#CONVERTING VHS TO DIGITAL MAC MOVIE#
#CONVERTING VHS TO DIGITAL MAC PROFESSIONAL#
#CONVERTING VHS TO DIGITAL MAC MAC#

Before you begin importing, take a few minutes to plan out how youвЂ™ll organize this diverse video footage.

If your home-movie tapes are anything like mine, they probably contain a grab bag of footage spanning several months or even years. Before you begin importing video, play a few minutes of your tape and adjust your VCRвЂ™s tracking feature to optimize playback quality. These picture and sound distortions occur when the VCRвЂ™s heads fail to read the critical control track located along one edge of the tape. YouвЂ™re likely to run into tracking problems when working with aging videotapes and VCRs. This process, called stacking, exercises the videocassette mechanism and restores tension on the tape reels, alleviating some of the problems with aging videotape. Once youвЂ™ve acclimated a tape, fast-forward it to the end and then rewind it to the beginning. The company charges 20 cents per foot, with a $40 minimum setup charge - a fairly typical fee for this type of job. I sent some old 8mm movies to Novato Video Transfer (in Novato, California, and I got great results. Some companies even offer transfer services for obsolete video formats, such as Betamax. Most services will clean and condition your old film before transferring it, to restore as much of its original beauty as possible.

#CONVERTING VHS TO DIGITAL MAC PROFESSIONAL#

The best way to transfer film is to send it to a professional transfer service that uses telecine or film chain equipment, which more accurately preserves the color and picture quality of your footage. In most cases, the resulting footage suffers from severe flickering and poor color balance.

#CONVERTING VHS TO DIGITAL MAC MOVIE#

One low-budget option is to project the movies onto a wall or screen and use a tripod-mounted video camera to record the image as the movie plays. If your family memories are preserved on film rather than on videotape, youвЂ™ll need a little extra help getting them into iMovie and onto a DVD. Once everything is connected, turn on each device, open a new iMovie project, and begin importing your footage. If youвЂ™re using a MiniDV camcorder to convert your video, you may need to adjust a menu setting to activate its pass-through features.

#CONVERTING VHS TO DIGITAL MAC MAC#

Finally, connect the camcorderвЂ™s or converter boxвЂ™s FireWire jack to the FireWire jack on your Mac C. Next, run audio cables from your VCRвЂ™s audio outputs to the audio inputs of your camcorder or converter box b. If your hardware supports an S-Video connection, use that instead of composite video. To set up your transfer station, connect your VCRвЂ™s video output A to the video input of your camcorder or converter box. To import the footage from old videotapes into your Mac, youвЂ™ll need a MiniDV camcorder with pass-through features or an analog-to-digital converter. It also serves as an excellent archival medium for completed projects. A 200GB external FireWire hard drive costs less than $300 and will give you enough room for hours of video. If you donвЂ™t have that much space to spare, consider purchasing an additional hard drive. This means youвЂ™ll need around 12GB of space for every hour of footage you import. Digital video inhales disk space at a rate of about 200MB per minute. The last thing youвЂ™ll need is a place to store your digital data. You have two options here: a MiniDV camcorder or an analog-to-DV converter box. You also need a device that can convert the analog signal coming from your VCR or old camcorder into digital data. Have the tapes transferred to MiniDV format, and then use a MiniDV camcorder to import the footage into your Mac. However, youвЂ™ll get better results by sending your tapes to a professional transfer service (see below for вЂњTransferring Film and Other RelicsвЂќ). If your tapes are in an obsolete format, such as Betamax, and if your old camcorder no longer works, you can try looking for a replacement on eBay.

If possible, get a VCR that supports S-Video output this option is more expensive, but it produces a sharper picture than the alternative, composite video. The improvement in video quality will be worth the investment. If your VCR is showing its age - for example, if it suffers from poor playback or frequent tracking problems - consider springing for a new one. The first thing you need is a VCR or a camcorder that can play back your original tapes. Before you can transfer footage from an old videotape to your Mac, youвЂ™ll have to convert the tapeвЂ™s analog signal into digital data that iMovie can use.

Converting vhs to digital mac