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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Canada
    Search Comp PM
    I have a iMac G5 (PPC, not Intel) and I would like to capture my old VHS. I'm looking for a "cheap" device (USB or FireWire) that can be use on a Mac. Do you know one?
    Thanks

    I found the AVS PYRO A /V Link but at US$180, it's to expensive for me!
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  2. Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Miglia's TVMicro works well for me. It may be found for about $80 if you do a pricegrabber search. Connect it to your VCR and capture as MPEG2 ready for Toast. (I convert the mpeg2 to H264 using ffmpegX and keep my old VHS stuff as iPod-ready files.)
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  3. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    United States
    Search Comp PM
    I am not a Mac user, yet, I am just in here looking before I make the big $ commitment to buy a Mac. However, what I have learned from the PC side is the capture device is important. What you end up with a lot of times by going "cheap" is out of sync results. Audio and video do not match. The capture device should create the sync so things encode correctly.I used AVS (had to borrow from a friend) and it worked great. I bought a Canopus ADVC-110 since it works with PC and Mac. All reviews on it have bee Excellent, though it is expensive. Go with the AVS, I know that works. Just be wary of cheap products that give terrible results. It's too much work to put into a project to get bad results. Better to pay the $.
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  4. Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    No sync issues with the Miglia TVMicro as it uses a coax and does not bring in the audio and video through separate ports/chipsets.

    However, you should think about what you intend to do with the footage once it has been digitized. Remember that VHS will never be better than VHS quality although, if you have the horsepower and appropriate software (and many hours to spare), you might be able to clean it up a little. That being said, I've been happy with the TVMicro and the captured footage is 99% ready to be sent over to Toast for burning as a DVD. (There's a simple "export without re-encoding" step.)

    Additionally, the EyeTV software accompanying the TVMicro will optionally export to one of the other supported formats (whatever you can do with QuickTime Pro) automatically, if you wish. For example, if you set EyeTV to capture for a certain amount of time, it optionally will export to the format you wish. (This assumes you want to do something besides DVD.)

    Keep it simple. One nice thing about the TVMicro: The EyeTV software is UB (universal binary) so getting a new Mac will let you bring the package to the Intel machine without add'l cost.
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  5. Member terryj's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    N35°25.24068, W097°34.204
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by pixel zombie
    http://www.xlr8.com/Apple_Mac_Products/XLR8_Macintosh_Products/Mac_USB2_Video_Capture_OSX_PS.html

    how dows $99 sound?
    when I saw this I was like WTF?
    then I saw:

    USB Capture Software

    aaah...because macs don't do NATIVE USB capture,
    certainly not in iMovie or FCP.

    So I wonder what kind of quality you get, as it has to capture
    footage once, then export to a file that iMovie or FCP will
    recognize? And how much HD space you would need for all that
    converting?
    "Everyone has to learn, so that they can one day teach."
    ------------------------------------------------------
    When I'm not here, Where can I be found?
    Urban Mac User
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  6. as long as it's DV format you should be good to go...
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