Originally Posted by Jess Wunman  TB,
Thank you very much for the quick response! It confirmed that my system should meet my basic needs. I have some follow-up questions, if you don't mind. |
No problem - pleased to have helped...
Originally Posted by Jess Wunman
1. Do I need to add a video capture device? If so, any recommendations?
2. Can I take advantage of the firewire port? If so, how is this accomplished?
3. Will my system allow me to capture VHS video without losing quality?
My uneducated impression is that Adobe products are 'state of the art' for my areas of interest. Therefore, I'm thinking that it may be wise to purchase 'entry level' Adobe product(s), then upgrade, as my needs and skill-level develop.
4. Is this sound reasoning? If so, what product(s) might you recommend, for starters. (If I'm off-base, please set me straight.)
May your tactile transducers always be true!
Jess |
1. Do you mean as in software to capture the video from the VHS? If so then I'm
pretty sure that Final Cut Pro and most likely even iMovie will be capable of capturing from the source when you plug it into your iMac. It should just turn up as another capture option.
2 - Buy a firewire lead (on your camera it will probably be the smaller 4pin socket *
clicky* and on your iMac I would guess the larger 6pin socket *
clicky* but double check them!!) so you can capture from your camera using that isntead of a USB 2 wire. Firewire has a faster capture rate and I believe produces a better quality file. You can also plug in any external drives you have via firewire (they'll probably need 6pin to 6pin leads) as the transfer rate is a lot quicker. This is vital if you plan to capture / stream video to / from these drives but do make sure they have frewire sockets on them as well!!
3 - The quality of VHS in our digital age is never going to be great and will probably be in the wrong scale (possibly 4:3 not 16:9) but if capturing in Final Cut Pro etc you will capture exactly the same as if doing so from a camera and therefore can capture in the same format e.g. .avi.
4 - This seems a pretty good webpage to explain capturing in Final Cut Pro *
clicky*
Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.