Video Capture Help (10 pts.)?

Question

I have some videos on a camcorder which I would like to burn on a DVD. I currently have tried it using a USB cable connected directly to my PC and the quality was poor. Is there any way to make the quality better?

I have thought of a method myself and want to ask you if it will work. I will hook up my camcorder to my TV and buy a composite (Red, White and Yellow cables) video capture device which I will plug into my PC and use a video capture software. Will this work and improve my video quality? Thanks!

If not, any suggestions as to how I can improve the video quality?

Answer 1

Is your camcorder, minidv? Minidvd? VHS?

If you have a mini dv (cassette) camcorder….

Your dv camcorder needs a firewire connection (ieee 1394) in order to download video, your PC probably did not come with a firewire port, so you will have to buy one and install it, since most computers (except possibly brand new) don't come with a firewire port, your camcorder did not come with a firewire cord so you have to purchase a cord too. Your camcorder did come with a USB cord and that is used for downloading stills from your camcorder. Make sure your camera is in playback mode.

The fine print in your manual makes reference to firewire (ieee 1394) connection.

If you have a mini dvd camcorder….

You will have to finalize your dvd in the camera and then put the dvd in your computer's DVD burner (top loading only) and then you will have to convert the files (I downloaded handbrake file converter free) and import them into your editing program. Use the HELP feature in your editing program to learn about editing. Once you are ready to burn, your project will be burned to a different DVD and you can file the original away.

If you have an analog (VHS) camcorder…

You need an analog converter, either internal card or external such as the dazzle. It's very easy to use and come with good software. You would hook your analog VHS camera or VCR to the analog converter, the dazzle and then hook the dazzle to your PC. The dazzle cost around 70.00 , but worth the money if you have a lot of VHS to tapes to convert.

**Please Note There is no 8mm or Hi 8 to VHS Adapter that currently exsists. This type of VHS Adapter only exsists with VHS-C tape**

Answer 2

You must use USB2 or firewire for professional video. Probably you have USB2 or it would not work. If the video looks poor; grainy? dark? poor detail? poor color? it is probably that way on the tape. You can import into an editor that has color and luminance correction and improve your video. Try your component using red, green and blue cables. Or run your video through a video processing amplifier PROC amp that has controls for color, hue, contrast and brightness and then to your DVD recorder. You can't fix focus problems.

Hope this helps.

Alex

Answer 3

It's highly unlikely that that's going to improve anything.  You need to provide more information about what you're doing, though - what sort of camcorder have you got?  What software did you use to capture your video and burn the DVD?  You say the quality was poor - is that on the finished DVD? What about the footage played on the camera or immediately after you've captured it?