USB capture device for PE3?

[jackfalbey]

I want to put some old VHS tapes on DVD before they wear out. I would like to edit and clean them up first with PE3. I don't want to install a PCI card or any new unnecessary software. Can anyone recommend a good USB 2.0 capture device with RCA or s-video inputs that works well with PE3?

[Paul LS]

Unfortunately Premiere Elements wont capture from USB2 capture cards, only from Firewire analog/digital bridges such as the ADStech Pyro Link
http://www.adstech.com/products/API-557 ... PI-557-EFS
or one of the Canopus models (ADVC-55/110/300)
http://www.canopus.com/products/videoconversion.php
It means however if you dont have a Firewire port on your computer that you will need to install one... however they are fairly beneign and require no software/driver installation as it is recognised by Windows.

[Chuck Engels]

Paul is completely correct. I started down the same road with a capture card and was I ever sorry. I wrote an article about it if you want to read the whole story

http://videoinasnap.chuckengels.com/sou ... _10-05.htm

A digital converter is the only way to go, a little more expensive but you are throwing money away otherwise, not to mention the time you will waste on top of it.

[jackfalbey]

Thanks for the help, guys. I have a Firewire port that I use with my DV camcorder. The devices Paul cited are about $200... can I use this
http://www.adstech.com/products/USBAV-1 ... BAV-191-EF
instead? It's only $60. Or should I just go ahead and shell out for the more expensive device? Also, will I have to use the included software or can I just connect the device and capture directly into PE3 since the output will already be converted to digital?

[Chuck Engels]

It is possible you can use your camcorder as a passthrough device, what make and model do you have? Check the documentation for the camcorder and see if it allows passthough from an analog device to the computer.

As Paul and I have both said, do not buy a USB device, the Pyro Link is around $140 and that is as cheap as it gets. If you go a different route you will not be happy, trust me on this.

[jackfalbey]

After careful re-inspection of my camcorder, a Sony DCR-TRV460, I discovered an s-video port and realized that I probably should have read the manual (duh) where it describes how to use it as an analog pass-through. Anyway, I'm going to try it and if I have any problems, I'll be asking you guys for more help. Thanks again for the advice.

[Chuck Engels]

If your camcorder works you will have just saved about $150 and will have a great digital converter. It might not be as good as one of the Canopus converters but it should be all you need to get VHS tapes onto your computer for editing and burning to DVD

[NotStevenSpielberg]

I'd love one of those Pyro devices after Chuck pointed me to them in an email on his yahoo group.
Unfortunately, here in the UK, Sony only sell it with professional software and it costs around £550 ( say$1000.00 to you!)
I surfed and found a couple of U.S. shops with them still in stock as a stand alone item, but their shipping charges were $88, I'm really not prepared to pay those exhorbitant costs, not when I'm faced with Customs duty on top!
The Canopus is available over here, but again, for an amatuer, costs are pretty prohibitive.
Does anybody know whether the Sony DCR-H30E can be used as a passthrough device - I can't seem to find that info in the manual - and if so what's the set-up?
If not I think I'll have to drop PE3 and look for some other capture device that can record straight from my VCR to the PC and then be edited - rather than record to the Camcorder's tapes and then captured from there into PE3 - I don't think I have enough years left in me to capture all my past video tapes!

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

If passthrough isn't an option with your camera, have you had a look on Amazon.com (the US site). The pyro is available there for US$140 or so with reasonable shipping rates - i.e. a lot less than US$88. Total cost will be about UK£100.

Alternatively do you know someone in the USA who can buy it for you and ship it over? (I have a nephew living in New York who does this for me quite regularly). This is certainly a lot cheaper that some of the USA stores - one company wanted US$69 to ship me a software DVD!.

EDIT: Or you can get it here in the UK for £200:-

http://www.soundware.co.uk/sc/products/ ... ents%202.0

(I suspect that you might be able to find it a bit cheaper than this if you look around)

[NotStevenSpielberg]

The only firms I found on the web with it at around $140 want $80+ to ship - just spent 2 hours on the web and phone trying to get one shipped across and the firms don't want to know.
Quite honestly I've now got to the stage where I'm going to sell my PE 3 and give up - I'm not going to pay UK rip off prices - especially when it comes with software older than I've already got nor pay through the nose for an alternative.
I feel I've wasted my money - all I wanted was a cheap AV capture device that would simplify the problem of getting various analogue tapes from my VCR to my PC without going through the hoops to do so.
Think I'll go back to Linear editing - a lot less hassle and I've got most of the equipment.
Still can't work out if the DCR-HC30E has got passthrough either!

[Steve Grisetti]

Sorry things didn't work out for you, NotSteven. But, as with any major venture (and video editing is fairly major) the initial outlay for the right equipment can be a headache.

However, once you get it up and running, you can have an awful lot of fun for just the cost of the video tape!

Please let us know if there's anything more we can do for you.

[Chuck Engels]

You can try the passthrough route on your camcorder, if there are analog in ports connect your vcr to them, connect the analog out ports to a tv for monitoring and then connect the firewire to the computer and open Premiere Elements.

Be sure you don't have a tape in the camcorder, turn it on and see what happens. There might be a menu setting that needs to be changed and I would think that most Sony camcorders are the same so maybe someone can add some help here.

[Chuck Engels]

Just did a Google for 'DCR-HC30E passthrough' and got lots of results. Your camcorder does indeed have passthrough capability, here is a little help
http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t271085.html be sure to read all of the posts.

There are plenty of other results that should explain the whole process if you do a search.

[NotStevenSpielberg]

Thanks to all for your replies - I'll check the 'passthrough' out later.
However, it may not now be needed - A friend from my Model railroads side of life has come to the rescue and ordered a Pyro for me in the States - he'll then ship it on to me in the UK - His shipping cost was a 1/4 of what some dealers wanted.
Only other problem I foresee is lack of disk space - Off to town to get a 500GB SATA drive to add to the PC!

[Paul LS]

Other thing will be the power supply, I bought my Pyro while holidaying in the US. I had to buy a power supply from Maplin and cut off the power connector from the US power supply and fix it on the Maplin power supply.