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Digitize Analog video
I haven’t touched analog videotapes for many years but now I have to, from three sources: Betacam (either the BVW70 or the UVW1800); VHS (from a deck with RCA outputs); and HDV (HDMI, component, composite outs).
I own a Blackmagic Video Assist 4k, and am running Resolve 18 on a Mac Studio. I also have a couple of older PCs available, so I could use a Blackmagic Intensity card. But I’d rather not try to fire up my old PCs.
Given my existing hardware, what would you suggest for (Mac OSX) hardware and software choices? Is Resolve capable of capturing?
Thanks for any experience or informed guesses.
Bob C
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11 Replies
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Digitizing analogue video was part of my bread-and-butter for awhile. The tricky part is usually the remote control (RS422) or whatever the deck interface is happiest with. Next is avoiding matrixing errors – try to go with as close to raw component as possible: Y / R-Y / B-Y. You don’t really require Resolve to control and ingest media; freankly a lot easier to install and run BMD Media Express. Capture wild or build a batch… grab a cuppacawfee while I ride my pygmy pony in Montana..
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Joseph, what’s your hardware? I don’t want to bother with remote control – happy to just hit “record” and then hit play on the analog deck.
Thanks!
Pygmy pony?
bob
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Blackmagic Multi-Studio is probably your cheapest external option. There used to be a cheaper external Intensity “Shuttle” but I don’t see it listed anymore. Maybe find it used. Just make sure that whatever you buy has the right I/O connections and you should be good to go. AJA also sells very nice boxes, but much more expensive.
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I’ve got a couple of interfaces; a Decklink4K in my now ancient MacPro and an UltraStudio tied to my iMac.
The pygmy pony is a Frank Zappa reference “Movin’ to Montana” as I am retired, more or less officially.
JPO
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So, not a dental floss tycoon?
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Gonna be a mennel toss flycoon?
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On the VHS side, several years ago I transferred decades of 8mm video cassettes to digital files. That was a head-scratcher to figure out how to capture all that old technology. Fortunately, I several old 8mm video cameras—but one of them had an obsolete firewire output. I ended up purchasing a FireWire card for my PC from Amazon. I had an old FireWire cable. The problem was finding a current driver, because the last time Windows included a FireWire driver was Windows 7. Eventually I found a FireWire driver on the net: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2970191
It was another challenge to find software that would drive the Sony camera for capture. These are the combinations that worked for me:
Older Sony 8mm video cameras: RGB out > Roxio RGB to USB adapter > Cyberlink software.
Sony 8mm video cameras with iLink: iLink out > FireWare card (see above) > Sony Vegas 14.
For what it’s worth.
Cheers.
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I’m on the Mac side, but I still found your story ingenious and impressive. Well done.
Thanks.
Bob C
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Wondering what format you are capturing the video to? Prores?
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Hey Chris,
I assume you’re asking Karl about the format. I’m not capturing to anything yet! Fortunately I have time before I have to tackle this stack of old tapes.
But I will probably capture to ProRes, SD.
Bob
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