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Pinnacle VIdeo Capture for Mac – (yuck!)
I need to capture a bunch of VHS footage, and can never get my VHS deck to sync very well through my BetaSP deck (UVW-1800), so I thought I would drop $99 and get what looked like a handy dandy fix for this – a little USB box with RCA inputs to do just this trick (that is, it is supposed to import VHS to the Mac without a hitch).
I tried it a few times tonight, with different cables and even different decks and repeatedly got terribly results. So terrible that I am either doing something wrong, or they can’t possibly be actually selling these things. I mean it was terrible. Choppy, blocky, WAY out of sync. No manual or help file to see what I might have been doing wrong, but the setup is terribly simple.
Have any of you used this? Oh, and on top of all that, it only converts the files to MPEG-4, so not my favorite codec for FCP. Anyway, still looking for an option to transfer my VHS…
thanks again!
mh
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9 Replies
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Canopus makes a line of products that convert analog to DV for firewire capture.
That Pinnacle box is pretty bad.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!
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Hi Mortimer,
What’s the problem with the Betacam?
The Pinacle or the Canopus that Walter suggests will crunch your movies to DV.
Being your footage VHS would be better if you can avoid such a compression.
I sow in your profile that you have a BM SP.
Try to capture at least as DV50.
rafael -
[Rafael Amador] “The Pinacle or the Canopus that Walter suggests will crunch your movies to DV.
“The difference between the original VHS and the resulting DV image is near identical. You’re not exactly starting out with the best material in the world anyway. No sense in going Uncompressed or even DV50 with it quite honestly. Whenever we have VHS (which thankfully is very rare now), we always bring it in DV.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
Read my Blog!
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You are right Walter, there is no much visual difference between VHS and DV, but as long as is analog, is a good opportunity to adjust the signal and try to keep as mush color information as possible.
VHS have already little chroma (color-under) , if we capture as 422 at least we have the double of color samples.
rafael -
so if it always “works” like it “worked” for me, why would they even bother selling it? unless i did something wrong (which is highly likely, but the setup is virtually brainless…just plug it in and go) I don’t see why anyone would want what it did for me (er, uh, maybe that is “against” me)
thanks again!
mh
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ya, like i said i’ve never had very good luck patching the VHS signal through the BetaSP 1800 and then into the Mac via my Decklink card. With VHS, i continually get those dropped frames (or loss of signal, or whatever it is), which actually just ends up inserting a decklink splashscreen. very annoying!
thanks again!
mh
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well, i didn’t get anything even close to my original VHS stuff. It was really terrible. like i said, out of sync (and my VHS was in sync), VERY blocky stuff most of the way through it. turibul, turibul, turibul
thanks again!
mh
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But you don’t ned to use the desk.
Why don’t you go VHS to BM SP directly?
Rafael -
I could, and I’ve done that in the past, but in the end I have about 50 2-hour VHS tapes to GRADUALLY over time, transfer to DVD (these are old family tapes, my wedding, etc.). So, it’s a lot of Beta tape, plus I really want to do a bit of editing of all this footage, so I would much rather dump it right into the computer instead of going to Beta tape first, THEN into the computer. I know there MUST be a better way of looping my VHS THROUGH my Beta (though not record to it) and then into the Mac, but like I said, I never seem to get a rock-steady signal from my VHS that doesn’t end up having the BlackMagic Decklink splash screens sprinkled througout the capture. This is why I tried the $99 Pinnacle Video Capture dealy bobber…
thanks again!
mh
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