Importing from VHS

Hello all,
I have a bunch of old videos on VHS tapes that I would like to import on my mac using iMovie. Unfortunately, iMovie only lets you use firewire to import and my old analog video camera with VCR that I'm using doesn't have a DV port for a firewire cable... only the old school AV cable ports. I've done some browsing online looking for a device to allow me to plug my camera/VCR into something that has a firewire cable on the other side so I can plug it in my Mac and import into iMovie. So far I've come across this.

Anyone know if this will accomplish what I'm looking to do? I don't want to make a $130 mistake. Or do you know of any other cables or devices that will accomplish what I need.... Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Sean

Posted on Aug 31, 2005 12:59 PM

25 replies

Ron Reid

Level 1

85 points

Sep 18, 2005 2:47 PM in response to Lennart Thelander

ahh the agonizing pain of learing something new.
I should have figured ... s-video ... no audio 🙂
now that i saved a project using create a magic movie ...
I am not able to go thru the project and get rid of unwanted frames? 😟
Ron

Sep 19, 2005 12:28 AM in response to Ron Reid

now that i saved a project using create a magic movie ...

I am not able to go thru the project and get rid of unwanted frames? 😟

You can't use Magic Movie if you want to edit.

SeaniBu

Level 1

75 points

Oct 13, 2005 7:40 PM in response to Lennart Thelander

S-video Dose carry audio. someone is screwing up here.

SeaniBu

Level 1

75 points

Oct 13, 2005 7:41 PM in response to Ron Reid

It does carry audio!

Ron Reid

Level 1

85 points

Oct 13, 2005 8:50 PM in response to SeaniBu

hello sean
I am using a canopus advc-300 analog to digital converter.
the first time i downloaded a vhs tape using the s-video adaptor into my mac there was picture but no sound. then i hooked up the rca cables and there was sound.
if you say S-video does carry audio - explain 🙂
thanks.

Oct 13, 2005 9:49 PM in response to Ron Reid

When I record though my Canon ZR 100 camera from my VCR everything is ok except I get a couple of lines out of sync at the bottom of the video. Would a S-VHS VCR fix this? Is there any other way to deal with it? Can I get a plug-in for iVideo HD to crop it out?
Thanks,
Dave

Oct 14, 2005 12:23 AM in response to SeaniBu

S-video Dose carry audio. someone is screwing up here.

S-video does NOT carry audio:
http://www.interfacebus.com/DesignConnectorVideo.html

someone is screwing up here.

You are ;-)

Oct 14, 2005 12:34 AM in response to dave cadugan

everything is ok except I get a couple of lines out of sync at the bottom of the video.

I quote F Shippey:
"You are probably see a line or two of sync pulses from the ANALOG video. They are normally masked off-screen by the overscan others have talked about. (In fact that's one reason for the overscan - to hide these pulses.)

In the "old days" - when TV sets had vertical and horizontal hold controls - you could adjust the vertical hold to make the picture roll and see several lines of such "junk".

You won't see them when the video is viewed on a TV from a DVD or DV tape. You will see them on your computer."

Overscan explained
http://www.inmatrix.com/articles/overscan2.shtml

Oct 14, 2005 8:21 AM in response to Lennart Thelander

What's the best way to deal with these sync pulses? Would a zoom or crop plug-in for iMovie be the best way? Can someone share their experience with one?
Thanks,
Dave

Oct 14, 2005 8:29 AM in response to dave cadugan

What's the best way to deal with these sync pulses?

Leave them alone. You won't see them on TV.

If you really want to, you can mask them using QT pro:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/tutorials.html

I would never zoom. It would blur the picture.

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Importing from VHS