Capturing Analog video

[mattspace]

Hi,

I've got a box of about 200 PAL format Betamax tapes to go through and digitise. Managed to pick up a player, so now I just need to interface it to my 2009 Mac Pro.

I have the current version of iMovie on the Mac already. I guess the options are usb dongle, Firewire box, or PCI card.

I don't have a dedicated fast capture drive, though I could capture to a 5400rpm Caviar Green that's in the machine, and used for temp stuff. Otherwise, there's 48GB of ram I could set up a RAM disk to capture to.

Tips on particular devices would be appreciated - the Canopus ADVC55 seems a pretty common result when searching online, but I wonder if a PCI card would yield better results?

Thanks,

 

[Gwendolini]

What exact player with what exact outputs do you have?

And the 5,400 RPM HDD will be fast enough, a RAM disk is not necessary.

 

[mattspace]

It's a Sony SL-F60AS, with a batton-twist composite connector for video, and mono RCA audio. The cabling I've got sorted, just a matter of what goes between it and the computer.

 

[Gwendolini]

It's a Sony SL-F60AS, with a batton-twist composite connector for video, and mono RCA audio. The cabling I've got sorted, just a matter of what goes between it and the computer.

Sorry, confused Betamax with BetaSP.

That Canopus device will work with your Firewire Mac and iMovie should suffice, though an older version might be needed, if you are already on the newest iMovie version.

QT Player 7 and X are also capable of recording from a DV/Firewire device.

 

[rei101]

You are all set with what you have. The quality of your original footage may be so low already, do not worry.

Last year I was working for a company capturing 50 years of programming from a TV station. We ended up compressing in mpeg 4 for youtube. The quality of the videos was so low that compressing a 40 minutes show from 16GB to 4GB made no difference.