything and I cant get it to.

Unless Im wrong and the Settop does have DV out I imagine that was misleading

[silverstone]

I am right with Jamrats with this one.
My Digital 8 Sony Handycam allows for back-loading via the firewire. Brilliant I thought! I want to copy some old 8mm footage that I was able to copy to VHS tape a few years back - before the host Canon camcorder packed up.
I have a Philips VCR/DVD-R combi with a/v in and an LG HDD/DVD-R also with a/v in.
All I want to do is load the Digital 8 tape with the VHS content but despite what the Sony manual says - it aint that easy.
My solution is to copy the VHS content onto DVD-RW with the Philips unit and then dub the recorded DVD back to the LG HDD, edit it then burn it back to another DVD-RW.
Incidentally the way the Philips records onto DVD isn't easily recognised by the LG. Using the 'Home' button on the LG doesn't allow as easy a dub as when the dvd is recorded by the LG - you actually have to play the dvd first then dub it so it records at realtime (180mins for heaven's sake) rather than at hi-speed.

Sadly with so many steps in the chain I am going to lose a lot of quality and if I want to burn my dvds at HQ setting I can only do 1 hour of content at a time.

I only embarked on this when I started to copy some old cine film onto dvd - but that is another story.

Happy Digital New Year everyone!

[senu]

Originally Posted by silverstone

I am right with Jamrats with this one.

How? are you also trying to record TV programs to your D8 via firewire from a settop?

My Digital 8 Sony Handycam allows for back-loading via the firewire. Brilliant I thought! I want to copy some old 8mm footage that I was able to copy to VHS tape a few years back - before the host Canon camcorder packed up.
I have a Philips VCR/DVD-R combi with a/v in and an LG HDD/DVD-R also with a/v in.
All I want to do is load the Digital 8 tape with the VHS content but despite what the Sony manual says - it aint that easy

It shouldn't be hard to record to your camcorder via av in, and you cannot via dv as the dv on settops are only one way.It may be a menu setting on the camcorder you just need to enable


If your LG is anything like mine it should be dead easy to copy to it via firewire from your digital 8 via firewire
Im not sure what you aren't doing right
I have a Sony digital 8 as well and it really is a no brainer to copy tapes from It( Hi8, 8mm or D8) via firewire to a PC or settop.
Im less familiar with the VCR/DVD-R devices

Happy Digital New Year everyone![

And yourself

[silverstone]

Quote:
Originally Posted by silverstone
I am right with Jamrats with this one.

How? are you also trying to record TV programs to your D8 via firewire from a settop?

No Senu, not TV programmes but I was referring to being misled by the camcorder manuals that infer it is easy to record back to the camcorder via the firewire. Like Janrats, the camcorder screen did not show what was being played on the LG-HDD and simply recorded a blue screen. The data on the screen correctly stated "d/v in" and a red dot record icon - but that was as far as it went.
I am trying to record onto the camcorder material that is on VHS tape so that I can then later edit it on pc - provided the pc doesn't fall over every few minutes when I am using Windows Movie Maker.

It shouldn't be hard to record to your camcorder via av in, and you cannot via dv as the dv on settops are only one way.It may be a menu setting on the camcorder you just need to enable

If your LG is anything like mine it should be dead easy to copy to it via firewire from your digital 8 via firewire
Im not sure what you aren't doing right

That is the problem of course - the dv in is indeed one-way, but the camcorder manual makes it sound easier than it is.

You are quite right, recording to the LG is a doddle (I'm really impressed by my LG) although I use VHS-S lead for the allegedly better picture - is that right? I'm not sure.
But my and Janrats issue is to back-record TO the camcorder.

Thanks anyway.

[MagicRabbit]

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but you're going to be killing quality trying to do that anyway.

Copying VHS (or Hi8 etc.) to DV will convert the analogue signal into DV, which is a lossy system (though not too bad).

Copying DV to DVD will convert the DV data to MPEG2, a much more lossy system.

Copying the footage from DVD back to DV will again lose quality, because you're decoding the MPEG2 and re-encoding it to DV, which is again a lossy based system.


Unless your DVD recorder has a hard drive for editing, you would do better to copy the footage to DVD first (going straight from VHS to MPEG2) in the highest quality setting possible, then loading that onto a computer for editing. This will allow you to clean up the image etc. if needed, and then burn to DVD. You may still lose a little quality this way, but far less, and the improvements you could make to the picture far outweigh the small loss.

[MarkE19]

Originally Posted by silverstone

I was referring to being misled by the camcorder manuals that infer it is easy to record back to the camcorder via the firewire.

But you are blaming the poor camcorder manual for misleading you when it has absolutely nothing to do with the abilities of the camcorder. The reason you can't record back to the camcorder is because the LG recorder does not output a signal via firewire.
If you are trying to record back to the cam via firewire from a PC then it is very easy, so I don't see that the manual is misleading anybody.

Mark.

[chrishull3]

i have copied loads of vhs to mini dv and then to dvd there is no quality loss,vhs is 250 lines even svhs.c to dv gives no quality loss .technicaly there may be some but you sure technicaly wont see it.

[silverstone]

But you are blaming the poor camcorder manual for misleading you when it has absolutely nothing to do with the abilities of the camcorder. The reason you can't record back to the camcorder is because the LG recorder does not output a signal via firewire.

Yes you are absolutely right!

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but you're going to be killing quality trying to do that anyway.

No, no misunderstanding, I will lose masses of quality, but as the firewire is a oneway street when using DVD-R or VHS, I dont think I have much option.
Hey ho.