importing analog video to mac

vhs vcr --(thru RCAs)--> digital video camcorder --(thru firewire)--> mac

I go VHS VCR -> RCA cable -> Sony DVMC-DA2 converter -> FireWire -> Mac.

Also, you may want an external hard drive to capture video to. Your iBook internal one might not be fast enough, depending on what resolution/quality you need.

i doubt it'd be too slow for full-quality video, especially if it's an ibook g4 (is it?). always better to capture to an internal HD too.

i do have a fast external hd. i worry about ram--doesn't it gobble up ram to do video work like this?

i don't have a camcorder so the "Sony DVMC-DA2 converter" or something like that should work.

what software do you guys use to capture stuff?

Great timing, this thread; I was going to be asking something similar soon.

Both iMovie and quicktime player allow you to capture from firewire.

Are the aja iO boxes more expensive than the sony?

am, shouldn't you be able to borrow a FW camera from your school's AV dep't for a day?

as for ram, it depends on the length of the video. you might be wise to split each tape up into 20 min chunks.

and i would use final cut for this but yeah i guess imovie would do just fine!

but i would suggest capturing to your internal HD (if it's at least 5400RPM) and then copying stuff over to your external HD.

you'll need mac os 9

Question about converters -- this page sez:

Sony has discontinued all of its Media Converters in 2002. As a replacement, we recommend Canopus ADVC-110 or ADVC-300 media converters, that support locked audio, as well as both NTSC and PAL video standards.

So what's Canopus's rep? Or is this page itself outdated?

unless you're planning on going pro in the analog-to-digital game i don't think you should bother buying a convereter; you could get a perfectly functional digital video camera that'll do what you need (and be a real video camera too!) for less.

Similarly, and this may be a very stupid question to some, how do I rip parts of a dvd into an mpeg file? Also OSX. Can Quicktime do this? (don't have quicktime pro) Mplayer? What do people use/how easy is it?

handbrake.

or use mactheripper then ffmpegx.

thanks dudes. so this camcorder business.

"vhs vcr --(thru RCAs)--> digital video camcorder --(thru firewire)--> mac"

there doesn't need to be a DV tape in the camcorder right? it just serves as a A-to-D converter?

that may depend on the camera... although i think it will work!

you may need to record over a tape while it's doing it. worst-case you may need to record the tape and then dump THAT tape. which obv will not be efficient if you have a lot of footage to dump.