Budget A/V Capture Hardware
Introduction
I have NO experience capturing A/V from
analogue sources under OSX 10.7 or 10.8. The following information is based
upon my experience with USB analogue capture devices running under OSX 10.4,
10.5 and 10.6 and using iMovie as the editing software. I believe that the cheaper devices described
here work better with 10.4 and 10.5 than with later OSX versions.
Before outlaying any money for any device
or software, fully research the issues involved to see if the devices and
software meet your needs and is compatible with your system.
The following is my opinion only and may not be work for you!!
Alternatives to using computer based video capture
An alternative to computer based video
capture is the use of a domestic stand alone DVD recorder or hard drive based device such as a PVR or other Hard Drive
recorder. To do the job the device must have RCA and or S video INPUTS, (not
just the usual outputs!!). The analogue
audio/video output source (such as the VCR) is connected to these inputs. The resultant digital video capture
can then be either burnt directly to DVD, stored on the digital recording device’s
hard drive, or where the recorder is fitted with a usb port or Ethernet
connection, transferred to the Mac for further editing, storage and burning to
DVD.
Having used an old MTX hard drive recorder
and a Doma DVD recorder in the past, I can say this method is the simplest way
of digitizing analogue video produced by a VCR.
Digital Movie Cameras fitted with “Analogue
Pass Through”
Of course, if you have a digital Video
camera with analogue pass through then, if the camera is supported by iMovie,
your digitizing problems are solved. iMovie will directly import av from such
devices if they are on the current supported list: http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
The older Apple support list for firewire DV cameras is now archived
and not maintained by Apple.
If your camera does have “analogue pass
through” then it will be fitted with RCA and /or S video INPUTS. If it does not have these inputs, then you
will not be able to capture analogue video from VCR etc with it. And, even if
it does, if it is not on the Apple supported list, you will not be able to
import the converted video directly into iMovie.
When the first DV iMacs were
introduced, a major selling point was DV
editing via Digital camera fitted with Firewire. Such cameras when fitted with “analogue pass
through” were an important way to digitize analogue sources. At the time such cameras were expensive. Cameras fitted
with the extra “Pass through” facility
were more expensive than those without the facility.
Today,
these once expensive cameras may be cheap second hand, but the OSX
versions and iMovie which can use them are old.
And new Macs do not have firewire ports.
This is one reason why keeping old Macbooks alive may be important for users of such Camera equipment. The
older Macbook hardware and software are needed by older video devices.
Capturing analogue video with a cheap usb
to Mac capture device
Echo Fx markets software for Mac which
enables a number of USB video/audio capture devices made for Windows to be used
on Mac computers. The Echo FX website is here:
The quality of the recorded video depends
very much on the settings used. The
smaller the size and the lower the frame rate, the less blurring of motion
there will be. But the jerkier the movement will be. The smaller the recorded
frame size, the lower the quality of the displayed video. These devices are a
trade off. Though they work.
Before purchasing cheap usb av capture device on ebay or
elsewhere, try to make sure that the device will work with versions of OSX
later then 10.5. In the days before Lion and Mountain, the requirement for “OSX 10.5 or greater” did
not refer to 10.7 or 10.8. These two had not been released at that point. So
compatibility with them is not guaranteed.
Roxio and some other companies for instance
make capture devices which work only with OSX 10.4 and 10.5. AV Labs also made
on such device.
Ezcap is a British company which markets
the DC116 usb av capture device. As can be seen from the company website, non genuine copies of the device has been a
problem. Fake copies of this device can be found online. The previous model (the DC 60+) worked on macs via Echo FX software. The
DC116 likewise works on Mac with Echo FX software.
The following are some examples of devices
which are made for Mac and which come with their own software. They do not
require Echo FX software:
Roxio (and some other companies) still make
capture devices especially for Mac which work only with OSX 10.4 and 10.5. AV
Labs also made one such device.
This device uses Empia video capture hardware
which is fundamentally the same as
Echo Fx software. And this device is no improvement on the
Ezcap DC116 in my opinion. Everthing is in the box though and you do not need
to buy the software separately. Jaycar
sell a similar device which is not Mac compatible at all. When buying, ask the
staff for the Mac compatible DVD Maker 2 usb device as listed in their
catalogue. This device requires “OSX
10.4.5 or above” . I have a strong feeling that this device will not be
compatible with 10.6 or above.
Apple Australia do sell a range of av
capture devices. The “Elgato Video
Capture”and the “Elgato Turbo.264 HD” both retail for just under $A200. The Elgato
Eye TV Hybrid is both a TV tuner stick for Mac and an analogue a/v capture
device. It sells for about $A280.
It is clear that once you move away from
devices which use Echo Fx software, the price rapidly increases, but the more
expensive models do produce much better results.
I have an Elgato Eye TV Hybrid, purchased from an independent electronics
supplier. It does a good job in both its roles. If you are happy to simply capture TV and
analogue material to your hard drive the Elegato is very easy to and very
reliable. Elgato products are hardly
“budget” compared to generic av capture devices available via eBay. But they well
work on Macs.
If your intension is edit the captured
material in iMovie, then I have found
that the captured material must be reformatted.
I use Roxio Toast to make a DVD image of the material, and convert the
result using using MPG Streamslip (available for free at http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html)
and import the resultant DV into iMovie. (iMovie will not import the Eye TV video
directly. Nor can MPG streamslip convert it into a iMovie compatible format. I
will cover Wondershare Video Convertor for Mac
shortly).
For Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard, and I
think, Lion, you must have the Apple Mpeg2 Quicktime component loaded onto your
machine. Mountain Lion is said to have
the Mpeg2 component as standard. MPG
Streamslip is available as a beta version for Mountain Lion at the moment.
The changes in iMovie have not all been good.
Editing in iMovie used to be easy. However, Wikipedia explains the
complexities and problems which arose from Apple’s introduction of iMovie 08 as
follows: “iMovie 08 was criticized due to its drastic abandonment of some
iMovie HD 6 features.
New York Times reviewer
David Pogue
said "iMovie ‘08 is an utter bafflement... incapable of the more
sophisticated editing that the old iMovie made so enjoyable...All visual
effects are gone — even basic options like slow motion, reverse motion, fast
motion, and black-and-white. And you can’t have more than one project open at a
time."
[4]
Features removed included the classic timeline, the ability to create DVD
chapter markers, support for plugins, and in-timeline audio adjustment and
control. iMovie '08 imports to a much more limited set of video codecs and
metadata formats than previous versions of iMovie or today's QuickTime Player.
For example, QuickTime Player can be extended to support the FLIP Video 3ivx
MPEG-4 codec, but iMovie '08 cannot. iMovie '08 also removed the ability to
import DV footage. As a result, all resulting videos have lossy compression
applied and there is no facility for managing full format video. The peculiar
lack of QuickTime support means
QuickTime
Pro can edit a larger range of video than iMovie '08.
Apple released iMovie HD 6 as a free download to those who had purchased
iMovie '08.
[5]
However, in response to the release of the subsequent newer version of iMovie
'09, Apple removed the download in late January 2009
[6] while also
reducing the $299 price tag for
Final
Cut Express to $199. Several of the features removed from iMovie '08 that
were previously included with iMovie HD 6 have been restored into iMovie '09
and, more recently, iMovie '11.” Source: Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMovie Of course, the Quicktime player in Snow
Leopard and later is but a shadow of the old Quicktime Pro.
Not the solution if all you want to do is
convert some old VHS tapes to DVD on your Mac.
Third Party video file reformatting and conversion
There is another solution to the problem of
av import and editing on the Mac. The use of Third Party video conversion
software.
I have found that the use of inexpensive software made and marketed by
Wondershare has solved my particular problems.
These are cheap alternatives which will
take many different formats and convert them into formats which iMovie can use
The Advantages of the A1181 Macbook
The provision of an audio in port on the
A1181 Macbook is important. A video
capture device may work fine capturing video to a Mac, whereas it’s audio might
not. In this case, a separate audio in cable from the video source device to
the Macbook audio in port solves that particular audio problem.
Where a person’s av capture hardware and
software works only with Tiger and Leopard, maintaining the now aging earlier editions
of the A1181 Macbook model with a dual partition drive is important. One may use the internet with maximum
protection afforded by the latest OS, while at the same time gaining the use of
hardware and software which are only compatible with earlier versions of OSX.
This holds true for many versions of
applications software. The general advice not to update your OSX until you
ensure your important apps and peripheral devices work under the new OSX is
good advice.
If you are going to upgrade, make a
bootable clone of your current primary drive first, just in case you find one of your important applications or peripheral devices do not work under the new OSX. You may have to revert to the old or partition your drive and run both versions of OSX and the applications software. Updates and new versions have pluses and minuses.
Before you buy an av capture device, do all
you can to make sure that it works with your version of OSX. Explore the Echo FX website before you buy a
cheaper device originally made for Windows.
Generally the quality of the recorded video
is proportional to the cost of the device.
The generic capture devices which cost
under $50 are not good as the models which cost $100, $200 or more.
Maintaining an A1181 Macbook which runs
Tiger or Leopard is important for those people who have av and other hardware
which are not compatible with later versions of OSX. The later the Macbook, the later its minimum
OSX version will. A 2006 – 2007 Macbook
will boot from Tiger. A 2009 Macbook
will not. When it comes time to buy a newer machines, you may have to find out the newer ways of doing things.
The usefulness of your older software and
hardware depends upon the OSX version you are able to run. If you can’t run the required OSX version on
your machine, you can’t use the hardware which requires that software. Hardware
is only part of the product.
As time passes, more and more Macs which
require later versions of OSX will appear for sale on eBay and elsewhere. Fewer
and fewer Macs which can boot from Tiger and Leopard will appear.
It is my view that recording av into a Mac
was easier in the days of Tiger. There
were far fewer issues than there are under Snow Leopard and later when using
cheap av capture devices.
Whatever version of OSX you use during av
capture and video editing, explore the
world of 3rd party video conversion and DVD creation software. When it comes to reformatting video so that
it works under iMovie, the 3rd party offerings can offer a cost effective solution. Downloading their trial versions will enable
you to see whether they meet your needs or not.
All of the suggested solutions here qualify
as budget ones. It is certainly true
that a professional video camera with analogue pass through feeding into Final
Cut Pro is the best way to go, but it is also more expensive than the methods,
software and device models discussed here.
The Apple site describes how to capture
video direct to iMovie 11 from the inbuilt iSight camera camera here: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2155 . http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US This will not perform the task of converting VCR video tape to a digital though.
