On 5/11/2012 6:44 AM, John Grabowski wrote:

On 5/10/2012 12:12 PM, wrote:
I bought an older camcorder at a garage sale, for $3. Aside from having
a weak battery, it appears to work fine when plugged in directly to the
power unit. But it needs these small VHS tapes, which I think are
called VHS-C (according to a website). It seems that no local stores
sell these tapes anymore. Anyone know where to buy them? (Dont suggest
ebay, I do my best to avoid ebay after getting far too many defective
items and getting kicked in the ass with outrageous shipping prices).

This camcorder was made in 1998, so it's not that old. The plan is to
record to tape, then transfer the video to my computer for digital
saving. That way I really only need one or two tapes.

Pretty bad idea. You could probably pick up an old Mini-DV camcorder for
the same price, or free on Freecycle, and it uses IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
to transfer directly to the computer. Far better video quality, and none
of the problems with converting analog to digital.

Of course even something like a Kodak Playsport is only $70,
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004FLL5BI.

Eventually I'll probably find a free or cheap digital camcorder, but
this one will work for now.
(What the heck is IEEE 1394 (Firewire) )?
I've heard of firewire, but dont you need a special computer for that?
I only have USB ports.


*To download analog video onto your hard drive you will need an internal
video capture card in your computer or a USB external video capture
device. A firewire port enables digital video to be downloaded directly
into the computer. You will also need a large hard drive to store the
video files as they can be quite big, but you can purchase an external
hard drive for that.

I seem to recall seeing a HD digital camcorder at Costco in the $200.00
- $300.00 price range.

VHS is the lowest quality video format.
Actually, I picked up a JVC Picsio camera new for about $70!. I does
stills and HD videos. It plugs directly into the USB (2.0) port on the
computer. Here' 2 short examples that I shot using it:
https://vimeo.com/31660779 and https://vimeo.com/34620648. It amazes me
what it can do. And it can slip into you shirt pocket easily. Yes,
it's not a true camcorder with an optical zoom lens, but it was only $70
and soooooo convenient. But be aware that if you computer doesn't have
enough horsepower, the video will probably stutter. That happens with
my older XP laptop, but not with a newer dual core Windows 7 machine.