Help, need to remove 'stills' from video

[garrett randall]

This doesn't fit under any board, but it for our clubs website , so I guess it qualifies...

I have a digital camcorder and vhs footage of r/c boats that we want to post on our website.

Is there any way to:

1. Get still images from the vhs footage

2. Get still images from the camcorder footage

3. Get vhs video footage onto a website

4. Get camcorder footage onto a website

Use LEHMANS terms please...I can record, and play back...and I think I know what a S-cable is...sorta...

Thanks for your help

Garrett Randall

 

[wswatzell]

Garret, the answer to all you questions is yes.

Now the question of how....

that can be a little involved & a lot of farting around depending on what you have for a computer. If you have a digital camcorder, & using window xp, all you need is a "fire wire" & a "fire Wire" port to plug it into. or if you camcorder is USB compatible, just plug it in & let windows take over installing the drivers. Windows xp has a built in program that allows you to capture stills off a digital video camera. If you don't have windows xp; that is really when it gets involved.

As far as the VHS, there is hardware that you will need to buy to do it. Dazzle make a nice package that allows you to capture both video and stills off a VHS device (camcorder, or VCR)

I have one but it isn't compatible with windows xp, so it is just sitting in my desk drawer. it will capture stills, & video without sound. you can't capture sound with it. if you want it, I will let it go cheep.

 

[garrett randall]

Good info Wade

Let me add some more pieces to my questions...

I have windows ME, and my cam corder does come with the usb cable. (and I know how to use it )

Will this Dazzle thing work with win ME?

Thanks!

Garrett

 

[SColby]

Can you dub the vhs to your camcoder? This would make it easy to get it to your computer through the usb.I can tell you that it takes a lot of horsepower to do things with video on your home computer. I have done video editing and it really slows things done. You don't want to be doing anyting else at the time.

I have the software that should do what you want, so if you need someone to make the files for you I probably can help. Let me know.

 

[garrett randall]

SColby,

You have mail, I think. I used the 'send email' from your member page... :blink:

Thanks.

Garrett

 

[wswatzell]

Windows ME......I'm sorry LOL!!!! With the Dazzle I have, I’m not sure if it will work or not. Considering ME is basically flavored Windows 98, it should. If you buy a new one, just make sure it says it is before you buy it. You will need additional software to download the video or still off your camera I believe. I don’t think that ME comes with any built-in’s You wont need anything fancy though. Steve is right though, it takes a lot of computer to make videos though. Windows ME won’t cut it; it is too much of a memory hog.

 

[garrett randall]

Wade

I knew the ME comment was coming...I hear that a lot.

My #1 priority is getting a still off of a digital camcorder video, not so much video editing, or do they go hand in hand? The webmaster of the site can handle the picture from there. I just want jpg's from my video.

Video on a website is really an afterthought.

Does this change what I might need to buy/install/etc.?

Thanks for the advice

Garrett

 

[SColby]

From what I have done you need to get to that point in the video then capture it. It usually is its own frame or a short still video that has audio. At least that is how my camcorder works for taking stills.. It may also be a jpg it is just the matter of finding it on the tape.

 

[wswatzell]

The digital camcorder is just a matter of using a photo editing software that allows you to import from a camera. Then just pause on the frame that you want to capture & however the software works, capture the image. The VHS... that Dazzle device that I have would work out great as long as it works with ME. It is just a matter of plugging it into a USB port, & connecting it your VCR with RCA cables. Pause the VCR on the frame you want & pic "capture in the program that comes with it. I used it all the time before I upgraded to windows xp

You don't need to have a TV connected to the VCR either, because the image from the tape is displayed in a window on the computer monitor.

 

[wswatzell]

oops. Forgot... capturing stills & video require different things. Images can be captured with nothing more than a decent photo editing software. Capturing images does not require much memory either. Video takes a big hard drive, big memory, & a big processor! :blink:

 

[MarkScott]

I've done some work on this subject as well lately. Ask away if you have any questions.. Some here have seen my work on a DVD I've done. I'm using Pinnacle 7.0 for converting my vid from 8mm to digi.. As for Dazzle, they've been bought out by Pinnacle, but I believe they are still putting items out under Dazzle.

Mark...

 

[garrett randall]

I got turned on to the pinnacle website, and it features the dazzle equipment. I got one opinon (on another site), and they said that the stills come out grany because the pic gets captured 'in between frames' Is this true?

The website said dazzle works best with XP, but will work with ME. So I'm thinking about getting this stuff (MIKE Z, D4 site...) which version of dazzle would be recommended? A better question would be, what's the difference between the DVC 80 and the Fusion verisions???

It sounds like they both do the same thing, they can input rca cables from a vcr to caputre stuff, and the s cable from the cam corder...TOO COOL...does this sound like it will accomplish what I am trying to do???

Thanks for all replies!!

Garrett Randall

 

[wswatzell]

I got one opinion (on another site), and they said that the stills come out grany because the pic gets captured 'in between frames' Is this true?

Yup, unfortunately it is true as far as being grainy. From my understanding it is because the frame quality isn't there to begin with. your eye can't process the info fast enough that is why that is why film strips work, they are a series of still frames that when "flashed" in front of the eye fast enough, it will appear to be in motion. Well same with the quality, when you pause it, your eye can focus on the fine detail that is missed when the movie is playing. Because this fine detail is over looked anyways, the frame quality can be loosened up so that the amount of data can be smaller.

The digital video camera should have a better still image because of the code that the data is written in. The image doesn't have to be converted from analog to digital format. image quality is lost when it is converted as well, but not as much.

 

[MarkScott]

I agree with Wade on his comments. The pics I've taken off of the vid used is not the best of quality.. Then again, these are going from analog to digi format.. I've got some other web sites that deal with making DVD's and such at home. I'll get them out here if you might be interested..

Mark..

 

[garrett randall]

Yes Mark, that would be great. I bet there are others who might like to know to...

 

[SColby]

I use pinnacle 8.10 at home. The still picture I took with my digital camcorder was grainy. One other part of this reason that hasn't been mentioned yet is that most of them, if you are lucky, are 1 mega pixel. Most of the new digital cameras are atleast 3. So this doestn't help the quality either. I have produced dvd's at home and they have looked pretty good as long as the pictures are form a digital camera and the video from a digital camcorder. The one I did from analog off the vcr to dvd was so great. I haad dropped frames and the sound quality wasn't all that good. So it comes down to what you really want.

 

[MarkScott]

Here's the best site I've seen information from: Doom9.org Read the 'newbie' information first off.. Main item I got from this is that if you want to really do CD / DVD burning, make a 'puter to do just that, nothing else.. Something about having too many .dll files..

Here's a shot of the Black Juice, running at speed. This comes from a 8mm (analog) downloaded via Pinnacle Studio..

Not bad I think. There are some out here that have seen a DVD that I burned. All of it came from the 8mm or a VCR tape. Only problem I had with the VCR was that on one the sound was off.. A little playing around, got the sound to sync'd up to the pic.

A gent I work around, who plays big time on personal PCs, burn'n and such, stated that DVD-x-copy is the best software out there for burn'n..