Five years ago my wife and I bought a camcorder, analog (no Firewire) because digital was way too expensive then. We've been dubbing the minitapes to VHS as we go, but two years ago we bought a G5 Mac with a DVD burner and we want to start archiving to DVD instead of VHS.
The camcorder has s-video output. I have two computers that have s-video and composite inputs: a beige Mac G3/300 (paid for the AV option figuring I might want to dabble someday), and a SGI O2. The SGI runs IRIX 6.5.19. The Mac runs Linux these days, but I can reboot it to MacOS 9.2. Older machines, but they should be up to the job. As my VCR has either composite or s-video out, or both, I should be covered. Once captured, I'll suck them over to the G5 for edits and burning.
Macs and SGIs are known for this kind of stuff, so I'm hoping there is some software in the standard installation that allows for video capture. I'm not sure if there is or what it might be called because I've never done this before. Maybe it's an optional part of the install. Does anyone have experience that could point me which direction I should go? Or, is it possible to get an adapter (to Firewire) so I can capture directly to the G5?
In any case, whether we need software or hardware, it needs to be cheap because we have no budget for extras. Thanks in advance for any/all advice.
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February 23 2006, 17:41:34 UTC 6 years ago
It comes with software for editing/ DVD burning.... and a connection for your computer that takes both firewire and analogue.
February 23 2006, 17:51:53 UTC 6 years ago
If you have the S-video in for the older boxes, you may have a program already for just that purpose. I'd then bring the unadulterated video over to the G5 for editing as I'm sure it runs OS-X, which should have iMovie already installed. That'd be the quickest way for the short term.
For the longer term, The firewire card is really good if you have a digital camera, your analogue camcorder won't have it, nor will the VCR, VHS, unless S-VHS will not have component, nor S-video out, just regular composit (single video RCA) out.
So in this instance, if you do have composite in on the older boxes, use that to capture the footage and bring into the G5 for editing etc. Both of the older boxes, while they may work, will be slow for video and may, or may not have enough HD storage installed. Video is very bandwidth intensive and the faster the machine, the more memory will help there tremendously. Audio isn't that demanding of HD space (file size), nor of memory so it's not as critical.
Just some things to think about.
I have a similar delima except I have a DVR (a recordable DVD player) that's part of my audio/video setup as I also archive vinyl (records) sources to DVD-R before importing to the computer. I just plug in my analogue camcorder into the line 2 jacks on the front of the DVR, burn, take disk into computer, a 2G Celeron box with WinXP and Adobe Premiere Elements (only for Win) and import directly without the need for a firewire, nor capture card of any kind.
HTH.
February 23 2006, 18:06:27 UTC 6 years ago
That's what I'm hoping for! I need help identifying what it might be. If it's installed by default, what might it be called? If it's not, what do I need to install from the system media? If I just know what to look for, I can search for it.
Moving it to the G5 to work with in iMovie will probably be the easy part.
I also have an even older machine, a Macintosh Quadra 840AV, which the previous owner used to capture audio from his vinyl collection. Your solution is interesting!
February 23 2006, 23:37:19 UTC 6 years ago
forget about the older machines
just get a analaog to DV converter from sony,formac,canopus etc. it will make life a lot easier. the older machines probably won't have the drives with the correct speed or space to capture. Also they probably won't have the correct and modern codes to get the quality you want and also work with imovie and iDVD. it will save a lot of hair pulling in the end.........February 27 2006, 18:45:23 UTC 6 years ago
Re: forget about the older machines
Well, obviously I need to have the end result work with iMovie. But if I have to jump through a few hoops in order to save money, that's what I'll do. From the limited searching I've done, those A→D converters are not cheap. I don't have hundreds of bucks to throw into this project. If I had hundreds of bucks I would have bought a camera with Firewire in the first place.February 27 2006, 18:42:40 UTC 6 years ago
mediarecorder
This appears to be the name of a program for IRIX that will do the job, so I've got a possible solution on the SGI side.