How to capture video into your computer? Learn how to do it using a Firewire card or analog-to-digital conversion device.
Once you have a camcorder, it is very easy and even fun to go about recording the various events. But to be able to make a polished product out of it, you will need to take that video into your computer and edit it before you copy it on a DVD.
So how do you go about capturing your video into the computer?
It is not as tough as it looks. This article shows you the correct way to do it.
Before you begin with the capture process, you will need to understand how your camcorder captures the video, in what format is the captured video stored.
Analog or Digital Format?
The first thing to understand in what format your video is stored. It can be one of the two, either Analog or Digital.
Digital is the format that the world is moving towards. If you buy a camcorder today, you will in all probability buy one which stores video in digital format.
But that does not mean there is no support for equipments storing video in analog format. It is just that you will need a different piece of hardware for each type.
Digital Format / Firewire
If your video is stored in digital format (MiniDV, DVD) then your computer will need to have a Firewire card…to be able to transfer the video to your computer (Firewire gives you extremely fast transfer speeds).
Most of the recently bought computers would have it… else you could buy one. You can get a Belkin FireWire card for as low as $30 online. A Firewire cable will then connect your camcorder DV output port to your computer’s DV input port.
Analog-to-Digital Conversion Devices
If your video is stored in analog format (VHS tapes)… you will need an analog-to-digital conversion device to do the transfer to your computer. As the name suggests this device converts video from analog format to digital format.
So, in what scenairos would you need to convert from analog to digital?
If you have an analog camcorder or if you have some old VHS tapes which you wish to convert into digital format. In either case, an analog-to-digital conversion device is recommended to help you with the tedious work.
One product that you could have a look at is the USB Instant DVD from ADS Technologies. It takes the analog video input from your analog camcorder or VCR, converts it into digital video and outputs the video via USB cable into your computer’s USB port.
Conclusion
Now that you have an understanding of the different video formats, you should be able to make a decision regarding the choice of hardware you need to capture your video into your computer.
You would need Firewire to capture digital video…or analog-to-digital video conversion device, if it is analog!
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