Outputting to vhs tape using dv camera

[dweller]

hey guys whats up. Im going to do a demo reel soon, and was told a dv camera could be used to transfer my quicktime and windows media player files to vhs tape. How does this work, or what else might i need, because i do not understand how files at 640x480 will play smoothly or even fit on my pc once I have all of them loaded in. If anyone has done this before and can put me at ease before spending 500 bucks on a "cheap" camera i would appriciate it. thanks alot.

[mnhan32]

If you have an IEEE1394 card in your machine you can simply output to the DV Cam in programs like Premiere by going File - Timeline - Output to Video. It can even control your camera (recording, stopping, etc). So then once you have your master copy you can just dub that to VHS through your VCR.

I've done it back and forth on my Dual P3 450mhz machine and I've never lost any frames unless I've gone over 10 minutes which reels shouldn't be longer then 3 so that shouldn't be an issue for ya.

[idagrove]

You're going to buy a DV camera just for this purpose? Perhaps you should look into a PCI card with S-Video or RCA I/O. Or an external AD/DA converter. Sony makes a nice one for ~$300. There are lots of options.

[gmask]

If you don't allready own or have access to a DV video camera your best bet is to buy a cheap NTSC composite video card. http://www.pinnaclesys.com makes alot of good cards

[bobed]

I've had the same issue. And like others have said, buying a DV camera just for that seems a bit expensive since you'd need to also by a card to connect the cam to your PC if you don't have one. I agree with gmask -- you usually can't go wrong with a pinnacle card. You can get an analog capture card from them for $150 or less with software to allow you to export your movies. You can hook your VCR right up to that. Make sure you don't just get a TV-out card cause you'd prolly havta play it full screen and if you're resolution isn't high enough, you'd lose major quality.

Make sure you got a fast enough hard drive, too. Won't export if your HD can't keep up.

Good luck,
-c

P.S. You said the files won't fit once they're loaded in? What did you mean by that? Cause if you can't fit them on your pc, none of the solutions would really work anyway.

[tommie]

Make sure your DV camera has pass-through function.
With a 50$ firewire card, is a simple way to send the signal on an VHS deck.
Ovidiu