Another Question

[Charles Martin]

> From: MRH <macmike at famvid.com>
> Here is another question. I have just got this i-mac.

That's "iMac."

>  It has Firewire ports
> as well as the usual USB. Anyway, I have a Panasonic AG456 Camcorder 
> that is
> Super VHS. It is equipped with S-video outputs. My JVC S-VHS VCR's are 
> that
> way as well. Now the question. Do any of you know of a Firewire to 
> S-Video
> type of card?

Even if there was such a card, it wouldn't do you any good. There's no 
spot in an iMac for cards.

What you want is something like the Hollywood DV Bridge or the Canopus 
ADC-100. They cost about $250.

For about $150 more you can just buy a new digital camcoder (look for 
one with "passthrough," ie an analog-to-digital converter already built 
in).

>  I would like to get rid of my videonics editing equipment and
> use the imac or excuse me the PC at the office to edit some videos.

If you have access to an iMac with Firewire, there's no way you want to 
use a PC to edit video. Ask the editors of any PC magazine, they'll 
tell you the same thing we'll tell you -- the iMac is *far* superior, 
at least on a consumer level.

>  I plan
> on buy a Firewire DVD+R, -R, +RW, -RW unit. I would love to be able to 
> take
> some of the VHS taped video and bring it in to one of the computers 
> and then
> save it to DVD. What do you think?

If you mean you have a G4 (flat panel LCD) iMac, then why didn't you 
just buy one with the Superdrive already built in? That way you would 
have gotten iDVD and the whole thing would be a LOT simpler.

If you don't have a G4, your options are severely limited. Basically, 
DVDs are right out, not possible. Don't waste your money buying a DVD-R 
(*not* DVD+R), you can't use it.

What you *can* do is make VCDs, however. These are VHS-quality and 
burned on regular CD-Rs (they play on most, but not all, DVD players). 
To make it easy on yourself, you'll need Toast (about $60-90) in 
addition to the aforementioned ADC unit.

_Chas_

James Lileks, on Apple's iMovie versus XP's Moviemaker:
"Was [my bro-in-law's] machine cheaper? Yes. But time is money; I've 
never had to claw my way through the sodden mess of a corporate website 
looking for the one driver that will let me do what I want to do. I've 
never had to spend a Sunday afternoon trying to understand what iMovie 
wants me to do, because it does what *I* want it to do. He said that 
Moviemaker made him feel stupid, because he couldn't figure out the 
simplest tasks.
I'll say this for his machine, though: if he ever wants to back up that 
3.3 GB movie file on floppy disks, he's all set."