G'day,

I'm trying to capture some VHS material onto my eMac...

In the past, I used my Sony PC104e handcam, however after it was stolen last year, I picked up a Canon MVX430 camera, which also offers analogue/digital conversion.

I've already used the camera to display from Final Cut Pro on a TV... but am pulling my hair out now because FCP wont capture from camera, and nor will iMovie 6 HD.

FCP recognises the image - in the Log & Capture window the video image plays thru, but when I tell it to capture Now, it brings up a black capture window and says there's no timecode...

iMovie wont capture because there's no tape... and if I put a tape in, it captures from it - although it first grabs a frame or two from the VCR!

Now... I know a work-around is to capture the VHS material onto tape... but am hoping there's a "fix" instead to this problem...???

Any suggestions guys? (n girls)

Thanks

cosmic

Addendum - I can't find a way to even capture the VHS tape onto the camera tape...

Not sure if this helps cosmic, but I always found iMovie 6 HD to be very hit 'n' miss for this - don't know why.

iMovie 08 however has been faultless for me - maybe worth a try?

Does it require Leopard?

Even iMovie 5 used to do this... maybe I'll have to see if I can downgrade...

Been scouring my camera's manual - can't see a way to capture the VHS input signal onto a tape inside the camera... so I really need another workaround.

iMovie 08? no, it works under Tiger also

...ADVC is your friend:

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC55/index.php

I have one of these and love it
It even fixes up those tapes that jump around!

iMovie 08 may be worth a try - can't you get it on trial for a month as part of iLife 08?

I haven't got the same camcorder, it's a Sony, but I was doing the same as yourself and it worked every time.

When I actually have money, I wont be buying a toy... (No offense honest - Have looked at those before from the can of puss people... (only way I can remember the name)

Hey, that's your choice.

If you want something that "just works", an ADVC 55 is the way to go, especially if you're serious about getting the job done right, first time, every time.

Besides, if our friend Decryption likes them, they must be good

iMovie 8 wanted more GHz than my eMac could muster...

Luckily (though painfully) I found out how to get my camera to capture from the VCR, then imported it into FCP...

Just going to test the output back on a TV now to see how well it did...

I know money is tight, but have you possibly thought of purchasing an EyeTV Hybrid second hand? That way you have a Digital TV Tuner plus the ability to record analogue from a VCR. It is a toy solution, but at least you can record TV as a bonus.

i found my panasonic had to be in playback mode? or something to capture from AV in

'imovie 3' is what you need! i had exactly thesame problem with two panasonic dv camcorders... imovie 5/6, won't recognise the 'digital pass through' and it would only capture couple of frames at the start...
once the footage is imported with imovie 3, you can choose to open the project with imovie 5/6 for editing if you wish.

hope that helps

Thankyou

I did about 5 segments last night by capturing first to the camera, then into my eMac... painful, especially when I left the VCR's timecode on for one of them without realising it...

--
Just found it on Apple's website - works great! Thanks!

Cosmic

Do you have QT Pro?

I use it to capture from the VCR via throughput on my digicam.

Works quite well.

mutters