[Martindh]

Dear All,

I have some camcorder tapes as well as some video tapes that I would like to transfer to disc. Apart from the obvious namely using a dvd recorder combi which is broken, is there any other way that data of this nature can be done and how.

Thank you

[avinitski]

do you have a capture card for your pc?

[h4rri]

Depending on how many tapes you have it would be worth looking into the cost of storage media and transfer kit against the charges for a company to do it all for you. I know when I looked into this it became quite expensive though so it depends whether the material has any value to you.

[Martindh]

Originally Posted by avinitski

do you have a capture card for your pc?

Hi,

No I don't. Please explain more as to what a capture card is and what it can do.

Thanks

[h4rri]

A capture card [coupled with the right software] would allow you to plug the camcorder into the PC and 'capture' the data. You would then use a compression utility to reduce the size of the file and burn them to DVD etc.

The downside is that the files can get huge if you are capturing hours of video. With video tapes, if they are commercial ones, you are better dropping them and getting the DVD's. If they are private ones then use a VHS to DVD recorder as this takes alot of the hassle out of the frame.

If your cam tapes are mini-DV or 8mm then you should be able to buy a caddy and use them in the VHS-DVD in the same way.

[Martindh]

Originally Posted by h4rri

A capture card [coupled with the right software] would allow you to plug the camcorder into the PC and 'capture' the data. You would then use a compression utility to reduce the size of the file and burn them to DVD etc.

The downside is that the files can get huge if you are capturing hours of video. With video tapes, if they are commercial ones, you are better dropping them and getting the DVD's. If they are private ones then use a VHS to DVD recorder as this takes alot of the hassle out of the frame.

If your cam tapes are mini-DV or 8mm then you should be able to buy a caddy and use them in the VHS-DVD in the same way.

Many thanks.

[DVD-Man]

Find a suitable product to do it like a combi with a firewire port (see panasonic), buy it from Currys etc remove it from the box very carefully and transfer the stuff over, replace back in thew box saying unwanted gift!

Liam