Welcome to Motorhomefacts, we are a thriving motorhome community (Largest in Europe). Why Not JOIN NOW and get instant access to more of the website. It costs nothing to join and only takes a few minutes. We have 200,000 different people visiting our site monthly and this amount of motorhomers in one place guarantees a fast response to any questions you may have. We also have unique facilities not found elsewhere such as our Online Logbook, stopover tracker, Motorhome directory with Ebay type feedback and the largest repository of motorhome campsites reviews found anywhere
Ah, Gaspode, I was with you right up to the end, then you blew it with Adobe Premier! Give me Final Cut Pro any day. I used the former for quite some time, but have since found that video and the Mac are made for each other.... as are DTP and DVD authoring.
but have since found that video and the Mac are made for each other.... as are DTP and DVD authoring.
Shaun
Ah well, you're stating the obvious there Shaun, the PC always was a poor substitute for a Mac for any media work. In my day we edited with three Sony BVUs and a controller/mixer desk. It's just not as much fun on a PC but much cheaper, quicker and more versatile. Oh - and you don't have to cut your own throat either these days when the master tape chews up after you've done 40hrs of work on it.
______________________________________________________________ If you lend someone £20 and never see that person again, it was probably well worth it.
Thank you for all the replies. They made interesting reading and I'm now going to go away and study some of the models suggested, also to read the BBC link.
I do however now have another question. The camera we now have is called a Sony Digital Video Camera Recorder Mini DV Handycam, model number TRV19E. However I have never been able to upload the tapes onto my computer with a view to burning them onto DVD as mentioned earlier.
Having read your posts it would seem that a Mini DV camera is what you are suggesting I purchase, so now I need to know whether I am missing something with the relation to the one I already have. I have cables that connect it to the computer but I've never found any software that works. I've heard of Firewire before but don't know what it is. I purchased some software called Pinnacle at a cost of £40 but this didn't recognise the format of the tapes.
Am I missing something obvious and therefore this camera will upload to the PC or do I need to go ahead and purchase a new camera still. Either solution is fine. Thanks again for all your responses.
Depending on how cheap your camera was, there should either be a firewire port (good) or phono sockets (not good). If it's firewire, it would be a very basic PC which didn't have a firewire port also. A cable between the two firewires and you then capture the footage onto the PC - Pinnacle should be fine for this, though you will have to play with the settings to see what's coming into your PC.
There's usually a window within the software which will display what's coming out of your camcorder, as you're capturing. Once you have what you want on the PC - either as one single stream of raw footage, or as separate clips which you have selected via your camcorder's playback controls, you then have the completely separate task of editing the now digitised footage, in preparation for the final playback medium. This usually means burning to DVD, though VHS tape remains an option for some software.
If the camcorder doesn't have a firewire port and you have to rely on phono sockets, then the process is different and I wouldn't bother. At this point, I would change the camcorder, ensuring that the next one has firewire.
If you're copying video onto the PC from a mini-DV tape then a "firewire" is a must. Your PC may or may not have a firewire port fitted, if it hasn't got one you can install a PCI card from Maplins SEE HERE for under £20. Some recent cameras have a USB connection, that would also be useable.
Most video software should recognise your camera automatically once connected, Pinnacle certainly should. For grabbing the tape onto disk I use either Adobe Premier or "Roxio" both of which will allow you to control the camcorder functions from the PC on a firewire connection. They will also utilise the "timecode" on your tape if the camera is capable of recording timecode.
Once you have the footage on tape your troubles are only just starting. For simply transferring unedited footage to DVD "Roxio" is easy to use and does everything for you with acceptable quality. If you want to edit then put aside a few weeks, it's still a complex and long-winded business to get it right even on a PC.
______________________________________________________________ If you lend someone £20 and never see that person again, it was probably well worth it.
Thanks for that. Having now considered the options and having read the last two posts I think I'm going to go and purchase a new Mini DV player, as it has occured to me that the tapes I've recorded on our existing one would play back through that as well. I shall ensure that is has a firewire port.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
All times are GMT + 1 Hour Page 2 of 2Goto page Previous1, 2
UK
For simply transferring unedited footage to DVD "Roxio" is easy to use and does everything for you with acceptable quality. If you want to edit then put aside a few weeks, it's still a complex and long-winded business to get it right even on a PC.
