editing footage directly from dvd?

1. jstraub78
   Member

   

   Hello all.  A newbie here with a rather simplistic question.  At this point in the game, I have a Sony Handycam Hi-8 mm camcorder and no easy way to transfer my footage onto my computer for editing except to burn it to a DVD.  The camcorder doesn't have a USB cable, just A/V cables.  I do have firewire on my computer though.  Is it possible to use a firewire cable with my analog Hi-8mm camcorder?  I use the rather simplistic Windows Movie Maker for my editing.  I'm looking to soon make some heavy upgrades to my editing software and to a digital camcorder... 

   But in the meantime, my current method is to burn the footage to DVD, then I have to convert the footage to an AVI in order for Windows Movie Maker to be able to use it.  This heavily dampens my quality.  Is there any current video editing software that allows you to import footage directly from a DVD-RW? 

   I'm guessing there is a way to connect to the firewire, but I'm not sure what special equipment I may need to convert the signal from analog to digital.

   Thanks for any help!

   Joe

   Posted 8 months ago # Login to Send PM

2. Eventvideoguy
   Member

   

    Just go to your local Electronics dealer.  Best Buy, etc and ask them for the conversion equipment.  It will probably run you about $50 bucks.

   Or just go in and go to the Video editing section with all the video capture cards etc.

   The hardware should have an A/V in and a USB or Firewire out.

   They will probably have Pinnacle or something in stock.  Although I don't recommend the software, Go ahead and use the device.

   That should at least get you pointed in the right direction. 

   Posted 8 months ago # Login to Send PM

3. jstraub78
   Member

   

   OK, so aside from the A/V to USB or Firewire cable, you are saying I will need a video capture card?  I went to BestBuy.com and these were all that I found...

   http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=E0KMIE5CSYQRNKC4D3IFAFI?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=video+capture+card&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

   they all appear to be TV tuner cards...and the lowest is $49.99 (on sale). 

   I'm thinking I would want an external card, unless the internal ones aren't too hard to install.

   Any other thoughts?

   Thanks!

   Joe

   Posted 8 months ago # Login to Send PM

4. Eventvideoguy
   Member

   

   Try these two.  This was more I was thinking.

    

   http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8853822&type=product&id=1209166068566

   http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8853797&type=product&id=1209166068373

   Posted 8 months ago # Login to Send PM

5. jstraub78
   Member

   

    Yep, the Pinnacle Dazzle is what I purchased.  I'll see how this works out for me....thanks!

   Posted 8 months ago # Login to Send PM

6. griz11
   Member

   

   You give away a lot of resolution by burning to dvd first. And really the footage isn't suitable for editing because its already been compressed. You will be much happier with the results from the dazzle.

    

   Griz

   Posted 7 months ago # Login to Send PM

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