Analog to Digital Camcorder?

adkpb wrote on 8/4/2004, 7:35 PM
Hi folks,

I'm making the switch to Screenblast 3.0b. But the camera I've had for several years is analog. I'm in the market for a good (reasonable) digital camcorder, and I saw a posting on this forum (somewhere) that the Sony DCR-PC109 will let you connect your analog camera as its input and will convert analog input and output digital (firewire) to your computer. I was wondering what other cameras would be good ones to consider for handling the conversion. I've looked a little on CNET for reviews, but I'd rather hear from the folks on this forum because I think the reviews would be more meaningful.

Thanks!
Bill

Comments

ChristerTX wrote on 8/5/2004, 7:48 AM
I would bet that a analog/digital converter box would be better rather than paying extra for getting this feature in the camera.
I would think that this feature in a camera would be rare and it would limit your choices when it comes to camera's.

There are a host of converter cards out there from Pinnacle, Dazzle and others.

(I have a Sony Vaio PC with the analog connections built in, but unfortunately MS does not recognize them so I have to use SOny's capture software and then process in MS)

Cheers / Christer
btbrossard wrote on 8/5/2004, 12:11 PM
The analog to digital conversion built into some Sony camcorders works well.

We bought an inexpensive ($400) digital 8 camcorder recently that has this feature and it works good. I would imagine it works very similar on all the Sony cameras that have this feature.

The camera model we purchased is DCRTRV460.

/Benjamin
adkpb wrote on 8/5/2004, 2:21 PM
I used Pinnacle's Studio 8 last year, but I don't want those headaches again. I've loaded and been getting ready to use MovieStudio, but it doesn't seem to care for the old Pinnacle analog card. That's why I'm looking for an alternate solution. I need to get a digital camera anyway so I thought I'd see what models folks had luck with, without spending a fortune to do it. I'm open to any ideas.

Thanks!
tapit1 wrote on 8/8/2004, 3:20 PM
I have a TRV950 and it does a good job of it automatically. I'd bet that if you connect any analog to any didgital input you'll be able to copy footage. Good luck!
gogiants wrote on 8/9/2004, 11:51 AM
For what it's worth, I have a couple-years-old version of Canon's ZR-40 camera. It claims this ability to convert analog to digital, although I have not yet personally tried this in conjunction with Movie Stuido.

Not a terribly expensive camera, and it's of a size that makes sure I actually use it more frequently than I would otherwise.