Hi, WILLIAMDOR!
There are a great many devices available at the moment that can convert analogue video, from sources such as VHS or Beta videocassette recorders or those earlier generations of mono and stereo analogue "cam-corders" like the one you inherited from your father. The software that comes with them can be anything from Pinnacle to NTS or even bare-bones versions of Cyberlink Power Director(that have several of the features disabled to keep costs down). The devices are referred to as "capture cards" Nearly all full versions of Power Director will accept input from these devices(some of the ealiest PD version might not, but I'm only guessing, the earliest Power Director I used was Version 5). Just make all the necessary connections from your "cam-corder" to the capture card(when you get it or if you already have one) and connect it to a USB port.
These devices are usually "plug & Play" so they'll be usable almost immediately on connection. Open your Power Director(assuming it's Version 14), click on "capture", start your tape playing, the picture should come up on the preview screen, back your tape up to the start, click on the "record" icon(below and left of the preview screen) and.... away-y-y-y you go! When you've captured all, or as much as you want from the tape, click again on the "record" icon to stop the process, you'll be presented with a box where you give your file a name(tentative title), the default title is "capture". You can determine where your captured video file is saved as well. Just repeat the steps to capture more content. The captured video will be in 4:3 aspect ratio. If your Power Director is set to 16:9 then you'll get a warning of the aspect ratio conflict and be asked if you want to switch to 4:3. For the purpose of what I'm about to tell you, click "No" when that warning appears because you can convert that 4:3 aspect ratio into 16:9 wide screen in just a few mouse-clicks! Drag your clip to the timeline, right-click on it and move the cursor to "Set Clip Attributes", another box will appear with Set Aspect Ratio" as the last of the options, left-click on it and you'll see a panel which will show Project Clip is 16:9, below that are a set of options,
Detect Aspect Ratio Automatically; The Aspect Ratio Of The Clip Is 4:3; The Aspect Ratio Of The Clip Is 16:9; Neither 4:3 nor 16:9; Apply To All Video Clips. Of these options, select
The Aspect Ratio Of The Clip Is 4:3, you'll then be given two options, to either "Stretch Clip To 16:9" or "Use CLPV To Stretch...", Select the latter and your clip will be stretche out to 16:9 but proportions will be retained so that no-one in your clip will look like they've been
"raiding the refridgerator"
On one point I must disagree with Barry The Crab, regarding Windows Movie Maker, but only in relation to the version for Windows 7 which does not appear to have a capture option for devices such as you wish to use, plus the editing procedure is a bit cumbersome in WMM. PD14 is far superior in these regards.
Hope that explains things for you!
Cheers!
Neil.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at Nov 22. 2015 01:28