Is there any way to hook up my VCR to my computer?

Question

Thank You!
http://sewelldirect.com/USBVideoCaptureAdapter.asp

Answer 1

get a pc tv card which has an audio visual input

Answer 2

Oh, man, that depends on lots of things. The basic answer is yes, you can, but the real issue is whether it will be easy or hard - and then, having done so, whether it will do you much good.

If you have a realtively new computer and VCR, then you should have an "s video" port on both machines. That is the easiest and most effective way to do so. A few VCRs even have a firewire or ethernet port that you can use if your computer has a similar port (and it is not in use).

And if both machines have those ports, then you probably also have the processing capability built into your computer to digitize signals coming in, or convert them going out to the VCR.

Otherwise, you will need to obtain a piece of equipment to "bridge" the two machines. I think that by now there are special cards for many computers to do this that you buy and add in. A few years ago, I had to buy an external unit for this purpose. I bought the 'Dazzle" system for hooking up the VCR and computer, and a separate piece of editing software to work with digitized video and then record the final product.

Now, you must have a REASON for doing this - and I bet it's so you can collect video clips off video tapes and share them around or put together your own digital production. Remember this takes lots of processing power and tons, tons, tons of memory. You also need a video editing software package. And even if your purpose is the opposite - to save to video tape the clips you collect inline, you still need the software for it and the same issue still applies.

Make sure you have enough RAM and that your computer's bus speed will handle the data transfers at an acceptable rate. Somettimes it just isn't worth the many hours it could take for a few seconds of video .....