Analogue -> Digital Conversion...

G'day,

IN SHORT:

Other than the Canon MV-X430, what other camcorders can do analogue/digital conversion on the fly (instead of capturing to tape first)? What is the cheapest?

Alternatively, are there any DVD Recorders that have firewire output and will "pass through" the analogue signal so I could hook it up to my eMac and capture that way??? I read the Pioneer 310 has in and out Firewire... (though read they cost $200 in USA, but $900 here???)

IN LONG:

I'm having to revisit the question of how to convert analogue video into digital; namely capturing footage from a VCR onto my eMac.

In '04 I purchased a Sony PC104E MiniDV Cam for this purpose (as opposed to a Canopus or other box converter), but was burgled last week and they swiped the camera.

My insurance is paying out $1650 (for the Sony & my Sharp Viewcam that was also stolen), so I just need to decide how to spend the money. I was going to go with Sony again, but was told that they don't make cameras now that do analogue/digital conversion.

Apparently the Canon MV-X430 does the job, and I've been quoted $850, which leaves about $800. Rather than get 2 video cameras, I was going to then try and find a digital SLR for the balance - something that's proving hard to do.

As an alternative, I was looking at the option of forgetting the analogue/digital converter aspect so as to be able to find a cheaper video camera. Then I'll be able to get the SLR camera, but will still need to find a way to convert analogue to digital...

Thus I was wondering if any of the DVD Recorders on the market these days could take my Sony's place... I see that the Pioneer 310 has "firewire in and out"... but will it do conversion on the fly?

Appreciate any advice....

cheers

cosmic

Reply to
cosmichobo
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Why don't you just get a USB video capture thingo? Don't know if they work on a Mac though.

Reply to
David L. Jones

I'm not sure if a Mac will accept video via USB... could be wrong, but I think it all needs to be on the firewire input... or at least, all the software I have only looks at the firewire port. :(

Reply to
cosmichobo

Any DV cam/recorder does this.

Quite a few Panasonic ones do. Trouble is is you ask a sales-weasel at a shop they won't have a clue what you are talking about ! Soome do in NTSC, but not PAL.

Google "video capture adaptor" . There are zillions.

geoff

Reply to
Geoff

You could buy a second hand PC (P3

Reply to
David L. Jones

Um, no... I went through about a dozen of them (canon, sony, and panasonic) and only one or two had inputs. I know a lot of them did it going back just a few years, cos when I bought my Sony in mid '04 there were plenty to choose from... but now it's a rarity.

Yeah no one in the store knew for sure about the camcorders, so can't imagine their knowledge of DVD recorders will be much better.

cheers

Reply to
cosmichobo

I was after something top do exactly that too...thought the best way to go might be a HDD camcorder saving on media cost / waste. However I havent seen a reasonably priced unit capable of doing it. Why do most camcorders not have AV inputs anymore? They always used to. A lot of them claim to be usable as a "Webcam" as well....whether its at the full resolution might be a differet story though. Looking at purchasing at the end of the year so hopefully something that caters for everything will be available by then.

James

Reply to
James

LOL. I thought macs where the latest 'n' greatest in video capture/editting. :-) Although I'd be very suprised if they couldn't capture video via usb, you just need to find a usb capture box with mac drivers.

Michael

Reply to
Michael C

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