General Mac hardware discussions forum: Video Capture Card

I've used an old external Dazzle Hollywood analog/digital FireWire-connected converter on various Macs (F5 flatpanel, G4 PowerBook, iMac CoreDuo "Intel Mac", G4 QuickSilver tower) and it works with iMovie and FinalCut... and the original box had no "works with Mac" logo on it...

I just looked at the 150...
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Dazzle/Digital+Video+Creator+150.htm

... and I wouldn't use it... for only ONE reason... it is USB from the converter to the 'puter. USB is fine for bursty stuff - but for video, it isn't the best way to go - and I don't think iMovie will recognize it.

Canopus makes good stuff
http://www.canopus.com/products/videoconversion.php
The ADVC 110 or 300 look good because they are bi-directional - but you may not need that and the 55 may be appropriate.

Please re-read my post. FireWire for video. USB not for video. It does not sustain speed as FireWire does. It is likely iMovie and FinalCut will NOT even recognize video is trying to come across that USB port. My Dazzle uses FireWire. FireWire is NOT USB.

I don't know how many different ways I can say it. If it does work I will be EXTREMELY surprised. When it does not work, please don't post here complaining that it did not work.

You said: "The USB 2.0 worked on my PC and it should work just as well or better on my new Mac" - THIS IS A BAD LEAP OF FAITH. THIS IS A BAD ASSUMPTION. EXPECT USB TO NOT TRANSFER VIDEO USING MAC OSX. GET A FIREWIRE VIDEO TRANSFER METHOD.

I understand what you are saying... read my original question.. I realize I need another device!!! My question was to point out a divice that would do this...

Which version?

mdplights,

First, when it comes to your Mac, discard everything you knew about importing video into your PC. Re-read all the other posts...only use Firewire. Anyways, the Canopus devices work great. I use two different models, and they are simply a hardware device to get video into your Mac, and they ONLY use Firewire, not USB. They make a model 55, which I use at work. It's a basic unit, and converts analog video to a DV stream that imorts via Firewire. They also make a model 115, which is a more advanced model that allows you to take your edited video and trasnsfer back to a DV camcorder. It also has more import options (RCA, S-Video and Firewire inputs) which allows a multitude of devices to be plugged in simultaneously and all take the same path. Canopus does not use any additional software. As previously noted, your Mac comes fully equipped to import video, edit it, and burn DVDs. Additional software either won't work on the Mac or it will mess things up. I've used many many different camcorders with my Mac, and they all work when using the Firewire path. USB works with digital cameras, and it works when importing the small MPEG movies that many digital cameras shoot, but these are not full bandwidth DV video. They are already compressed and in MPEG format, much the same format as the still images they take.

with your computer. Keep an eye on your available hard drive space. Video has a tendency to use laot of room. You can always get an external FireWire-connected drive for your video projects - I use an external 250 gig Maxtor dirve in a SIIG case...

The native format for iMovie is DV as is the native format for Digital Video cameras.

I expect that the Canopus devices converts VHS video into DV format for onward movement to the Digital Capture software (iMovie)

MPEG2 is already a compressed format and is not likely to be used.

I could be wrong


P

is not the relevent part of the discussion - that video cannot be stored if there is no *available* hard drive space...

ALWAYS leave at least 10% of your hard drive available... ALWAYS.

And if you need to connect those external hard drives, it would be MUCH better if they are connected using FireWire... not USB. If the 200 GB maxtor and 40GB external don't have FireWire ports, I would not recommend using them (though they would probably work OK... Some would say they may cause you problems - especially with large files, which video files tend to be).

is there a cheaper thing than the canopus because the cheapest one they have is 220 dollars. so is there any other type wit a firewire cable? i have a mac too.

The one very strong point about the Canopus converters is that they do NOT lose audio-video sync on long video projects. Some converters do lose auid-video sync. I haven't really seen a cheaper converter that I would personally use. Any converter that uses software should be avoided like the plague. I know there are less-expensive converters that work, so someone here may be able to recommend one. Canopus makes some very high-end broadcast converters that work brilliantly, and they use scaled-down versions of these bigger boxes in their smaller home versions. By the way, if you get the smaller ADVC-55, there are 6 little toggle switches (for setting various video parameters). Leave all 6 toggle switches in the "Off" position.

Maybe you can try this one.

Driver free analog CVBS capture card for MAC , windows and LINUX

http://febon.blogspot.com/2012/04/driver-free-grabber-card-can-work-on-ap.html