VCR To DV To PC?

[Rudyard]

A friend of mine (who is now overseas and cant help me) told me he bought his DV camera with AV in/out abilities so he could record any VHS material to his DV camera and then to his computer to AVI.

He said the DV camera took care of the analogue to digital conversion.

Is this possible or am I misunderstanding him? In short it would mean if I got a DV camera with AV IN and OUT I could capture all my VHS material to that and then go directly to my PC via a firewire transfer and save any hassles in capturing from VHS to PC.

Is this a good option for the ultimate goal of converting 12 VHS tapes to DVD?

[gadgetguy]

It can and does work as he said. Some cams offer "pass-thru" which allows you to skip the step of recording to a DV tape.
It is the option that I have been using for over a year and I'm happy with the results I get.

[Rudyard]

I am going to search these on the net, do you know what to call it so that I get DV cameras with av in and not 1000000 cameras without it? Does it have a technical name?

[davideck]

"Analog Input" or "A/V In" might be a good start.

[Rudyard]

thanks

[pinetop]

Gadgetguy or Anyone,

What cameras have A/V pass thru ?

[thecoalman]

Gadgetguy or Anyone,

What cameras have A/V pass thru ?

It will be listed in the specs, there's probably hundreds that have that feature.

[MpegEncoder]

Many camcorders will do this. I use a Sony TRV320.

But note that you WILL have audio/video sync issues to deal with, guaranteed.

These cameras do not synchronize the video with the audio. So what happens is that the audio and video start out together but drift apart during the entire length of the "movie". Depending on the length of the movie, it can get to be very noticable towards the end.

I use VirtualDub to resync and frameserve to TMPGEnc.

Again I say, you will HAVE to deal with the audio/video sync issue.

[gadgetguy]

I have a Sony TRV-230 and I only experience synch problems when using Type2 for long "captures". When I use Type1 I don't have to deal with synch issues.

[rkr1958]

Many camcorders will do this. I use a Sony TRV320.

But note that you WILL have audio/video sync issues to deal with, guaranteed.

These cameras do not synchronize the video with the audio. So what happens is that the audio and video start out together but drift apart during the entire length of the "movie". Depending on the length of the movie, it can get to be very noticable towards the end.

I use VirtualDub to resync and frameserve to TMPGEnc.

Again I say, you will HAVE to deal with the audio/video sync issue.

I too have a Sony TRV320. I use the passthrough feature all the time to convert my son's Disney VHS tapes to DVD. VCR to TRV320 (via RCA) to computer (via firewire). This works even if the VHS tape has macrovision. However, if you tried to record the VHS tape to DV tape the TRV320 won't ... you get a copy prohibited message due to the detection of a macrovision signal ... but passthrough works fine ... go figure.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about audio / video sync issues. I use the timewarp function in Goldwave to make the audio length the same as the video length which then puts them in sync.

[The_Doman]

Many camcorders will do this. I use a Sony TRV320.

But note that you WILL have audio/video sync issues to deal with, guaranteed.

Again I say, you will HAVE to deal with the audio/video sync issue.

I use the passthrough function of my SonyD8 TRV120 alot and really NEVER had audio sync issues with it!
Really bad VHS tapes or even changing sources while capturing never have given me audio sync problems.
It just works fantastic!

I am using Scenalyzer Live, maybe that is a factor?

[MOVIEGEEK]

Gadgetguy or Anyone,

What cameras have A/V pass thru ?

Go to www.shopping.com for specs and prices.
BTW...my Sony and Canon camcorders don't have synch problems,I always transfer in type 1.

[jimmalenko]

Another method that basically emulates this is plugging your VCR into an ADVC-100, which locks the audio and video together and dumps your VHS onto your PC in DV-AVI.

No camera though ....