Best (Fedora) way to capture/archive videos for LATER editing?

[Fred Smith]

On Sun, Dec 01, 2013 at 04:36:16PM +0100, M. Fioretti wrote:
> First of all, please all accept my apologies if I disappeared after
> starting this. For several reasons, the whole "project" has gone on
> hold, and I... honestly forgot there were messages that deserved an
> answer.
> 
> On Thu, Nov 07, 2013 14:19:53 PM +0000, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> > On Thu, 7 Nov 2013 14:22:58 +0100
> > "M. Fioretti" <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:
> > 
> > > What Fedora-compatible video capture hardware should I buy to hook VHS
> > > players, Firewire camcorders... to my computer?
> > 
> > For VHS, you want to get a TV card. Lookup "video4linux" documentation
> > (usually called v4l) to find out what chipsets are supported by the
> > Linux kernel --- before you buy the hardware. Also, in case of TV cards,
> > hardware quality is usually proportional to its price.
> > 
> > Another thing that I can recommend is to ask someone else to do it for
> > you --- there are professional/commercial mini-studios that can convert
> > your VHS to some digital format (usually to DVD), for a small price.
> > Typically they own the hardware do it with better quality than you could
> > do it yourself.
> 
> I started the thread exactly because mini-studios are NOT an option
> for us. In my family there are lots of DV and VHS tapes where only 5
> minutes, scattered through the whole tape, are worth preserving.
> Mini-studios around us would still ask full price for any of those
> tapes, with a total cost, I believe, a couple orders of magnitude
> bigger than video capture hw and some hacking night

Marco, I have a (borrowed) device that sits between the video output
device (commonly a camera, but could be a VCR) that can take the analog
output of a VCR (or other device) and turn it into a digital stream
for capture in your computer.

Unfortunately, I haven't had superb luck doing the job, probably due
to my own ignorance and/or laziness, not having spent a lot of time on
it yet.

It appears to be discontinued, and I haven't found anything else like it
(but maybe I just didn't look hard enough.) but I wouldn't be surprised
if you could find 'em used on ebay.

it's a:

Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge

and the label on the underside says:

DVBridge HW1X2

for inputs it has video in, audio in (both RCA jacks), S-Video in, 
and firewire in. I'm trying to use the RCA jacks since that's all my
old VCR has.

For outputs it has the same set of connectors. I'm trying to use it
with the RCA audio out and the Firewire video out.

While I'm still struggling, my friend (from whom it is borrowed) says
he has used it in similar configurations where it worked fine. so I'm
sure all I gotta do is get my head around it.

Good luck!

Fred
> 
> Apart from this, all the other info will surely be valuable when I get
> around to actually do it.
> 
> Many thanks to Marko and all the others who contributed to this
> thread.
> 
> 	Marco
> -- 
> 
> M. Fioretti http://mfioretti.com                   http://stop.zona-m.net
> 
> Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
> software is used *around* you
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-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
    "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
     heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
------------------------------ Matthew 7:21 (niv) -----------------------------