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o2byz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 30, 2010
20
0
I have the new iMac 27' and was trying to capture some video from my DVR via a composite cable-USB converter. The composites run into a USB cable. So I plugged the USB cable into my Mac and tried to capture the video. Nothing came up in Toast showing me how to capture or even giving me a option to capture. Anyone know how to capture video using this method?

All help and suggestions appreciated.
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
What exact device (USB capture card/box/...) do you use? Have there come any drovers with it, for Mac OS X of course? Have you tried QuickTime X or iMovie yet?
 

o2byz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 30, 2010
20
0
It's the Roxio capture device (USB to Composite adapter) and I've used Roxio Toast Titanium. No results. Someone mentioned that I would need a blu ray plugin from Roxio to do any Blu Ray editing/authoring. I'm not really interested in that as much as simply being able to back up my files onto Blu Ray when needed.

Any suggestions or ideas?

A little off topic but I'm also looking for a good .mkv file converter. Preferably free and that converts to .avi format.

I'm new to the mac world so I've got a lot of changes to get used to. Like I still don't have the ability to read all my mpeg video files. Am I missing a plugin or something?

Appreciate any help given!
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
That Roxio Video Capture USB device is for Windows only: http://www.roxio.com/eng/products/creator/device/requirements.html

Maybe you can find some compatible drivers for Mac OS X (MRoogle might help - see my signature) to get this working in Mac OS X, but I don't know about that. You could also install Windows via Boot Camp and use that device via Windows.
Or take a look at the Elgato video capture device: http://www.elgato.com/elgato/int/mainmenu/products/Video-Capture/product1.en.html

To play .mkv files you can use VLC Player or Movist try Perian to be able to play .mkv files in QT Player, though that is slower than Movist or VLC due to buffering.

Btw, why do you need to transcode .mkv files into .avi?

Handbrake is able to transcode .mkv to .mp4, but not .avi, for which you might need MPEG Streamclip, which can't handle .mkv files, but can read .mp4 files.
 

TMRaven

macrumors 68020
Nov 5, 2009
2,099
1
Avidemux. It's my preference above handbrake when it comes to transcoding. It also supports avi, as well as a multitude of other stuff-- you can even use the very powerful avisynth filters for avidemux through avs proxy (windows only)

Avidemux itself is for osx, windows and linux tho.
 

o2byz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 30, 2010
20
0
It was suggested that if I use .mkv it would preserve the quality and reduce the file size. While that seems to be the case, .mkv format is not widely supported, where as .avi is.

Sounds like there is too much involved in capturing and converting. I think I'll just use my laptop and transfer via external drive between the two systems.

Thanks though.
 
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