Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!ub!oswego!news
From: ostroff@Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: digitizing with a video camera
Message-ID: <1990Aug29.155645.2895@oswego.Oswego.EDU>
Date: 29 Aug 90 15:56:45 GMT
References: <5368@ptsfa.PacBell.COM>
Reply-To: ostroff@oswego.Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff)
Organization: Instructional Computing Center, SUNY at Oswego, Oswego, NY
Lines: 32

In article <5368@ptsfa.PacBell.COM> rkm@PacBell.COM (Richard Mossman) writes:
>In article <1990Aug24.215738.10525@midway.uchicago.edu> lrm3@ellis.uchicago.edu (Lawrence Reed Miller) writes:
>
>From my readings on rec.video, I would tend to believe that the reason you
>get low resolution scans from a paused VCR is because you and your scanner
>are only seeing a single field and not a full frame (2 fields = 1 frame).  

I have had very good results with a MacVision and a paused VCR.  I have
a cheap, garden-variety ($250) Magnavox 4-head VCR.  I've found that if
the image on the TV screen looks steady, it will digitize ok.  The extra
heads in the 4-head VCRs are for slow motion & pause.

Both fields are digitized in my case.  The MacVision software allows you
to swap their positions to see which looks better.  The digitized images
are not as sharp as a photograph scanned on a flatbed scanner, but have
more of a "painted" soft quality.  When displayed on a 256 grey-level
monitor, people usually stop, look and say "wow!" in my experience :-)
The software also does PostScript halftones on the LaserWriter which
aren't bad.

>I would also like to know what you mean by "digital VCR".  I didn't know these
>existed.  What manufacturer?  Model?  Is it performing a digital recording of
>both video and audio?

I think others have responded to this.  A "digital" VCR just means that it
has a frame buffer which is used to freeze the image; there is no digital
recording taking place.  They seem to be overpriced too - I'd say to go
with a cheap 4-head model, as they seem to be pretty readily available.

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