Dec 26
Richard was asking, on today’s show, how to convert video from 8mm film to a digital version he could work with on his Mac.
I had been asked this a few weeks ago by a client of mine. Here’s what I found:
If you’re in the Madison area, “The Camera Company” can do this for you. A friend of a friend had good things to say about a company called “Dig My Pics“.
Otherwise, some hits that Google turned up:
Once you have the film converted to digital, you can work with it in iMovie on your Mac, massage it into something you like, then burn it using iDVD and inflict send it to all your relatives and friends.
Dec 26
Shawn was asking today about how to work with .avi files that his new video camera created on his Mac. As it turns out, this is a more complicated question than it should be.
AVI files are essentially a Microsoft format for video that was supposed to compete with QuickTime. Eventually MS gave up on it and moved to Windows Media Player. Not too many devices still use AVI, as it’s generally considered a poor format for video and audio.
Here’s a page that has a number of helpful tips on how to work with these files. You may have to try a couple different options, as there’s more than one type of AVI.
Jun 18
Don had called up wondering what the best way to get video from his VHS tapes to his computer so he could burn them to DVD. I had mentioned a product called a “Digital to Analog Converter”, or a “DAC” for short. I had mentioned Sony as one possible place to check.
The fine audience of WPR has another suggestion. Charles mentioned that he uses a Canopus ADVC-110 with good results, even for converting old audio tapes. He says you can get find them on eBay for about $200. Now that he mentions it, I believe that one of my clients uses this manufacturer as well.
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