Capture VHS through D8 to PC without recording to D8 tape?

[kabanero]

Hi,

When I want to capture from VHS, I record to my D8 camcorder first, and then capture from it to PC via FireWire with 0 dropped frames.
Is it possible to capture from VHS to PC via D8 camcorder and FireWire without recording to D8 tape first? If it is, how?

Thanks.

[dvd_for_me]

I am looking for the best software to capture when using my SOny DV as a A to D converter. I can see the video from the analog source in the Studio 7 preview window, but I dont know how to capture it.

[kabanero]

Well, now my process is:
1. I copy video from VHS VCR to my Sony D8 camcorder.
2. Then I capture from Sony to PC using FireWire card with 0 frames dropped. I use Ulead MediaStudio Pro 6.0 or Vegas Video 3.0.
3. Then I edit the video if I need, and then encode to MPEG-1 or MPEG-2.

I was wondering if it was possible to use Sony D8 as pass through without recording to tape.

Read help or manual of your Studio 7.

Hopes, this helps.

[jtor]

You'll have to check the D8's manual if she has the Analog Pass-through feature. If your D8 has this feature, your manual should be able to tell you how to use that feature.

[vanceen]

If you are in Europe, the analog-in and DV-in functions of your camcorder has probably been disabled. The good news is that you can re-enable the function using some relatively inexpensive software and a cable. (I don't have a link with me, just search the net and you'll definitely find it.) Once you've enabled analog-in, you can pass the VHS source right through your camcorder and into your PC by firewire.

[jeff303]

I have a Sony Digital 8 Video Camera as well and so far I've been trying the "on-the-fly" analog to digital conversion, with mixed results. I plug my VCR into my camera and then the camera to the PC with a Firewire cable. The captures aren't great... would they be better if I first recorded to digital tape on the camera and THEN transferred, as some of you mentioned earlier? Or is the quality the same?

[Roadwart]

I have captured some of my VHS using the passthrough feature on my Sony TRV-620e. Just plug in the cables, set teh cam to playback mode & you`re off. Downside is that it won`t pass the info if it detects a macrovision signal. This may or maynot hapen if you unlock the cams DV features yourself. Mine can with both in & out enabled.

[PhArAoH]

I have a SONY TRV320e and have been using it as a pasthrough device to record my VHS family videos to PC via Firewire with great results.
I live in London, UK, therefore my digital camcorder had DV-in disabled when i purchased 1.5 years ago.
I bought a cable and software from http://www.lynxdv.com/dvstore/ and enabled the DV-in option permanently. There is no need to record to a D8 tape unless that's what you want. Again, it works perfectly.
It was my dream to be able to record VHS analog video to my PC without loss of quality and no frame drops. You must remember that not all D8 camcorders can be used as pasthrough devices.
As far as Macrovision is concerned, you won't be able to capture from protected VHS source. I have tried so many things without success. The best I have done is to capture from camcorder with PowerVCRII to MPEG1 (VCD) Real Time, but the quality is worse than using an offfline encoder such as TMPGEnc. If anybody knows of any program that will make it possible to capture from Macrovision protected VHS source please give me a shout as I have a dozen Disney movies which I bought from my local videostore and would like to convert them to VCD at the best possible quality.

Thanx

[Neishaverse]

Ok I tried something like this myself with bad results. I copied a few old Laserdiscs to MiniDV, then went via firewire to my computer. My resulting video had black bars on the sides of the picture, almost like a sideways letterboxing. I know MiniDV records at 720x480. Will this format add the bars if the source is something else? I also recorded some video from HBO on Digital Cable to MiniDV and then via firewire to my computer with the exact same issues. Does anyone know what the resolution is for some older video formats (Laserdisc, Betamax, 8m.m., VHS) and can I avoid these little black demons on my capture.

I have content on all of these out-dated video formats that I desperatly want to back up on DVD, and I don't want sideways letterboxes.

Barney

PS: On my Sony DCR-PC9 MiniDV camcorder it allow Analog to Digital passthrough, but while in either Adobe Premier or Sonic Foundry's Vegas Video I can see the analog video on the screen while in preview mode, but when I try to capture it trys to start the tape in the camera. If no tape then it wont do anything at all.