Analog VHS to Digital

Steve

Newbie Joined: May 14, 2010 08:14 Messages: 1 Offline

Solved by

May 14, 2010 09:07

I just purchased & downloaded PowerDirector 8...That was easy & very smooth.

I had been using Pinnacle but was convinced this is the way to go.

Prior to purchase I was told that the Pinnacle converter (small white egg looking object connecting VHS player to computer) would be recognized & would work.

So far not the case. Can not capture, and only was able to view a short choppy portion of the VHS tape when first started, then PD8 simply showed the blue screen. Tried several tapes with similar results.

This is probably very basic to most of you but I'm stuck. Do I need to adjust settings, unplug & reconnect, need hardware, etc...

Thanks for your help.

James W

Senior Contributor Location: Lakeland, FL USA Joined: Aug 18, 2008 10:36 Messages: 911 Offline

May 14, 2010 19:32

I've never used Pinnacle's capture device so I can't comment on that. For analog video I use a Kworld USB capture device. My biggest problem has been the sound dropping out on occasion. Others have reported problems capturing VHS with TV capture cards with PD. Q9300 2.5 GHz
4 GB Ram
Nvidia 9800 GT

CubbyHouseFilms

Senior Contributor Location: Melbourne, Australia Joined: Jul 14, 2009 04:23 Messages: 2208 Offline

May 14, 2010 20:34

Hi Steve

Like James, I never had much success (loss of volume etc).

So I connected my old VHS tape camera to my DVD recorder and made a DVD and copied these video files from the DVD to my hard drive and imported these files into PD.

Happing editing

Best Regards

Neil
CubbyHouseFilms
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BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

May 15, 2010 07:34

If you have a digital video camera, it is possible that camcorder has an AV to DV pass-thru function. Perhaps PD will capture that way.
In the event it does not, try Windows Movie Maker to capture. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

James Dotson

Senior Contributor Location: Tennessee Joined: Aug 24, 2009 20:40 Messages: 3066 Offline

May 15, 2010 19:56

I did like Barry suggested, but, at that time, PD would only let me record from the DV camcorder, not the pass-through video, so I used a third party program to record it and imported it to PD. I have heard others talk as if that has since changed for the better. Either way, it took some time to get it set up, but it worked great. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM

CoolBruno

Newbie Joined: May 08, 2010 08:59 Messages: 12 Offline

Aug 12, 2010 17:29

I had the same problem. I capture my home video tapes and PowerDirector 8.0 issues a Copyright Error. I have no problems with other other capture software like WinAvi. I requested technical support to fix the bug and escalate to management and they refuse. Position is "working as design". Worst technical support I have ever experienced. When I complained, they just closed the incident with no reply (CS000900793)