importing Movies

S

shoppercharlie

Registered
Can I import movies from a video camera PLAYING at "fast forward" and then ""slow down" the files later?
(I'm able to use 45/78 rpm when importing music and then change afterward.)

I have an old collection of tapes hat will take "forever?" if I must use 1:1 timing.

Thanks for any guidance.

Charlie
 
As far as I know, there is no way to do this, at least, not with consumer equipment. The exception would be if these tapes were in some sort of digital format, but it looks like they're not. What kind of tapes are these?
 
Some old ones are VHS but some are from a Sony camcorder. The camcorder can be used as a "pass thru" analog to digital format converter. I've not yet tried the "PLAY in fast forward" tactic as yet.
 
There isn't really a fast-transfer method for VHS that will work. The VHS mechanism relies on a spinning, angled head that lays the video tracks in a series of diagonal lines across the surface of the tape. That is why when you fast-forward, it looks so vague and weird - your player is only picking up on every third or fourth bit of video. So if you were to try and transfer from VHS at fast forward speed and slow it down, you'd end up with really awful video quality.

Likewise, VHS has two audio tracks. A monophonic, low quality track that runs along the tape's edge (which most cheap video players use) and a higher quality "Hi-Fi" stereo track that runs parallel to the video signals, striped diagonally across the tape. When a Hi-Fi VCR is fast forwarding or rewinding, any audio it plays will come from the low-quality track (or, in most cases, it won't play audio at all).
 
Thanks. Guess it's 1:1 and many hours of play-thru. Better yet, I'll have to be more "selective" with which tapes make the trip.
Thanks again.
Stay well.

Charlie
 
There are many companies that will transfer video for you, but it can be expensive ($5+ per tape). Still, if you're transfering 35mm film, you'd save on buying equipment.
 
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