Help....How do I record from an analogue camcorder to the hard drive on my dvd ?

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can help me here. The scenario is that we have loads of the little tapes that go into the camcorder with the kids and their friends growing up etc. etc. My youngest daughter wants to give her friends some copies on DVD for Christmas and I'm struggling with the technology !! So, ideally I'd like to be able to copy directly from the camcorder to the hard drive of the DVD ( in somewhat the same way that I can on my digital video camera via DV input), review and edit accordingly before burning onto a disc. I tried running the camcorder into the VCR and scarting the VCR to the DVD and scarting the DVD to the TV. Although I had the tapes running perfectly on the TV I couldn't locate a correct AV source from the DVD remote in order to start recording, furthermore, everytime I tried playing around with channel selection and eventually returned to '0' on the TV remote (which is the channel it's tuned to) the camcorder had lost its 'tune' and I had to start turning that tuning screw thing with a little screwdriver to get the picture back....very frustrating !!!

If this can't be done, does anyone know if I tape from the camcorder to a VHS cassette (old style) can I then run the VCR and record onto the hard drive from that source ?

I hope I'm being reasonably clear....If there's any other info required let me know ?

Thanks,

r2d2

Here's a link to a site that I think might answer your questions.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvanalog

Basically you have two options
1. Buy an analog video capture card
2. Run the analog signal through a digital camcorder and convert the signal into a digital format.

Both ways are fairly involved.

go to PC world and buy a dongle like Dazzle for €60-€90, via your laptop that has a DVD recorder.
Make sure your Camcorder has line-out.

Is it a DVD recorder with the built in Hard drive you have?
What model is it?
Perhaps something like this adaptor will work:
[broken link removed]
You should be able to pick it up cheaper than STG£8.
I take it you have composite output from the camcorder, i.e. 3 cables red white and yellow?

Machiavelli said:

Is it a DVD recorder with the built in Hard drive you have?
Yes

What model is it?
LG (Not sure of the model off the top of my head though)

Perhaps something like this adaptor will work:
[broken link removed]
You should be able to pick it up cheaper than STG£8.

I take it you have composite output from the camcorder, i.e. 3 cables red white and yellow?

Yep, it's a three pronged one at the camera end and a normal RF (I think it's called) at the VCR end

Click to expand...

I'll open this link now and continue my urgent education.......Thanks !