How to Capture 8mm Composite

MickB wrote on 3/22/2005, 7:47 AM

Using Vegas Movie Studio 4 trial version, is there a setting that will allow me to capture my 8mm analog camcorder tapes? I have an All In Wonder 9700 I use to capture through other software. Vegas recognizes my TV input but I can't find where I can change the TV setting to composite input. I don't have a firewire external capture device. Thanks.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 3/22/2005, 8:29 AM

Trust me, you'll really thank yourself and save a ton of time and trouble if you get an analog -> DV converter for capturing. The ATI cards are wonders of chaos and frustration.

That being said, they can be used successfully from within VidCap, if somewhat inconsistantly. The very first thing you should do when you start VidCap is to click the Video menu and then click Video Capture Capture properties (notice the word "capture" is there twice). You'll then get to a submenu that lets you select composite input ... sometimes. If you click just about any other menu or button first, this menu will disappear until the next time you start up VidCap again.

I've also had some success starting up ATI (or someone else's) capture software and selecting the composite input there. Close this software and start VidCap. Usually the ATI card will remember this setting after VidCap starts up. Sometimes.

All in all, it's pretty much a crap shoot. If you want easy, headache-free captures with more stability and higher quality, save up some money and go for an external AV->DV converter and capture through firewire instead.

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Edit:

Hmmmmm. I just fired up VidCap on my work computer with an ATI Rage Fury and notice that there is no input selection under Capture Capture properties here. However, at the bottom of the Video menu are selections for Video Composite, Video Tuner, and Video SVideo. All of these seem to work properly.

MickB wrote on 3/22/2005, 9:44 AM

Chienworks,
Thanks for the input. I probably will eventually get a DV capture device but not until I decide what software I want to use. I have tried Studio 8 and other garbage software. I'm down to Vegas Movie Studio, EditStudio, and the light verion of Adobe Premier (can't remember the name). I know little of all three. I'll check out the setting when I get home.

I got used to using Studio 8 and now have the frustrating experience of tyring to figure out these other programs.

johnmeyer wrote on 3/22/2005, 11:27 PM

Analog capture through ATI cards is pretty bad. I have tried doing it through Vegas capture, VirtualDub, and ATI's own MMC software. The only thing that works is VirtualDub (I use a version modified to add timer recording) and even it can't handle all the bugs and other problems with the ATI drivers (and I'm using the latest).

You can pick up Digital8 cameras on eBay for under $100 and use them to do the passthrough and DV encoding. I agree wholeheartedly with Chienworks: Stay away from capturing with the ATI boards and use the passthrough on a DV camera (or get a dedicated DV encoder).

farss wrote on 3/22/2005, 11:54 PM

No matter which program you decide to go with you'll face the same issues, any A->D converter will work with any software that supports DV over firewire (i.e. all of them).
Bob.

MickB wrote on 3/23/2005, 9:36 AM

Thanks everyone. Movie Studio now recognized my analog camcorder and seems to capture okay but I won't know until I play with it some more. I just can't stand the thought of buying an external device when I got this AIW card for captures. I was told internal was far better than external but guess that is not the case.

Chienworks wrote on 3/23/2005, 10:15 AM

It's not really a question of internal vs. external. It's a question of analog vs. digital capture. You can get external devices that capture analog video similar to how the AIW card functions. There are also internal cards that covert to DV before capturing. The thing is that devices that convert to DV generally produce a more stable image and are much more hassle free to use. Converters end up dumping a standard DV data stream into the computer and all capture software can simply save this stream to the hard drive without having to process it.

Analog capture devices are fraught with peril (if you don't mind the alliteration) and require a lot more work from the computer in digitzing, processing, and encoding the signal. The formats and codecs used can vary all over the lot, and occasionally various capture programs simply don't work well with various devices.

On the other hand, if you do get a good analog capture card you can obtain a better image than a DV converter simply because you can store the video in uncompressed 4:4:4 colorspace. DV is compressed 4:1:1 and therefore loses some of the quality. However, an analog card that is better than DV is probably going to be pretty pricey and maybe be even more difficult to use than the AIW.