[gentoo-user] [OT] Transferring old video tapes to disk

[gentoo-user] [OT] Transferring old video tapes to disk

[walt]

Hi multi-media gentooers, I know you're out there :)

A friend just gave me a 15-year-old VCR, and it still works!

That's good news because I have some 25-year-old video tapes that
I haven't been able to play since my old VCR broke 15 years ago.

Now's my chance to save the tapes to a newer format. (Until the
new format becomes obsolete in another year or two.)

Transferring the audio is easy even for old non-multi-media me,
but how to get the video off the tape and into the computer?  Do
I need a new video card with special stuff?  Or what?

Thanks for any clues.

Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Transferring old video tapes to disk

[Andrey Moshbear]

Get a tuner card with composite-in support.
Recompile your kernel to add V4L support and <m> the required drivers.

Then use vlc, mplayer, etc to capture to file.

Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Transferring old video tapes to disk

[Florian Philipp]

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Am 23.01.2012 01:23, schrieb Andrey Moshbear:
> Get a tuner card with composite-in support.
> Recompile your kernel to add V4L support and <m> the required drivers.
> 
> Then use vlc, mplayer, etc to capture to file.
> 

Or some other kind of frame grabber (as this functionality is usually
called). This can be a video card, tv tuner or stand-alone device.
S-Video or component video will get you better quality than composite
but I guess it will not really matter with such old tapes.

Some camcorders also allow recording from external inputs. I guess
renting one will be easier and cheaper than buying a new tuner card,
especially because modern DVB tuners typically lack this functionality.

Regards,
Florian Philipp


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[gentoo-user] Re: [OT] Transferring old video tapes to disk

[James]

walt <w41ter <at> gmail.com> writes:


> Now's my chance to save the tapes to a newer format. (Until the
> new format becomes obsolete in another year or two.)
> 
> Transferring the audio is easy even for old non-multi-media me,
> but how to get the video off the tape and into the computer?  Do
> I need a new video card with special stuff?  Or what?


An old "Avermedia" card works really well. It should work under linux
too. Just match up the video out hardware ports on the VCR to 
the correct ports on the video (input) card.  NTSC -NTSC
or whatever hardware ports your vcr has (RGB-RGB) etc 
etc. There are many older brands out their, Avermedia is
but one of the better one, imho.

You'll get a bit of noise on these old analog Inputs/Outputs;
So clean the grounding terminals and make sure the VCR and the
PC are on a good, common ground, to minimize noise....
USE good cables. Clean all connections and put both on UPS
to clean the wall power up a  bit (particularly on the UPS.

hth,

James