Connecting an Analog Video Source to a Computer

there are many different ways to connect an analog video source to your computer. the method you choose altimately depends on the source and the video capture device you are using. no matter which way you choose, chances are you don't have an instruction manual that shows you how to actually connect the various wires. i think this thread should be dedicated to a discussion of the ways in which analog sources are physically connected to video capture devices, and of course, to the computers we all know and love. if you have graphical representations of your wiring scheme please post them here.

below is a wiring diagram for connecting a VCR to either a computer or an external capture device that in turn connects to a computer. this method is probably the most common and straight forward. at the very least, this diagram should provide an idea of the minimum amount of equipment and materials required for analog video capture. hope it helps...

 

thanks for above info, my vcr only has aerial in & out & scart ext 1 & 2. so i have tried a scart adapter from ext 1 with an in/out switch on adapter set to out from this an svhs and red & white audio cables,svhs into svhs socket on my pc & red & white audios as shown on above diagram by turkey.my problem now is when i play vhs videos there in black and white i have sound also after i have captured the video & play it back it is still black & white but no sound i tried using windows movie maker & ulead video studio 6 dvd se.my pc is an advent t9 using windows xp.scart adapter with cables bought rom maplins for £12.95.
any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

well first i should apologise, i keep forgetting AD is an international website. so i should clarify that the above diagram is the most common set up for folks living in North America...

i am not very familiar with the international standards for wiring. i was also hoping this thread could be a place where folks from any country would post wiring diagrams for thier respective wiring standards.

anyway, mr_fista:
i have heard of the black and white capture problem when using NTSC media with PAL devices or vise versa. there are a bunch of other threads on this forum that should be more helpful, have a search and see what you find.

 

Mr Fista,
I would guess that the software you are using to capture the video and audio is set to NTSC and should be set to PAL. You will need to go into the capture settings and change it.

What software are you using to capture?

M

 

i have windows xp home edition & have tried using windows movie maker & ulead video studio 6 dvd se both give me same results black & white & no sound i'll try & see if i can change settings to pal & see how i get on.
thanks
mr_fista

 

I have solved this problem in the past... Seems to happen with a lot of kit in the UK.

Look at the s-video connector and you will see it comprises of four pins and a block of plastic used as a key to prevent you pushing the connector in the wrong way round. The pair of pins at the bottom (furthest away from the plastic key) need to be connected together. You will then find you are in glorious technicolour!

Hope this helps.

EDIT: BTW the most simple method is to find a short strand of copper out of another piece of multi stranded cable. Use a pin to form a loop in one end and then place the loop over one of the two pins in question. Now take the other end of your length of copper wire and bend it round the second pin. Or you could just do figure of eights around the two pins etc.

 

I want to connect an analog video source to my media centre PC but I have no idea at all how to do it.
The output panel at the back of my pc has an ariel input, and av input and thats about it.

How can I connect my VCR to my PC, can I even connect it at all?
after connection what software do I use to open the VCR to play?

Kind Regards BluRay

PS Can I even connect a DVD player into my comp?

 

Sure you can connect your VCR to the pc. I am current using a USB 2.0 TV Box Super Digital TV Capture.
You can get them on Ebay, which is where I bought mine. It has S-Video and RCA plug.
Its also basically for hooking directly to TV and then to your computer or laptop so you can record or watch. I can also hook up my camcorder through it too.

Comes with the necessary software by Honestech to do what you need to do.

I know there are also tv tuner pc cards you can get or some video cards with that capability but this seemed a whole lot easier to me.

 

@Bluray & smokietrain

a very useful tool I've discovered is the video clarifyer, if you want to transfer your fideos to dvd or just connect the vcr to the pc, very useful.

 

Hey, i dunno if anyone is left in this forum, but i have a couple of questions about analog capturing. I have a laptop with an s video slot already installed inside of it....will i be able to capture video from my camcorder into my laptop through the s video plug that comes with it. Or, will i have to buy an external usb device that i have to connect the video cables of my camera into. If a device is to be used, which one do you recomend?

 

@ ruvard

if the connection to your laptop is for input, and the cable you have for your camera is s-video, you will be able to capture the video. however you will need the apropriate software that recognizes your camera.

 

May I add that most video camers come with some simple software. I used the "MovieMaker" that comes with XP after I installed the drivers inclued with the camera.

XP is good at detecting video camers.

 

i have my pc hooked to a scan converter and then to dvd burner and tv works great

 

ok im trying something krazzyyy but im almost sure it possible

im trying to connect my n64 to my computer

first time i connected it directly through the cable and then used live tv on my windows media center (for windows xp) but all i got was static on every channel when i turned on my consol

now im trying a new method which is connecting my vcr/dvd player to my computer using the red,white,yellow video wires

but now my problem is, how do i run the vcr/dvd player on the compt

im thinking that there is a way to use video mode like a tv does but i dunno how

any tips?

 

i've been looking on AD & Doom9 while i learn this video capture stuff. Head yourself over to this link & check out a most excellent guide on capturing analog & digital sources. With Blu-Ray & HD-DVD becoming more important, any skills derived from capturing basic video signals can only help you. High end digital capture equipment may take years to come down in price, but using good analog techniques can make up the difference.

 

A member named turkey posted how to connect an a vcr to your computer. He said there is a wiring diagram to show how it is done on the bottom of the page but it isn't or else I am overlooking a way to pull it up. If you see this could you post the wiring diagram & maby tell me what kind of software I need for my computer to recognize it.

 

I'm very new to the video capturing game, so maybe someone might read this and give me a solution to my problems.

I've got lots of footage on Hi8 tapes that I want to convert to DVD. I bought a FireWire card and cable (IEEE394) but my (fairly old) camcorder doesn't have a port that supports it. It has S-Video and A/V out ports.

Is there a cable that goes from AV - to a firewire port? How do I tranfer the video from my camcorder to my PC?

Excuse the ignorance, like I said I'm new to al this. Any tips/advice wmuch apreciated.

Gaff

 

Looking for a little help from someone.

I am using Plus TV with HyperMedia Center to watch TV on my computer.

The problem I am having is that I can set a recording and it will record but I am then unable to watch that video I recorded. It says there was some type of error when trying to watch it.

There is no problem watching Live TV, but a recording doesn't work.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks ahead of time

 

Bueller? Bueller?

 

@ Gaff

The fact that your camcorder does not have that type of port, which few do, tells that you basically need a TV card or a video card with AV In ports, via RCA jacks,(red, yellow & white) or coaxial, that can be adapted to RCA, after you load the drivers to support your camera you should be able to record your videos to your HDD, then if neccessary convert from AVI to DVD. However several programs do offer recording in dvd format, it just requires substancially more disk space.