VCR to computer question

[Julio]

I have a VHS video tape, that was made from some old 8mm movie tapes. It contains mostly crapola, but there are a few frames of old family members that I would like to capture onto my PC so I could try and improve their quality and print them out like photographs.
What kind of hardware and software would I need to get them from the VCR onto the computer ?

thanks

[emcron]

Just get a TV-in card for about $50 then just hook it up to the VCR like any other tv and you should be all set. The software to capture the images should come with the TV-in card.

[daverme]

HOWEVER ... you will find it impossible to "improve their quality". The very best image quality you will ever get is the original film, and that will beat the **** out of ANY video image quality. Even average film has much, much finer grain than even the best video image, and that's what determines the resolution (image quality_. If you want good photos, take the original film somewhere (you may have to find a professional studio for this) and have prints made from the film.

Except for the very most expensive equipment you can buy, transferring from tape to your hard drive involves image compression, which costs you some image resolution, so you LOSE by moving the image to your PC. Moreover, transferring the film to video does a REAL NUMBER on the image quality so you lose big time there.

If your goal is to fool around, get the capture card and have a ball. BUT, if your goal is good photos, do as I suggested cuz you will get **** from your PC.

BTW, those "enhanced video images" that we see from Mars and Venus that NASA produces are created by highly specialized software that I doubt is even available to thse with very deep pockets, much less grunts like you and me.

Another BTW: I have some Super-8 film shot on Kodachrome-40, the finest film available for a long time and maybe still the best, and I had it transferred to Super-VHS by a professional studio. My goal was to produce a tape to sell from the transferred film but the image quality suffered so badly that I scrapped the project.

[This message has been edited by daverme (edited 03-29-2001).]

[Warthog]

As already stated, use a TV tuner card to record from a VCR.

Warthog