vhs to camcorder to computer

[TEFP]

i don't have a capture card and i don't really want to get one
i've heard that you can take video from vhs and dubb it onto camcorder(dv) than connect it to the computer

[junkmalle]

With many DV camcorders you don't even have to record onto tape. The camcorder can convert to DV and stream it out the firewire port on the fly.

[turk690]

DV camcorders taking an AV input and streaming it out the FireWire port on the fly certainly sounds cool but its reliability depends on a few things. 1st, in my experience the AV signal has to BE very stable and glitch-free (read: a strong unwavering sync on the video); just a few glitches and drop-outs can cause the streaming to stop outright or produce variable delays in between the audio and video causing them to be out of sync (depending on the particular camcorder). 2nd, different capture programs behave differently when confronted with drop-outs like this; some stop capturing (and loose the already captured portion), some may stop and mercifully ask the captured file to be named (Premiere Pro does this), yet still some carries on capturing as if nothing happened (capturing nothing but a blue screen all the while since the AV-to-DV passthrough feature was turned off on encountering the drop-outs); still others just hang (requiring a PC reboot). 3rd, some camcorders allow a DVout signal to appear when an AVin is present only when a tape is also recording that AV signal (completely negating the tapeless AVin-to-DVout passthrough scheme we're all after here), like some Canon camcorders (MV400i).