VHS to DVD in iMovie?

[DougJrS]

I have some VHS tapes (family movies) that I would like to get onto DVD. Once I have the DVD I would like to send it to my friend in Germany. I first have the question of how I get the VHS tape into DV format for iMovie (it was recorded on 8MM and copied to VHS, but I dont have the 8MM tape anymore)? Then if I can do that can I burn a DVD in a region free format so that they can view it in Germany?

I have the dual 1.8 G5.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[mslifkin]

Hi,

Well, I can help you with the first part. You need to use an analog-DV bridge, of which there are several. If you have a digital camcorder that supports analog pass through, you can use that. Otherwise, you could purchase a device from one of several companies, Canopus being the first one that comes to mind. Check out the ADVC110 or the ADVC300. A little pricey, but they work extremely well. The advantage to the Canopus device is that they have an audio lock function. As you capture analog video, after a while the audio and video get out of sync. The audio lock prevents this from happening.

As far as burning a region-free DVD, I don't know if that's possible. If your friend has a DVD burner maybe you can create a disc image of the DVD, and burn that onto a data DVD and send it to him. Then he could burn the image onto a DVD to play in his set-top box. Just a thought.

Regards,
Marc

 

[7thheaven]

i did this exact thing in december...
i have a canon zr90 consumer model ( i also have a canon xl1s - $3000, which can't do what the $300 model can do FROM THE SAME COMPANY - CANON)
anyways, the canon came with a rca - 1/8th inch connector
(VHS - camera)
then you can send the signal thru the camera live thru firewire into the mac.
i used final cut pro for editing.
had no problems, i even fixed the color a little and brightened up some of the footage. i added some title screens and our old reel-to-reels had no audio, so i put music behind it and cross-faded that as well... took me a few days of work but it was worth it. i played it for my family at christmas and gave a dvd copy to everyone in the family. it was a big hit with our entire family. and fun to work on.