Digital Commons at Penn State

Capturing (or digitizing) video from a videotape or camcorder requires certain hardware. The type of hardware depends on what type of video the information is coming from. It is easier to capture video from a DV video camera than to capture video from VHS, Hi8, SVHS, Laserdisc, or other video sources. This is because the video stored in a DV camera is already in digital format and has a built-in computer interface. The video stored in the other formats is analog and does not have a built-in computer interface.

All Apple Macintosh computers built since 1998 and many newer PCs come with the hardware necessary to capture video from a DV camera. Capturing from sources other than a DV camera requires purchase of a D/A (digital/analog) media converter or purchase and installation of a video capture card.

When using a video capture card, the quality of video you can capture depends on the specifications of the capture card, the speed of the computer, and the speed of the disk drive.

Importing DV from a DV video camera, media converter, or other DV device requires the use of FireWire (IEEE 1394) cables. FireWire, invented by Apple, is one of the fastest peripheral connection methods ever developed. FireWire also often allows the user to control the playback device (such as a DV video camera) directly from the computer.