I am completely new to all this and just got my beauty :) Now I am interested in digitizing some of my VHSs. Can anyone provide me with the guiedelines on what settings (if any) I should use on my DVX, what software I need and how the whole process looks like. As far as I understood I can bypass recording to dv tape, which would make it really inconvenient and wear out heads, am I right? I would really appreciate your ideas!

Alexey

Hi Alexey,

I am not totally familiar with the ins and outs of the DVX100A, but with most DV camcorders, it is possible to connect an analog device (such as a VHS deck), and convert the analog inputs to DV via the camcorder's DV port (you would usually have to set the camcorder to VCR mode). In this case, the camcorder is acting purely as an analog to DV converter.

It would then be possible to output the DV stream to a DV disk recorder such as FireStore and record the output directly to disk. This may also work with capturing to a computer, but you would obviously not be able to control the device (e.g. the VHS deck) from the NLE's capture window.

Hope that helps.
Matt McEwen

Thanks Matt! I thought nobody is going to answer me. I am going to capture to PC as my budget was drained by my camera purchase :)

So my understanding is that I put my dvx into vcr mode and leave it in stop mode, connect it to pc and VHS, then if I press play on the VHS vcr my camcoder will give me coded video without any need to press REC/PLAY/... or whatever, right? And no settings in the camera are going to affect the output video, right? Then the last thing I guess is how do I capture it, is there any software that will allow me to capture this? what is the best for it?

Hope I got it all right and will look forward for your software recommendations!

Thanks again!
Alexey

As simple as that. Put the DVX100 in VCR mode, connect it to a Firewire card, connect the VHS to the DVX100 and... download Scenalyser soft. This is a must for efficient capture, really.

Thanks Bastein! I'll try to check it out today. And since DVX is in VCR mode, I guess no DVX settings affect the capture, right?

Yup! It act simply as a pass thru A/D converter... Once again, check this: http://www.scenalyzer.com/main.html

I too have not used this camcorder but my Sony's both require a menu setting change to enable AV/DV-in, since their usual job is the other way around - as in outputting to a VCR from the PC.

David Hurdon

Input selection is auto on vcr mode.