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[tlongacre]

Actually, I have two questions, because I think (unfortunately) that I may need two different things:

1.  I have some old cassette tapes that I would like to "rip" into MC. I have a tape deck as part of my home stereo, what do I need on/in my PC in order to do this? I assume I need some kind of card/device to translate the analog tapes into digital format. Is this something that MC can handle software-wise?

2.  Same sort of question for VHS tapes. What do I need to "rip" VHS tapes onto my HDD? I have software that will let me then convert that to DVD.

I'd like to know the generic names for what I need, and if you have specific brand recommendations, I'm open.

Thanks.

[JimH]

The Line In Recorder in MC can do cassettes.  There is a FAQ here somewhere.  You can find the tool under tools/advanced tools.  

[tlongacre]

Great. So that means I just need some piece of hardware, yes?

[Zarius]

You just need a sound card and an appropriate cable.  The cable you need just has two standard headphone jacks (plugs) at either end.  You plug one end into the tape players headphones socket (or 'line out' if it has one) and the other end into the PC's soundcard's 'Line In' socket.  Then use MC's line-in recorder or any recording software.

As for VHS... you will need a special 'Video Capture Card' in order to capture it properly.  Some new video cards have a 'TV In' socket, but I've heard this 'drops frames' (basically this means you wont neccessarily get the same quality as the original VHS)... I haven't had any experience with this yet... but hopefully someone else can recommend a good card... I'm looking to convert my VHS tapes to PC too and catalog them with MC :)  (especially since my family has some old 'Super 8' [really old video recorder] footage on VHS I want to play around with)

[tlongacre]

Oh, duh , so my sound card will already do the conversion for audiotapes. Why didn't that ever sink in before? Geez. And, by your description, I can use my boombox, which has a headphone plug. That's way more convenient that disassembling the darn stereo to get the cassette player out of the middle. Thanks!

So all I need is a video capture card. Does anyone have a recommendation. I looked one time at CompUSA and got quite a headache just trying to decipher what the many different cards said they did. There seems to be a huge price range. All that tells me is that maybe they don't all do what I want.

[Nolonemo]

dont' use the boombox, use the component deck, it almost certainly has better frequency response so you'll get better sound into the PC.

 For advice on video capture cards check out dvdhelp.com, very active and helpful forum there.  My personal recommendation, though is to use a digital camcorder that has analog passthrough and use the camcorder to capture, (analog video from source into camcorder, firewire out of camcorder into PC).  This will eliminate the dropped frames that plague card captures.  Remember you need about 13GB of HD space for every hour of video.

[samarah88]

I am currently doing the same. I have ripped all of my CD collections and now I am working on the cassettes,  with LPs, and (believe it or not) 45s yet to come.

Some time ago, I purchased a standalone Philips Audio CD Recorder. This is hooked into my home stereo system, along with my cassette deck, and turntable. I can set the CD recorder to record from an external source and use Audio CD-RWs. I then rip the CD into Media Center. It does add an extra step but I think I get better sound quality this way.

[tlongacre]

dont' use the boombox, use the component deck, it almost certainly has better frequency response so you'll get better sound into the PC.

 For advice on video capture cards check out dvdhelp.com, very active and helpful forum there.  My personal recommendation, though is to use a digital camcorder that has analog passthrough and use the camcorder to capture, (analog video from source into camcorder, firewire out of camcorder into PC).  This will eliminate the dropped frames that plague card captures.  Remember you need about 13GB of HD space for every hour of video.

Huh. Well that is an interesting, if somewhat complicated, solution. I'll have to look and see if my camcorder has analoge passthrough. This approach would save me having to buy a card.

If I have the ability to record OUT to analogue from the camcorder (this I know I do have), does that automatically mean I can record in?

Do you actually record onto a tape in the camcorder and then from there into the PC? Or is there some way to avoid the tape?

[tlongacre]

I am currently doing the same. I have ripped all of my CD collections and now I am working on the cassettes,  with LPs, and (believe it or not) 45s yet to come.

Some time ago, I purchased a standalone Philips Audio CD Recorder. This is hooked into my home stereo system, along with my cassette deck, and turntable. I can set the CD recorder to record from an external source and use Audio CD-RWs. I then rip the CD into Media Center. It does add an extra step but I think I get better sound quality this way.

Well, I don't have that many cassettes -- only a few that I could never get on CD. And since most of them were recorded in remote places like Africa and Burma, the quailty is pretty awful anyway. It's just completely irreplaceable.

[Nolonemo]

Huh. Well that is an interesting, if somewhat complicated, solution. I'll have to look and see if my camcorder has analoge passthrough. This approach would save me having to buy a card.

If I have the ability to record OUT to analogue from the camcorder (this I know I do have), does that automatically mean I can record in?

Do you actually record onto a tape in the camcorder and then from there into the PC? Or is there some way to avoid the tape?

A lot less complicated than using a capture card, trust me.  An analog passthrough enabled dv cam will have 3 things:  analog in; firewire out; passthrough capability (a lot of PAL cams have this feature disabled).   On my camera (Sony TRV-18) you don't need to record to tape, the signal just passes through the camera in real time.  If you have analog in, you should be able to record to DV tape, I assume that every DV cam has firewire out these days, but don't know for sure.

[tlongacre]

Yes, I have firewire out. If I don't need to use a tape, this could be the perfect solution. Now, where did I leave that camcorder. . .?

[Nolonemo]

Even if you do need to use a tape, that would only double your capture time (real time to tape, then real time into PC).  Because the transfer from tape to PC is in DV format, there is no generation loss as there would be with multiple analog transfers.

Because you said you can make DVDs on your PC, I assume you have some sort of video editing software.  Most of these contain a capture function.  Otherwise you can capture using software from www. scenalyzer.com.  I they have a free (not trial) version of their capture software on  their download page that might capture (not sure).  Their main product is outstanding, BTW.