how to capture videos from handycam?
For me, it was very difficult for me to transfer the video from handycam to my laptop, as I lost the cd given with the handycam.
My search starts with the capturing software. The best I found is virtualdub. This software can be downloaded form here. http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net. VirtualDub is an open source software, and there is no need to install anthing. Just unzip it in one directory and run VirtualDub.exe file. There are many versions of VirtualDub software, but I found the basic one usefull.
When I try to transfer the video from this software, I found that I do not have drivers. Fortunately most of the companys give their drivers freely on their site. So I also downloaded the driver for my Sony Handycam model from this site http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/select-system.pl.
Great, I was ready to transfer the video, and when I did it I found out another problem. There was lag between audio and video, and as the capture proceeds, the lag goes on increasing, upto 20 seconds. I tried changing lot of settings on vitualdub, but didnt get what I want. Finally, I concluded that, the lag is because, audio and video data are transferred over same USB line, which makes lots of video frames to drop. At the same time, I observed that transferring the video in little parts, of 1 minute or two minute, gives good video with unrecognisable lag.
Then, I think what if I can transfer the video and audio separately. To do this, in VirtualDub, I change the settings, so that audio will not get captured, and video will be captured at 30.00 frames per second. I go the video, and save it as an .avi (divx format, go to http://www.free-codecs.com/) file.
Now the problem was how to capture audio, without capturing video. I tried capturing audio, directly from the speakers of the handycam, using a mike. And surprisingly it works. I use audacity software (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/latest/audacity-win/audacity-win-1.2.4b.exe) which is again freely available and I find very usefull for all audio operations. To export the file in mp3 format you need separate plugins. (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3)
Now another problem, of how to join them. As per I know, there are some softwares frely available to allow this. I use the Windows Movie Maker software (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx), which comes free with the windows XP cd, and is downloaded along with the OS. Operating this software is really very easy. Just after playing for half an hour with it, I was able to combine both my video and audio in to a single video, without any lag or any glitch.
Offcourse, the process takes a lot time and time and efforts, but at the end the results are good. Watch my other video Happy Diwali and you will find out.
My search starts with the capturing software. The best I found is virtualdub. This software can be downloaded form here. http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net. VirtualDub is an open source software, and there is no need to install anthing. Just unzip it in one directory and run VirtualDub.exe file. There are many versions of VirtualDub software, but I found the basic one usefull.
When I try to transfer the video from this software, I found that I do not have drivers. Fortunately most of the companys give their drivers freely on their site. So I also downloaded the driver for my Sony Handycam model from this site http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/select-system.pl.
Great, I was ready to transfer the video, and when I did it I found out another problem. There was lag between audio and video, and as the capture proceeds, the lag goes on increasing, upto 20 seconds. I tried changing lot of settings on vitualdub, but didnt get what I want. Finally, I concluded that, the lag is because, audio and video data are transferred over same USB line, which makes lots of video frames to drop. At the same time, I observed that transferring the video in little parts, of 1 minute or two minute, gives good video with unrecognisable lag.
Then, I think what if I can transfer the video and audio separately. To do this, in VirtualDub, I change the settings, so that audio will not get captured, and video will be captured at 30.00 frames per second. I go the video, and save it as an .avi (divx format, go to http://www.free-codecs.com/) file.
Now the problem was how to capture audio, without capturing video. I tried capturing audio, directly from the speakers of the handycam, using a mike. And surprisingly it works. I use audacity software (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/latest/audacity-win/audacity-win-1.2.4b.exe) which is again freely available and I find very usefull for all audio operations. To export the file in mp3 format you need separate plugins. (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3)
Now another problem, of how to join them. As per I know, there are some softwares frely available to allow this. I use the Windows Movie Maker software (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx), which comes free with the windows XP cd, and is downloaded along with the OS. Operating this software is really very easy. Just after playing for half an hour with it, I was able to combine both my video and audio in to a single video, without any lag or any glitch.
Offcourse, the process takes a lot time and time and efforts, but at the end the results are good. Watch my other video Happy Diwali and you will find out.
posted by manoj at
9:02 AM
|
0 comments
