HOW DO I GET MY VIDEOS FROM MY OLD VHS CAMCORDER ONTO MY MAC???

Shannon,

Of course there's a way!

Here's a good article that outlines the process:

http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/features/fromvhstodvd/

Post back if you have questions.

Matt

Shannon, the long method means recording your old videos to your digital camcorder and then importing that footage into iMovie. http://www.videohelp.com/dvanalog

The instructional manual for your digital camera should explain how to capture from another analog camera or video player.

You might also do a search for a video capture device if you have a lot of conversions to do.

I think Bakari's suggestion of transfering the old footage to tape on your new camcorder is the best suggestion. It is not so long if you just take the bits you want.

Saving your precious VHS/ old tapes to DV tape is an excellent idea. Here in NZ all our archieve footage is stored on tape as is is so stable and lasts unlike DVD's which have a short lifetime. 10 years!

I upgrade all the tapes I want to keep each time a new format arrives.

It is so easy to do and worthwhile.

Jane

Hi Shannon
I'm not 100% sure of how, but my husband has done this for me many times. He uses the VCR, connects it to our digital camera using an RCA cable from the VCR to the AV connection on our digital camera. Put a blank digital cassette into your digital camera. Press play on the VCR and import on the mac, and the footage from the VHS tape goes into your digital camera and sort of "tricks" the Mac into thinking it's receiving digital footage. i'm sorry I don't know EXACTLY how he does it but hopefully with this info you can play around and get it to work. Rest assured it will work.

I just figured this out after 3 days of fiddling around and here are my notes:

Importing VCR Tapes into iMovie

Equipment:

iMac G5
iLife '06
OLD GE VCR that has OUT Video/Audio (none of ours had this OUT RCA thingie (only *in ones*) but my husband brought one home from the office and it worked!
I use an older Canon ZR40 which came with a cable
The black end goes in the camera.
The yellow goes in the *video out* on the vcr
the red/white goes in the *audio out*
I put my camera on play and use the remote
press play/pause on the VCR
press record/pause on the Canon ZR40
unpause the canon
unpause the vcr
then it copies it to the DV tape which can be put into iMovie via the firewire cable I had to purchase separatley.

I know it's very confusing at first - but hang in there because once you figure it out, it goes pretty smoothly and quickly.

GOOD LUCK from another neophyte!

Shannon,

You'll need something that can convert the analog video on your tapes to a digital format that iMovie can understand.

One I recommend is the Canopus ADVC 110

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php

You'll connect it to your computer and old camera and then playback your tapes in the camera while the converter converts and passes through the video to the computer.

Alternatively you could hook the old camera up to the new one. Record the old tapes on new tapes and then hook the new camera up to the computer and input the newly recorded video.

Matt

Hi Shannon

Do you still have your old camcorder that plays the tapes?

If you have there is no problem, Just play the old tapes into you TV and record on an up to date mini DV camcorder using TV out.

I have updated all my super 8 tapes this way. As long as you can play it into a TV you can take it out.

I always keep my old cameras, tape recorders etc because I know one day I shall need them to update.

Re recording to tape in real time may be a bore but you get better quality than MPEG 4 and it saves space on your hard drive.

Now if you want a real hard problem try converting PAL to NTSC cheaply and acceptably. That is difficult but I do it via my TV!

The in and out sockets on your TV can be your best friend.

Now if you do not have a suitable player try hiring one for a day or two. I have to hire an NTSC deck as they are not commercially available in PAL areas.

Hope this helps

Jane

I have this adapter that I put the small tapes in that fits into a VCR.

I then hook the CanonZR40 to the VCR and place the VCR tapes onto the ZR40 tapes for archiving. The ZR40 is digital so I can also import clips from the new ZR40 tapes into iMovie for projects.

Did your small video tapes come with some sort of adapter to fit them into a regular VCR? I think you can still purchase one. I want to say it was Super 8 maybe? The camera is long gone, but I still have stacks of those tapes and the adapter to play them on a VCR.

Do you know if they're S-VHS or Super 8 Tapes? I'm curious as to what format your tapes are.