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 Often, the purchase of a digital camcorder is made as an upgrade from an analogue device. Once you start filming and editing footage from a digital camcorder, you will appreciate the convenience it brings and the increase in picture quality.
So, what can you do with all those old analogue video tapes you've filled up over the years? Well, it is now relatively easy to convert your old analogue camcorder footage into a digital format and then onto DVD. With the right equipment and following a few rules, there is no reason why you can't show off your old camcorder footage alongside your new digital footage.
 There are a few rules you will need to follow:
1. Capture your footage to the highest quality possible
2. If possible, edit your footage on a computer in DV (AVI) format, as you would from a MiniDV camcorder
3. When converting to MPEG (DVD) format, use a high quality setting
So how do you do it? Well, there are a few options. These presume that you still have a working analogue camcorder to play the tapes back with. If you don't, there are plenty of specialist companies who can do the transfer for you.
If you've got your camcorder, then I've listed some options below.
Option 1. DVD Recorder/HDD Recorder If you have a standalone DVD/HDD Recorder under your TV set, this is the most straightforward method. Connect up your camcorder to the HDD/DVD recorder using the AV leads - these are normally marked up yellow, red and white. Yellow is for the video signal, red and white are for stereo audio. You may only need one of the audio connections if you have a mono camcorder.
On your DVD/HDD recorder, select the appropriate input for the AV connection (which is normally on the front panel of the unit). Play some tape from the camcorder to check you can see it on your TV. If you have access to the recording quality settings on the unit, set it to HQ. This is the highest setting, and normally allows around 60 minutes of video per DVD.
Now, at this stage, press play on your camcorder, and press record on your recorder. If you have an HDD facility, use this as this will allow some basic editing facility before then transferring to DVD.
This will give you a basic disc, probably with chapter markers at set intervals. If you want to get all artistic and add titles, I'd suggest one of the other options below. You can transfer the footage from your disc to your computer to edit it further, but you will lose some of the original quality in the editing process.Option 2. Capture to Computer Using a TV Tuner Card
If you have a TV Tuner card in your PC, this will probably have AV inputs too. Check for sockets marked 'AV Input', 'S-Video In' or similar.
Be very careful when considering cheaper USB devices or TV cards, as although they look like good value for money, they often work below standard PAL TV frame sizes (often they capture at 320x240, which is less than a quarter of the resolution of PAL video). Also, they tend to capture to MPEG, which is not desireable for editing (more on this in my article on Compression).
You will probably need to use the software which was installed with your TV card to capture the footage. Check through the options and select the best quality setting available. Option 3. Capture to PC using a Video Capture Device
Plug your camcorder into a dedicated capture card and save digital versions of your video to your PC for editing and then compiling to DVD.
Hooking up a dedicated video capture card is basically the same as connecting to a camcorder. Most have S-Video and composite inputs and either Firewire or USB outputs. When connected to a PC, they show up as AV Devices, exactly the same as a DV Camcorder would, so capturing from your normal editing software should be no different, except you may need to disable 'Device Control' in your software, as these boxes don't have start and stop buttons, and so can't be controlled by your computer.
Devices such as the Canopus range offer great quality video capture for around £150. Option 4. Capture to PC using your Digital Camcorder
If your camcorder features an 'Analogue In' feature, you can pass the video from your analogue camcorder through your digital camcorder and into your PC. Hook up your VCR/analogue camcorder to your digital camcorder, preferably using the S-Video connection for the video, as this provides the best quality.
Next, hook up the camcorder to your PC using a Firewire connection. Don't use USB, it is not suitable for full frame video. Set your digital camcorder to 'AV-DV' (consult your manual for exact settings).
Using your video software, select the capture option. Be sure to turn 'Detect Clips' off, as you will need to capture the video in one chunk. Video editing software will look for start and stop points on digital video tape, but these won't exist on your analogue tape, so you will need to split your clips up after you have captured them. Please see below for more information on this. Creating ClipsDigital camcorders have a great advantage over analogue models in that if your footage was shot digitally, it will have been 'timestamped' each time the camcorder was started and stopped, and when captured the footage can automatically be 'chopped' into individual scene files which is so much easier when editing, this is normally referred to as 'scene detection'.
Even when using a digital camcorder or video capture device (options 3 and 4 above) to capture analogue footage, there is no timestamp, so this process is not possible. However some good entry level software has something called OPTICAL SCENE DETECTION which can detect changes in lighting and colour and chop the files up after it has been transferred to your computer. Often this needs some experimenting with the settings, but is such a timesaver if you can do it.
If your software doesn't have this feature, if you use a PC, try Scenalyzer, this is a great standalone capture program which is also good for capturing and organising digital clips. It will scene detect as the footage is being captured, too. SummaryThe decision of how to import your footage to your computer really depends on how much footage you have to convert. Camcorders with analogue inputs normally cost £100 or so more than those without, and if you are happy with your current model, why change? You may consider paying out for a dedicated capture device is a waste of money, but you could always sell it on after you have finished with it.
Ultimately my advice would be to go for a device designed for the purpose. Look at the Pinnacle Moviebox range, the DataVideo DAC100, Canopus ADVC range. Expect to pay £150-£200. |
