Can I transfer camcorder tape on to DVD

[midgetmagoo]

The recording was done in 1996. I have trawled the net and people are offering the service but I am worried the original will be affected (wedding footage.....so a bit precious).

Has anyone had this done and could you recommend a company to do it?

Ta

[simpo two]

Easiest way is to play the camcorder straight into a DVD Recorder and do it in real time.

[midgetmagoo]

Perfect. Thank you

you may have noticed I'm not a technically able midget.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

ErnestM said:

You can also use a firewire widget between the camcorder and a 1394 card. Pinnacle systems do some:

You're assuming it's DV and not Hi8 C-VHS etc From 1996 remember...

DVD records are very cheep now. I've got a Richer Sounds cheap special Philips job. Very good, and as DV in/out too. It was about £230 I think.

[V6GTO]

I've just bought a brand new DVD player from a supermarket here in Spain for 39.99 Euros!

Martin.

[pug406]

If you make a copy of the video and email me via my profile, I will transfer it to DVD for you. I wont pick up my emails till monday

Dave

[ErnestM]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

ErnestM said: You can also use a firewire widget between the camcorder and a 1394 card. Pinnacle systems do some: You're assuming it's DV and not Hi8 C-VHS etc From 1996 remember... DVD records are very cheep now. I've got a Richer Sounds cheap special Philips job. Very good, and as DV in/out too. It was about £230 I think.

Actually, this is the widget I was thinking about:

This is the USB 2.0 version, but they also do a 1394 version. It takes the signal from any source with S-Video or composite plus stereo or mono audio and converts it to a digital stream where you can capture it as AVI (with Windows MM2 or Premiere or even Pinnacle Studio). When I used to have my VHS-C camcorder (way back in the dark ages), this is what I used...

...after that, it is just a matter of editing your movie, creating your DVD menu and then burning to disk. If you use Adobe Premiere, you can just use the built in "save to DVD" function and it will create an auto start DVD without a menu that should play in any DVD box...

ErnestM

>> Edited by ErnestM on Saturday 11th December 15:29

[simpo two]

simpo two said:

Easiest way is to play the camcorder straight into a DVD Recorder and do it in real time.

[pug406]

simpo two said:

simpo two said: Easiest way is to play the camcorder straight into a DVD Recorder and do it in real time.

That's the way I would do it, straight from my VCR to my Panasonic DVD recorder and finalized on a -R disk so it plays in all DVD players.

[simpo two]

pug406 said:

That's the way I would do it, straight from my VCR to my Panasonic DVD recorder and finalized on a -R disk so it plays in all DVD players.

Except it'll lose a generation when it goes from camcorder to tape. The last thing you want is a VHS stage. Best thing he can do is ask his mates to see who has a DVD recorder, then pop round with the camera. I would offer but am nowhere near the Midlands!

[chim_knee]

I use this TV card for "analogue" capture (i.e. your camcorder). It has a composit in but has only mono audio. Although, this is even cheaper!

Then, using Pinnacle Studio - capture the video in real time.

Dead easy, dead cheap if you can "find" a copy of Pinnacle Studio (I didn't as it came with my DVD writer)

Bonus is that you'll get a TV card for your PC too!

PS They do stereo versions of the card too.