Camcorder Question

[horselady]

I have a camcorder with loads of stuff on that I would like to transfer to the computer. Trouble is it's on little cassettes, with reels. How can I get this on to digital, or is it not possible?

[bhg481]

You'll probably need the camcorder they were recorded on, or a similar model. You'll have to connect the camcorder to your computer and convert the data to digital. It will take an hour for each tape.
As an alternative, some photographic shops offer a service to do it for you (at a price).

[horselady]

Thanks for your advice, I have the camcorder connected to the computer and nothing seems to work. I expected to see a message pointing me towards the next step but nothing. May have to pay for it to be done I think.

[bhg481]

What type of lead are you using to connect the camcorder to the computer? I used to use a firewire cable and then Pinnacle Studio software to convert the data to digital. The software can then be used to edit the video (cut out bad scenes, add titles and menus etc) and produce a DVD or BluRay disc. Very flexible software but not cheap - I'm sure someone will recommend some free software that you could use. I now record to SD cards which I can read directly on the computer and no analogue-to-digital conversion needed.

[pinkyboyid]

For consideration:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Easy-Cap-VHS-To-DVD-Audio-Video-Converter-Capture-Card-Adapter-USB-UK-Stock-/301558215736?hash=item4636453438:g:~JEAAOSwLzdWTZz9

[tamborine]

This records tapes onto CD, that you could play on the computer

http://tinyurl.com/grkw6yv

[horselady]

Thanks everyone. Will definitely take a closer look at your suggestion Tambourine, that looks good.

[bhg481]

Good, cheap suggestions from Pinky and Tambo - just be aware that there is no short cut to playing the tapes on your camcorder so, whatever system you go for, it will be VERY time-consuming.

[ToraToraTora]

how do you play the tapes now? Do you have something that plays to the TV via a lead? If so you can play them into a DVD recorder and convert to digital on a DVD.

[bhg481]

You're assuming she's got a DVD recorder TTT. Most people have a DVD player and an HDD recorder; she'd still be left with the problem of getting the data onto the computer although the hard work of getting it off the camcorder tapes would be done.

[ToraToraTora]

not really, all I'm really saying is that if the tapes are playable then they can be played into a recording device, a DVD recorder is very cheap these days so it's one option, that's all.

[anotheoldgit]

Yes I transferred all my old Video tapes onto DVDs.

I have a DVD recorder with a hard drive, I simply connected the camera to the recorder, played the tape and recorded it onto the hard drive.

It was then a simple matter of 'high speed dubbing' the contents of the hard drive onto a DVD disk.