[pregalla]

Hello!

My father yesterday bought a Mac mini.
Now he wants to convert all his VHS videotapes to DVD via iMovie.

I saw a Canopus ADVC55 video converter, but it is too expensive to convert some tapes and the using it very occasionaly.

Is there any other video converter (Mac and iMovie compatible)?
More affordable, of course...
How does it perform? Reliable?

Thank you very, very much!

Pedro Regalla

[Diggory Laycock]

Use a DV camera with passthrough.

[pregalla]

Diggory,

Thanks for your fast repply!
Unfortunately, My own Dv camera does not have signal inputs, only outputs (FireWire, USB, S-Video).

Unfortunately, this has to be accomplished through an external analog to DV converter.
So... excluding expensive ones...
Anyone with a good advice on reliable brands and models?

Thanks!

Pedro

[osiris]

I've been using a Sony DVMC-DA1 Media Converter for years.
It has RCA I/O, Firewire and S-Video. You might be able to find a used one on Ebay for $100 or so.

Another solution may be a USB adapter, these are a lot cheaper but I'm not sure of the quality.
www.usbgear.com has them for $50.00

[pregalla]

Thanks for the answers and for your time!

Are there more suggestions?
Are there any Mac mini users using Pinnacle, Dazzle, or any other brands?

We just need an analogue to DV (FireWire) video converter compatible with the Mac mini and iMovie.
Anybody else using the mini for this job?
More suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Pedro

[Brian McHale]

I'm using an old Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge, which I believe has been discontinued. It works great with iMovie, doesn't even need any drivers. It cost me something like $250 a couple of years ago. I would assume any similar device would work just fine. I remember reading a review of several of these years ago in MacWorld, which included the Dazzle unit I bought plus a Formac unit and a Sony unit (might have been one more). My memory tells me that all performed fairly well.

[Chito]

I use a Canopus ADVC-100. It works like a charm and cost me $249 a year ago. I've been doing video conversion for people I work with and it's paid for itself a few times over, and I've had fun doing it.