RCA to Firewire converter?

Hi bdavisnyc-

You may need some kind of converter, especially if they do not have a FireWire camera. I use a product called Pyro A/V Link by ADS-there are several similar products from other manufacturers. It has a variety of handy inputs and outputs.

If you are getting into the business consider a VHS/DVR combination deck. Very handy for playing those recovered VHS tapes that the cat hurled on and maybe will give you one play. You can dub to DVD at the same time you are outputting the video to your Mac.

I am finding that I get a lot of tapes from folks that are now 25 years and older and have been played maybe once. The tape tends to stick to itself and the FF and RW mechanisms of many decks will break the tape. I actually took apart one VHS cassette and used it as my master cassette and move damaged or cleaned reels of tape to it for 1 play through the deck. A lot of the mechanisms inside of the shells fly apart when you take them apart, but this one from a sports blooper video seems to work nicely.

Buy an external DVD burner. IMHO the one in the Mac wasn't really designed to do mass production burning of DVDs.

I wouldn't sweat even trying to convert tapes to HD. All VHS home movies I have seen are low definition at best. Most are, well, home movies (;>)

'Tis all that I can ponder for now.

Luck-

-DaddyPaycheck

For Converters, I reccomend the Canopus products. I have an older model, the ADVC-100 that has been purring along for years for new issues. Newer models have built in Time Base Correctors which can be very helpful when capturing analog material

As for DV/VHS decks, not a bad idea but I would stay away from the JVC SR-VS30. IMO this deck is really not designed for a busy production environment and especially on the DV side, there are many things lacking

Do your research and invest in a truly professional analog S-VHS deck intended to work with heavy work loads. Even if you are working with VHS tapes, I've always found that using the S-VHS cables gives a slightly better result. Just make sure your converter supports S-VHS cables .. the Canopus does. Panasonic professional decks have always worked well for me. You will put out more money initially, but you will save it in the long run

The comment about an external DVD burner is a fair one, especially since the price on these seem to be coming down all the time. Just make sure you look at DVD BURNERS not RECORDERS. Two different beasts ... though, frankly, if you are doing straight VHS to DVD transfers, a good recorder (again, I like Panasonic but I have a BenQ that does the job) may be the way to go. Very fast. Very convenient, just a straight deck to deck dubb

What type of mini dv camera do you have. Does it have rca connectors on it. Some cameras you can set to vtr and it will pass the analog signal through it, you have to set final cut to non-controllable device to capture.

Hi bdavisnyc-

I think kpkube is on to something for sure. You should be able to use that camera as the Analog to Digital converter unit.

I have found this document: iMovie: Using footage from DV and non-DV sources to be extremely helpful.

Luck-

-DaddyPaycheck

You can only edit DV and HDV in FCE, so obviously you need to be able to convert to one of those formats.

What are you hoping to achieve in your small home business? Shooting and editing wedding videos? Corporates? If you're shooting your own stuff you won't need any converters as you'll have control over the format.

If you're advertising to put old video onto dvd etc you'll need to have some idea of the formats you'll be converting from.

VHS and you need to hook up a minidv camcorder to a vhs player.
Hi8 or Digital8, you need to connect their camcorder to yours and dub the tapes onto minidv.

To be brutally honest the camera you have doesn't really come close to even prosumer quality. Yes it has a reasonable 1/3.4" CCD - good for consumer use, but in any professional capacity you need at least a Canon GL2 sized camera (3 x 1/4"CCDs) and better still, 3 x 1/3" chips.

You'll also struggle with editing on a G4 iBook for more than a short time.

If you're aiming to start using cameras as part of your business, I would suggest:

1) Ensure your camera techniques are up to scratch.
2) Get more experience using FCE
3) Get a better camera
4) Get a better computer
5) You're likely to need FCP at some time in the future.

Do post back with more details on your home business ideas and needs.

Hi Bryan,

I think that's a sensible plan of action. If you've more than a little editing experience with iMovie, you're probably ready for the step up to FCE. The key to editing is the way you use the tools available to tell a story and you've got more tools at your disposal with FCE.

You may want to post or search about FCE's compatibility with your iBook, however I've used FCP4.5HD on a G4 iBook before so I'd imagine you'd be OK - just check first.

The sort of stuff I can forsee you doing would probably just involve cutting out the bad bits - you know, the zooming in and out to reframe and all the 'wobbly' bits and poor shots. The difficulty may come in finding enough good bits to put together!

Stick a few cross dissolves and fades in and out and slo-mo and desaturate some clips can make things a bit more interesting but try to avoid the temptation to use those cheesy cube spins - they soon wear out their welcome!

You can pick up those direct-to-CD/DVD printers pretty cheaply (avoid the paper label printers) and use stills from the video to make a DVD cover for a professional finish - this may take a little time until you get used to it, so initially you may find the pay-to-work ratio is a little low but hopefully, you'll get into a rhythm and you'll be banging 'em out at a decent rate.

Good luck!

I mainly Camera Op, but can also edit and started off in a similar way to the way you're intending, but I'd had a bit more camera operating experience and so really the editing came after, which is why I was giving you an answer from the perspective of all round video production.

Having said that, as you describe it, you may be OK starting slowly, offering editing services as a way in. It's just that folk may ask you to shoot some stuff as well, so it would be crazy not to learn camera techniques just in case.

Starting off small by perhaps doing a couple of projects cheaply for friends/relatives/neighbours and things may snowball by word of mouth. As you get more experienced, you may be able to advertise locally or on the web. You just don't want to promise what you can't deliver and get negative feedback.

If you're not too experienced, don't put all your eggs in one basket and invest all you have and chuck in your job.

I went back to college as a mature student and took a college degree in Media Production, with tutors that had TV, Film and Radio Industry experience. I also did as much as I could out of college to increase my knowledge and scrimped and saved for equipment a bit at a time.

After college I worked in a crappy job part time, doing bits and pieces, both for myself and for others who'd seen I was serious and reliable and knew how to wield a camera in a half decent fashion.

As I got more work, it put me in a position to be able to chuck in my old job, but I didn't do it 'till I was sure I could get enough work to pay the bills. I've done corporates, weddings, music video, documentary, fiction and freelance news camera, mostly camera op but also editing, sound, directing - it helps to be able to multitask!

So my advice is to start it off as a sideline, learn as much as you can and only upgrade your equipment if you can justify the expense or need. You may start editing home videos for people but as your capabilities expand, different avenues may open. It really does depend upon how much you want it and how much you're prepared to put in.

Either that or win the lottery or marry a rich widow!

Good luck.

D.

Oh, and if you make it to Hollywood, remember me!

(I'm partial to a nice Winnebago and contractual riders as part of my Exec Producer perk! - Or where I live it's a cream bun and a bottle of Dearne Valley Pop)

Ha-Ha, I'm a night bird!

Just going, dad.