[MacDV] Video Disc capture and creation help?

[Mark O'Brien]

On 10/14/03 7:05 PM, "Dr. M. Burek" <mrwitch at tampabay.rr.com> wrote:

> I want to capture 1 hour source from VHS tape to SVCD, editing out
> commercials, then creating fully compliant SVCD to play in computers (PC
> and Mac) as well as set top boxes. Capture file sizes MUST be small
> enough to fit into remaining free space (7-7.5 GB), hopefully with some
> free space left over for working with the files. Audio must remain in
> sync in the finished product, of course.

I'm not sure how to do what you want to do with the older hardware you have.
It's not too hard to do with newer equipment (Mac with Firewire and CD or
DVD burner, digital camcorder). If you can find a way to get some newer
equipment here's what you'll need and how I would do it:

Connect the VCR to a digital camcorder via analog cable, hit "play" on the
VCR, put the camcorder in VTR mode, and hit "record" on the camcorder. You
now have a digital copy of the VCR, and it doesn't matter if it's MiniDV or
Digital8 - it's still "DV".

Connect the camcorder to a firewire-capable Mac and launch iMovie. Import
the DV from the camcorder to iMovie. Some camcorders (with "passthrough"
will let you do this simultaneous to recording from the VCR. You can also
capture from the camcorder with FCP, but I'm not familiar with it. You'll
need about 13GB free on the hard drive to import a one hour show in DV
format. Edit out the commercials and Export to Quicktime using the full
quality setting. Imovie 3 actually has a small Quicktime reference movie it
puts in the project folder which may let you skip the export step. (Some of
the more expert users on this list, please chime in if I've gotten this
wrong).

There are two ways I know of to put this on an SVCD: iVCD ($29 from
www.mireth.com) or Toast Titanium 6. I've used iVCD, but haven't tried Toast
6 for an SVCD since it was just released recently. SVCDs I've prepared with
iVCD play just fine on my Pioneer set-top DVD player. Just follow the
directions for either application, using either the file you exported from
iMovie or the reference file I mentioned. Both iVCD and Toast 6 will do the
proper MPEG-2 encoding, multiplexing, and burning.

Toast 6 offers another option for making DVDs from DV without using iMovie.
It does require a digital camcorder to be connected to your Mac via
Firewire, and a DVD burner, of course. I haven't tried it yet, but there's
no editing involved so you'll get a DVD with everything on the tape,
commercials included.

Mark