[87Duckfan]

I have some old video that can only be played thru the camera (hooked up to the TV). It's on tape.

I want to record the tv while playing with one of my cameras (K70, K3ii, or K1). If so, what lens, camera settings, etc. should I use?

Any suggestions if this will work? Is this an economical way to get the tape turned into a digital file?

Is there some other way to do this?

Is there another machine I could purchase at a reasonable cost to do this?


TIA!!

[UncleVanya]

I have some old video that can only be played thru the camera (hooked up to the TV). It's on tape.

I want to record the tv while playing with one of my cameras (K70, K3ii, or K1). If so, what lens, camera settings, etc. should I use?

Any suggestions if this will work? Is this an economical way to get the tape turned into a digital file?

Is there some other way to do this?

Is there another machine I could purchase at a reasonable cost to do this?


TIA!!

There are companies that transcribe stuff like this - have you checked their pricing?

By TV, can I assume lcd/led panel not CRT? With an lcd/led you may be able to adjust the refresh rates - but even if you can’t the shutter speed used in your video mode may need to be lowered to avoid flickering.

[kypfer]

First question … what is the output from the camera … RCA video plug, S-VHS, … ?
Adaptors from most formats to USB are available, just need to make sure your computer is fast enough to keep up with the video stream.
Once you've connected your video camera to the computer you'll just need some appropriate software to capture the video stream to disc as an AVI, MPG, MOV or whatever, this may well be supplied with the adaptor.
Video editing software may also be desirable, to trim/edit the resultant files and maybe even join them all together.
It's all very straightforward … no need to involve your Pentax camera at all, filming off the TV would only ever be unsatisfactory at best … try it with a normal TV program to see the results

[Not a Number]

Is it composite video out (RCA plug typically coded yellow)? You can buy USB video capture cards. Look for one with composite connectors. Try Amazon.
Here's one picked at random:
amazon.com: USB Audio Video Converter, RCA to USB Converter Adapter, Video Capture Card VHS/Mini DV/VCR/Hi8/DVD to Digital Converter for PC TV Tape Player Camcorder, Support PAL/NTSC, MAC Windows Vista Compatible : Everything Else?tag=pentaxforums-20&

Some photo centers such as Walmart offer a transfer service:
https://www.dvdwalmart.com/services-and-pricing/videotape-transfer

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Last edited by Not a Number; 01-14-2023 at 03:59 PM.

[87Duckfan]

Thank you all!

I was thinking of recording straight to one of my cameras. Would that work? How big would the file be if the tape was 1 hour long?

[kypfer]

Thank you all!
I was thinking of recording straight to one of my cameras. Would that work? How big would the file be if the tape was 1 hour long?

Your camera will record 25 minutes maximum in one go … file size will depend on the resolution you choose … the results will still be poor!

[87Duckfan]

OK, I might look into a local company.

I used my iphone for a couple of 2-3 minute clips, and they look pretty good!

[tuco]

I use to connect my HD video camera to my computer and import it to my video editor. From there I could edit and export it to many different formats and levels of quality.

[3by2]

In the past I've used a Pinnacle Dazzle in several different iterations. Simple and easy to use.

https://www.pinnaclesys.com/en/products/dazzle/dvd-recorder-hd/

[Bob 256]

As 3by2 said. It's a lot better if you can directly digitize the video by sampling it while it's being played. This will directly generate a digital file of the video which can be further processed if needed. There are no flicker issues, and it will give you the sharpest image file if you use a good converter (video capture device).

amazon.com : video capture device?tag=pentaxforums-20&

[Sakura]

I tried several video to usb converters. A lot of them won't capture very good, or even won't work at all.
I finally found Elgato video capture ( Video Capture | elgato.com ) and am very satisfied with the result, so i really can recommend it.



I converted VHS tapes with a second hand VHS recorder and Hi8 tapes directly from my old sony handycam.

[MJL]

I tried pro transfer, copy by camera and computer transfer Elgato as well.


Copy by camera is the least satisfactory because it depends on the screen that display the video and the camera can generate up to 30G of data with 1 hour tape.
Elgator is good but I tend to forgot where I put the dongle. It wouldn't work without the dongle.
Pro transfer is the best and they can compress it to smaller file (6G for 1hour tape), but costly. I use only local company as I don't trust postal or courier with my tapes.

[PiDicus Rex]

NEVER shoot a screen unless you're doing so with a Broadcast camera capable of syncing itself to the screens scan rate.

The Elgato option is good, J-5Create also do a USB based grabber that performs well.