Unfortunately my DV camera is not DV-In enabled... :-(
Otherwise, that solution whould be great!

Does the "print to tape" functionality in Vegas let you send a video to the TV-out port of my graphic card, or is it only limited to the DV-out port of the firewire card?

Hi stezak,

What model is your camcorder? There may be a way to enable DV-in

Scott

Almost all DV camcorders can record video to tape from the DV (1394/Firewire) input. Not all of them can "pass through" the video to their analog ports (not all have analog inputs or outputs). Which model do you have?

The prob going out to tape is that there has to be some electronic device that translates the signal to something the TV &/or deck can accept. Generally it can be done on the video card, as you've been doing so far, you can use a firewire or usb connected device, or use a scan convertor that basically sits between your video card and your computer monitor.

As Scott posted, there may be a way to use your camera, have it accept the signal via firewire, translate and send it out over cables to your TV & deck. You can buy a box for ~250 US & up that does the same thing. Some video card setups let you use the playback overlay window rather then having to go full screen which can help a bit. A scan convertor may make it a bit less hassle, though you still have to playback full screen. Unfortunately don't know of anything that will drastically simplify the process, though some like to cut a DVD and record the playback to tape.

Then just do a print to Mini DV tape, and then record from the mini DV tape to your VCR. That will still give you the same quality as printing directly from the timeline.

Stezak said his camera is not DV IN enabled, which means he is probably in Europe and is unable to record to his DV camera. There are ways to DV In Enable your camera, do a search on the web. Some people sell a whole package which includes software and the widget, some sites give you full instructions.

Your other option is to buy an external convertor box.

Dave T2

I thought that DV was a in/out connection no matter what it was on, I wasn't aware that such a connection existed that was only one way I thought they were all bi-directional.

Jsnkc: yes, physically firewire is a bidirectional connection. However, many manufactures disable DV-In on their cheaper models shipped into Europe in order to save on import and tariff fees. Apparently the European governments feel that camcorders that can record DV in are some sort of economic threat and impose a higher fee for them.

It is bi-directional even in the nEUtered case, with the duty by-pass hobble in Europe.
However you can only control your camera in a bi-directional communication. You can send video but not receive, wrt the camera.

The newer the camera the more likely it will need to be internally modified by a service engineer. A few months ago, the opposite was true.

In Europe, the manufacturers that insist on bringing the best priced cameras by nEUtered have been slammed in the periodicals. The result has been two models in some instances where only one exists in the rest of the world. It is usually cheaper to by the in/out model than have an out-only model un-nEUtered. Still, some of the Sony cameras have simple adapters published that you can build, and even patch the camera without an awful lot of cost. In the Sony case, these mods are normally returned to factory default once the button cell is removed. AFAIK.

Computer AVI to TV-out tends to have dimensional, color depth, or field dominance problems. Once setup it can be fine. Matrox Parhelia is an exception (and P750).

A set top DVD player that can play CDR with DVD images on it can be the cheapest option that also can serve as an additional archive. DVDR of course if you can.

Not an economic threat more of an excuse.

Ha, Ha if it can record it's really a VCR......... Have some more tax.

Yet the more I look at my camcorder the more I am convinced its not a VCR

www.smartdv.co.uk and several others can provide a solution, try a search on the web.

It is only possible on models that have been designed for worldwide distribution and they have disabled stuff for Europe.

Cheers, Paul

My camera is a Sony TRV 15E.
Maybe the DV-In port can be enabled, but I wonder if the "pass through" is the only solution or I can use my Graphic Card Video-Out port in a fastest way...

I have NVIDIA card, and I set the full-window option to auto-detect.
In this mode, a video playback is automatically played at full size on the TV. It works with Windows Media Player, WinDVD and others. It does not work with VV4 directly.

If I print-to-tape back to the DV, I still need to transfer it to the VHS and I didn't see any quality difference.

My video card is an ASUS V9180 VIDEO SUITE with GeForce4 processor. I will try the full window option you mentioned!

"I have NVIDIA card, and I set the full-window option to auto-detect.
In this mode, a video playback is automatically played at full size on the TV. It works with Windows Media Player, WinDVD and others. It does not work with VV4 directly."

Vegas doesn't use a video overlay window, so graphics cards usually will not treat it the same as wmplayer & similar using the overlay. FWIW, my understanding is nvidia cards can output nicer video depending on the software package/drivers installed, so might want to go through some of the fan sites for nvidia.