VHS to camera then to pc

[Shifty268]

Hye there i got some old VHS tapes my dad recorded of us when we were young. I want to back these up digitaly so i know that i will allways have these videos. Ive head you can plug my VCR into my camera and record the video of the VHS tape then capture to my computer and author to dvd.The quesiton is just how do i do this?

[hech54]

Only SOME videocams have an input that you can record into them(mine doesn't). The first step is to see if your videocamera can do this.

[thecoalman]

And if it does you can by-pass the record to tape part and go directly to HDD if you want. MMost likely you need to set it to record from analog in, you'll find this in the menu. Look it up in your manual because directions for doing this vary by cam.

[daamon]

Hi Shifty268,

Firstly, it may well depend where in the world you are (Hint: Update your profile with your location...) as most, if not all, European camcorders have their pass-through ability disabled by the manufacturer.

This is because, with pass-through recording enabled, the camcorders are classed differently and attract a higher tax. By turning off the pass-through the tax is lower and so more attractive to consumers.

Assuming your camcorder does pass-through... You'll need a cable that has the red, white and yellow jacks at one end (goes into VCR) and a suitable jack the other end to go into the camcorder.

Then, you'll need a firewire cable out of the cam and into a firewire port / card in the PC. Use something like WinDV to capture the digital signal generated by the cam, which is converting from the analogue signal.

As thecoalman says, you don't need to record to tape.

[The_Doman]

Hi Shifty268,
Firstly, it may well depend where in the world you are (Hint: Update your profile with your location...) as most, if not all, European camcorders have there pass-through ability disabled by the manufacturer.

As my experience with some european Sony D8/mini DV camcorders only the analog in RECORD and DV-in function was disabled.
The passthrough function worked straight out of the box.
But most of the bit more expensive models have everything enabled I think.

[slacker]

shifty268,

The other thing you may want to consider is to not only pass thru to a PC but also to transfer your VHS to miniDV tape and stash away in a bank safety deposit box somewhere. This is what professional outfits are recommending to people in my area with the same goals. Tape is a great storage medium.

[anitract]

I personally plan on storing mpeg2 files of my VHS tapes in hard drives since the cost per GB is pretty darn low now. Not the most perfect way to archive, but good enough for me.

[HairyDVD]

I looked at doing the same, but went down a different ( cheaper ) route. I bought a standalone set top dvd recorder and record directly from either an old analogue hi-8 video camera or copy across from a video recorder by using some scart cables. This way, if i want to edit or put on a new menu I can then load up in my pc dvdrom drive.

Another way I have done in the past is connecting a digital video camera via firewire to the pc (this is a low cost way and does not require any video cards to get the video data into the pc - but relies on the source material being on the digital video camera / i.e. does not work with old sources )

[Shifty268]

Ok lots of replies!

I live in New zealand as someone wanted to know. My camera is a pretty new camera Panasonic NV-GS120, it has s-video in/out and av in/out. I dont understang about the "passthrough function " that the_damon said?

What would be the best way record to tape or straight through my camera to pc throught firewire?

[Jim44]

A very quick Google turned up this:
Analog to Digital Pass Through
The GS120 is equipped for analog to digital pass through.

From: http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/panasonic-pv-gs120-camcorder-review.htm

Check your camera's manual, it should have a section about this feature. Should be pretty much as daamon said above - you might have to change the AV port to "output" in a menu maybe (I did on my Canon).

FWIW, I just did a VHS-to-computer transfer with my Canon and using WinDV. Easy.

Jim

[daamon]

I live in New zealand

Put this in your profile - it'll appear under your username when you post and save people asking / guessing and you having to state every time.

What would be the best way record to tape or straight through my camera to pc throught firewire?

In your original post, you said you wanted to save them digitally and then to author them to DVD. My answer to this question would be "do both":

1st) Hook your VCR to your cam and save to DV tape for archiving - use LP mode and you'll get around 50% more on the tape without affecting the quality. This will give an exact copy of the tapes, but stored digitally on the DV tapes. I believe that DV tapes have an excellent long term storage capability - i.e. they don't degrade over a long period.

2nd) Transfer to PC as DV AVI - an excellent format for editing and as a source for home made DVDs (note: saving to DV AVI will not improve the quality - that's limited by the condition of the VHS tape, the VCR used to play it etc.). Once you've got the AVI it's the usual steps of:

Edit (trim, transitions, add music)
Encode (to DVD compliant MPEG2)
Author (menus, if desired, and create VOBs etc.)
Burn to disc


I don't know if you can do both actions at the same time, to save time. Experiment.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

[Shifty268]

Ok i looked through manual nothing about it in there, i searched for tutorials on it couldn;t find nothing. Is pass through just taking the tape out and using the camera to just convert to digital, is there any setting i have to change in the camera? and do you get better result than just recording to camera tape then puting that onto pc.

[daamon]

Is pass through just taking the tape out and using the camera to just convert to digital, is there any setting i have to change in the camera? and do you get better result than just recording to camera tape then puting that onto pc.

Yes.
Quite probably - try searching / asking at www.camcorderinfo.com
No difference.

[Jim44]

Ok i looked through manual nothing about it in there,

Not to be a smart-aleck, but Page 77? Analog-Digital Conversion

Isn't the Internet a wonderful thing? I found the manual on the Panasonic website

Cheers and good luck,
Jim

[Shifty268]

I tryed searching for it on the internet because i have lost one of my manuals and the rest are in different languages. SO would you midne giving me the link

Cheers

[thecoalman]

Not trying to be a smart-aleck.......err yes I am. In the time you typed that you could have looked it up yourself. Goto www.panasonic.com , click the support button and follow the yellow brick road.