Video Capture Software

[Kurt (Indiana)]

Geek Alert !! Geek Alert !!

I want to be able to capture video (and audio) from my home movies which are now on DVD.
In order to use them in "Movie Maker", what would I need to be able to use video clips?
My digital camera videos work great but I can't sue the old movies from the DVD.

I'm running "Vista" so the compatibility might be challenging but I could use another computer (with XP).

Let me know what the word is on this.

Thanks, Kurt

[madjack]

Kurt, if you are talking home movies onna compatable DVD disc, they should D/L straight to your PC...a good burning program such as NERO should work as well and even MovieMaker should be able to capture them for from that point to make movies...I use NERO for most all my video/audio needs....
madjack

[IndyCubby]

Hey Kurt. I can offer you some help on this. It just so happens that I'm in the video studio at school right now as I type.

Just so I understand....

You are able to import video from your video camera now via firewire into your pc?....you have a firewire port on your pc?

If you do and have gotten that to work with MovieMaker, then you can use your digital video camera as the device to which you can hook your DVD player, VCR, or whatever else you want. Typically, you can take the three way cable that comes with your video camera (red,white,yellow RCA plugs) that you normally use to play your camera to a TV. Most digital cameras that are DV enabled will have a function somewhere in the menues that lets you change that three way cable from an "out" signal to an "in" signal. What this allows you to do is plug your VCR or whatever you want to record from into the camera....put it in PLAY mode....and then transfer the video/audio to the pc via the firewire.

If I misunderstood your post and you don't have a firewire/DV enabled camera, then you will need to go out and buy a video interface for your pc. Most of them are available with a USB or a Firewire hookup for your pc. What you do is plug the analog devide into it and it converts it to digital format (that your pc can use).

Did any of that make sense? Let me know and I can try to explain a little better.

I use MovieMaker every day in the production of our morning announcement show here at school. We also have Pinnacle software, but I prefer the simpler MovieMaker for our uses.

Chris

[IndyCubby]

Kurt,

You know, I just re-read your first post and I think I understood wrong.

If you are saying that you're trying to put video/audio from an older analog camera onto DVD, then you will need one of these:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... D_Recorder

or these:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... eo_Grabber

They are both in the $50 range.

Just so you know, you can go out and buy a decent little digital video camera (that uses reusable miniDV tapes) for around $200 or less. Most of them would have the functionality that I mentioned in my above post and would, in essence, act like one of these gadgets that cost $50 whenever you needed it fot that.....and you would have a new camera to boot.

Sorry if I've totally confused you now. I do that sometimes.

[Kurt (Indiana)]

IC, Thanks for the help. My mission is to make a wedding day video for my son and his (soon to be wife). I want to incorporate "old" video that I have taken to build a time line for each of them with old pix and movies.

I can get all the video to DVD (from VHS), I just need some software or a devise to capture the home movies (DVD) so I can use it in the new movie.

The format needs to be mpeg or some compatible format.

Photos work great. Audio capture would be nice also.

Thanks for the help.

Kurt

[IndyCubby]

Ah, now I understand.

You may be able to find some free share-ware software that converts DVDs into common video formats that can then be imported into MovieMaker or something similar. The problem with that is it might require you to convert the entire DVD disc or something silly like that. Then, available memory becomes a problem. Also, in my experience, MovieMaker doesn't like large files and can go a little crazy on you.

I think what you need is one of those gadgets that I linked to above. You can just plug your home DVD player into it. You just hit play on the DVD player and watch it on the little window in MovieMaker....you just grab the bits and pieces from the incoming video to import. It's pretty easy. With it being an Analog input (from the computer's perspective), you will have to hit controls on both the DVD player to start/stop/ff/rr ...and on your computer to start and stop the importing process.

btw, you can probably find one of those video interface devices at walmart or somewhere similar. I can't remember if Marion has an electronics store. Just look for something that converts three RCA analog input plugs into USB that plugs into your computer.

Feel free to e-mail me if you need help.

[dhazard]

Take a look at Pinnacle Studio 10, that might do the trick.

[Kurt (Indiana)]

Thanks for all of your help you guys.

I ended up getting the Pinnacle Studio 10. Dazzle would have done the job but they were sold out at Best Buy.
It works great for capturing my home videos as well as any dvd or VHS I can play thru the converter.

I'll probably use Windows movie maker to assemble the vieo/audio and graphics because I have some practice on the program already.

My son's wedding reception will be a PNC park in Pittsburgh and the video of his and his future wife's childhood life will be shown there at the reception on the "Jumbo Tron"
http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pit/b ... events.jsp

Now the pressure is on to create a good video of their childhood and anything else I can get on film.

Thanks again.