From: "Jan Stary" <h...@stare.cz>
I need to transfer some old VHS tapes into (any) digital video format.
On OpenBSD of course. I understand I need
(1) a VCR, obviously, to play those tapes
(2) a TV card that can input what the VCR outputs
(3) a piece of software that can capture the input
Before I start shopping 80's style, does anyone have some general
DO/DONT advice about (2) and (3), or even a complete working solution?
I wouldn't start from there. Video capture isn't exactly my area, but my
solution would be :
If it's only a couple of tapes - get someone else to do it. If it's old
episodes of TV programmes - buy it on DVD/Bluray instead.
Otherwise :
1) Find decent hardware (not TV cards) that can capture compressed video in
real time (2nd hand ebay may help).
2) Find software that uses that hardware
3) Use the operating system that software runs on.
This may include using Windows. I can rarely be arsed now to make things
work in one particular OS for a short term one off job, if it's going to be
tricky.
In particular, my (limited) experience is that video capture on TV cards is
A Bit Shit, and capturing uncompressed video is not fun, even if modern
hardware is probably adequate to handle it.
Also carefully note the limitation of the capture card/software. My ancient
SGI O2 will happily capture full frame PAL in real time despite being rather
slow. However - it'll only do that for certain types of compression and
certain frame sizes - beyond that the custom hardware can't help. Likewise,
many of these TV cards that feature 'real time video capture' do so at
reduced image sizes and capture speeds.
PK
