Hi Roger,

I've captured 20 year old analogue VHS-C tapes for my neighbours before using their original camera with red, white and yellow cable running from the camera to my TV card on my PC.

I've also had experience of capturing HD and SD content from a compatible digital MiniDV camcorder using firewire.

I've never heard of analogue content being captured using firewire though!

Your camera records digitally I take it? What format are the tapes you use with this camera? What kind of tapes is your analogue content on?

Cheers,

Andrew Alienware Aurora ALX R4 - Intel i7-4820 4.2 GHz - 32GB DDR3 RAM - Crucial 512GB SSD - 1TB Seagate HDD - 3TB WD Green HDD - 4TB WD Green HDD - MSI NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB

Sony HDR-PJ810 and HDR-PJ530

Hi, I know some members have used their DVCameras to be a pass through device for an other video source but I've never had the need. I know Barry has done this sort of thing in the past.

Please clarify whether you're using the Sony Digital Handycam as an interface device with another camera (analogue) or you're using the Sony Digital Handycam to actually play the tapes (in which case it isn't analogue but MiniDV).

Using RCA cabling is a do-able but I'd suggest you opt for a simple interface device such as KWorld USB IF you're using a VCR to play analogue.

The Firewire route should be fine with miniDV BUT not if you're using Hi8 which is not supported by PD7 or 8 but was by PD6. For Hi8 the KWorld device is the route to take.

Dafydd
[Moderator]

To offer some clarification, my current camera (an 11 year old Sony Digital 8 Handycam) does record digitally on standard or Hi8, 8mm video tapes. The analog footage I have comes from a Handycam I had 20 years ago and that recorded on standard 8mm video tape. I can use my current digital 8 video camera as a VCR to play back my old standard 8mm video tapes (with analog content) for viewing. When I was trying to capture the content off of these old standard 8mm tapes, I was playing them on my digital 8 handycam which was connected directly to my computer via firewire. It sounds as if PD 8 does not support standard 8/Hi8 and that I will need to look at another alternative. I am not familiar with the KWorld device but will research it. I got the idea of trying to capture my old analog tapes, using my digital 8 handycam, based on the following article: http://www.videohelp.com/dvanalog

That article explains that many digital 8 cameras are capable of playing standard 8mm tapes with analog content and converting it to a digital source while outputting it to a computer. The video and audio quality of the 3 to 5 seconds clips that I was able to capture, was just fine but obviously, capturing only 3 to 5 seconds clips is not helpful.

Thanks for your responses and I hope this additional information offers more clarification about what I was trying to do and how.
Redwing Roger

Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium, Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz processor, 8Gb DDR3 SDRAM, nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB graphics card, 2nd internal HD - WD Black Caviar 2TB. PD 9 Ultra, Build 9.00.2330

I have a KWorld USB capture device whch can do RCA and S-Video. The audio connects to your PC's microphone jack. I use it with my old Hi8 Canon camera and it works very well. If you go this rout I would capture in small chuncks. There is the possability that the audio may drop or get out of sync. I purchased it a large chain computer store, but you can also get it online. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

James, thanks for your response. I have never had a need to use the S video connection but doesn't the S video carry both video and audio? Have you used the S video or RCA connections? If the S video carries both video and audio, I would assume that things should not get out of synch but maybe I'm wrong about that. Redwing Roger

Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium, Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz processor, 8Gb DDR3 SDRAM, nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB graphics card, 2nd internal HD - WD Black Caviar 2TB. PD 9 Ultra, Build 9.00.2330

No, S-Video does not carry audio. The audio was captured through the PC's microphone jack. My Hi8 camera has S-Video output so I used that since it offers better quality than the yellow RCA video output. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

If your "(an 11 year old Sony Digital 8 Handycam)" is similar to this 2002 model, then based on the sony website listed below is supports "Analog-to-Digital Conversion with Pass Through"
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11040714

Unfortunately, PD stopped supporting this type of capture in version PD7. At this time they added a lot of smart camera detection capture type stuff and it appeared to break this older technology type of capture. At least for my Canon models, as I used this pass through capability all the time.

However, you can still use windows movie maker to capture if you wish, XP at least. The process is the same, connect the older camera to the newer (11yr old) via RCA jacks, you usually have to set a menu in the newer camera doing the pass through to simply do the pass through and not record. Look in your manual. Capture in windows movie maker via ilink, firewire, 1394.

Jeff

Thanks for the info. Jeff. I see Microsoft has a beta version of Movie Maker that works with Win 7. They claim it's an all new product, not the same as the version that works with XP. I'm not sure if this new version will work for capturing analog video but it's worth my exploring it as an option. I appreciate the heads up. Redwing Roger

Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium, Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz processor, 8Gb DDR3 SDRAM, nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB graphics card, 2nd internal HD - WD Black Caviar 2TB. PD 9 Ultra, Build 9.00.2330

Update on capturing analog video. Jeff suggested Windows MovieMaker might be an option for capturing analog video. I tried the BETA version of MovieMaker for Vista/Win 7. Success! It's a bit cumbersome but it worked. I put the analog 8mm video tape into my Sony digital Handycam and played it from there. I have only tried a few short clips but Movie Maker did capture the footage. Once I import the .avi clips into PowerDirector, I do have to trim the first few seconds of the clips because they contain some video interference and black space before the captured video plays but that's not a big problem. Thanks for the tip Jeff, it will save me from having to get a capture device. Redwing Roger

Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium, Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz processor, 8Gb DDR3 SDRAM, nVidia GeForce GTS240 1024MB graphics card, 2nd internal HD - WD Black Caviar 2TB. PD 9 Ultra, Build 9.00.2330