--- Marten van de Kraats <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Anyone around here know how to get the contents of a > video tape on a > hard disk, preferably using some old Mac? > I know absolutely nothing about this stuff.
First off you'd need a Mac with AV or Audio Video features that include AV _input_ and the ability to actually capture the video and audio, not just the ability to run it through the Mac's monitor and speakers. Given that, you're looking at capturing at best 320x420 resolution and using old codecs because any video capture hardware built into NuBus Macs either can't handle the newer ones or software capable of using them doesn't exist to run on them. Even the high-zoot NuBus video capture cards that can do 640x480 at 30fps are limited to the older codecs because of the software thing. About the best NuBus video capture system ever was the Media 100. That puppy took two slots, used a custom breakout cable and the hardware was serialized with each copy of the software keyed to the individual board sets. So unless you get the COMPLETE Media 100 NuBus setup it's completely worthless. I think Media 100 had an upgrade discount to the PCI version if you sent them the breakout cable from your NuBus Media 100 system. I wish Media 100 would release a version of the final NuBus software that isn't locked to the hardware serial and plans for building a breakout cable. That would not cut into their current market because 99.999% of video professionals would sit around waiting for an old NuBus PowerMac and old software without all the latest and greatest FX to chew on their data. It would definately be a big PR coup for the company. :) (It would also make all those sets of NuBus Media 100 boards minus cables and software suddenly worth a few dollars!) On the cheaper end there were some other NuBus video capture cards but I think they're mostly restricted to working with System 7.1 through 7.5.5. Radius made some, so did Cinepack but they dumped the hardware end to concentrate on codec development. Does the LEM videocard list have anything on NuBus video capture products? At any rate you aren't going to be using DivX or MPEG2 or MPEG4 on any NuBus Mac. And it would be very tedious going on anything pre G3 or even the sub 400Mhz G3 range, though you _can_ install a nice PCI capture card and OS 9.x.x on any PCI Mac with a 603/604 and make things work. If you have only one or a few tapes to convert, your best bet is to have some shop do the capture and either put it on DV tape or some DVD recordable that will playback in a normal DVD-ROM or DVD player. If you have a big box of tapes to do then it's worth spending the money for a decently fast Mac (or PC) with a 60+ gig drive and a DVD recorder. (I've seen them hit the $200 mark recently!!!) Or you can go the DivX/MPEG4 route and use plain old CD-R. I've seen some DVD rips to DivX on CD-R that look thisclose in quality to the original. 640x480 resolution is all you really need for playback on a TV. Some people like to use 800x600 for PAL TV but the native resolution for DVD is something like 720x480 for all the major TV systems. DVD playback on a computer doesn't care if its for NTSC, PAL, SEACAM or whatever and usually it's possible to convert the video and shunt it to a composite or S-Video or SCART (common in europe) analog output to display on a TV or record on a VCR wherever you are in the world. On the PC side, the "market" of freeware utils for ripping, encoding, converting, disabling Macrovision etc, etc is HUGE. There's an app called DVDx that can rip and compress a DVD faster than realtime on an Athlon XP or Pentium 4. It can also do other video files so it's not just for ripping DVD movies. I don't know what's out there for the Mac that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. There just doesn't appear to be much interest in "non professional" video software for Macs. For a starter, pop this search into dogpile.com +DivX +Macintosh And you'll find what's out there for use with the DivX codec. Note that DivX has nothing to do with DivX the scheme for "renting" encrypted DVDs that you'd pay for then get to watch as much as you wanted for 24 or 48 hours, then you'd have to pay again or "upgrade" the Disc to "gold" which allowed unlimited playing. (That is, unlimited until the DivX scam when belly up and they'll be shutting down their server soon if not already, which will turn all DivX discs into instant coasters.) So if you want to be _cheap_ AND up to date with video, get a PC box. If you want to do this with a Mac, contact someone who specializes in video capture, encoding etc with Macs. :) If you decide to "go PC" on this project, start with www.divx.com and get their DivX 5.0 codec. ===== http://www.junkscience.com "All the Junk that's fit to Debunk!" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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