how do I get convert analog video into a digital file?

Question

I have an older camcorder that does not connect directly to the computer. I need to know how to convert the footage into a digital file.

Answer 1

Buy a capture card for your pc, you can get them for less than £50, and they'll do a fine job providing it can capture at DVD resolution and speed (internal cards are generally much better quality capture than external USB devices.
If you wanted to use it to watch TV with then it might be better to spend some more money, but for just sampling in an S-Video, or composite analogue signal, that's usually pretty good with any capture device, TV reception can be much more variable from OK to incredible poor and for me, unwatchable sometimes.
My solution (even with a twin digital decoder on my laptop, and an internal device on my desktop) I still tend to get the best results by using standalone "freeview" digital decoder which goes straight into my TV, and plug that into either computer to be sampled as a s-video/composite signal. The result is much better quality than giving the Ariel signal to them and having them decode. That’s most probably due to the power consumption of the standalone is much greater and so produces more heat and requires a larger enclosure than would be practical as a PC peripheral? .. Not sure though, that's a guess. (But then again, with a degree in physics, I usually guess well ! LOL)
Sorry I'm drifting into TV reception here, which isn't you question. You say you have an older PC - in that case you'll need one which has an MPEG-2 hardware encoding chip which most devices don't have as they assume your pc has enough power to do this for you. As yours doesn't you'll find that you may have to turn down the frame rate & resolution when real-time capturing. So for you a slightly more expensive, hardware encoder will really make a quality improvement, in fact it is as must have... (also try and find a store that can show you some demos of their stock, as you'll soon see how price/quality vary a lot and not in a simple spend more gives better quality simple rule either. But the hardware mpeg-2 spec will help to narrow your options quite quickly)

Answer 2

Are you particular it records on an analog tape? Sorry to doubt. once you've an analog (VHS) camcorder… you want an analog converter, both inner card or exterior alongside with the dazzle. this is really basic to apply and contain solid software. you would possibly want to hook your analog VHS digicam or VCR to the analog converter, the dazzle and then hook the dazzle for your computer. The dazzle fee round 70.00 , yet truly certainly worth the money once you've truly some VHS to tapes to rework. **Please be conscious there is no 8mm or hi 8 to VHS Adapter that presently exsists. this variety of VHS Adapter in difficulty-free words exsists with VHS-C tape** in the off probability that it is a minidv (cassette) camcorder...... once you've a mini dv (cassette) camcorder…. Your dv camcorder needs a firewire connection (ieee 1394) with the intention to obtain video, your computer probable did not contain a firewire port, so that you've gotten to purchase one and set up it, when you consider that maximum computers (except probable sparkling) do not contain a firewire port, your camcorder did not contain a firewire cord so that you ought to purchase a cord too. Your camcorder did contain a USB cord and that is used for downloading stills out of your camcorder. make particular your digicam is in playback mode. The advantageous print on your guide makes connection with firewire (ieee 1394) connection.

Answer 3

You will probably have to buy a converter that changes analog into digital. I bought one in Canada for $139.00, so you could probably get on in USA or on e-bay much cheaper. What I got was ADS Tech - DVDXpress. You plug in RCA jacks to it from your camera and use a USB cable to your computer. You can record directly to a DVD disk in your computer. Works great.