Canopus ADVC300 Advanced Digital Video Converter
AMAZING Piece of Hardware
I am writing this for all the poor slobs and slobets like me trying to figure out which way to go on converting their old movies.  <br /> <br />Before I get into this deeper, if you have some of the older Sony digital8 cameras some have a pass through function. I bought one for 150 on ebay. Sony TRV530.   <br /> <br />With it you can put VCR on one side and iLink to your computer. It will convert quite nicely. <br /> <br />I have tried MANY different conversion and editing avenues, some wrecking my computer.  <br /> <br />Pain has taught me, that I STRONGLY recommend against internal capture cards and against anything Pinnacle. I have a nightmare with them. I bought all the high end stuff they had to offer and feel so strongly will not even try to resell to anyone. <br />. <br />NOW after all that the Canopus ADVC 300 is awesome. Not only can you simply convert analog to digital you can actually manipulate the signal going in! I use Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 and it is great, thought fairly intimidating at first.  <br /> <br />The combo of these two has allowed me to do massive amounts of video conversions of my many family movies. <br /> <br />You need a fairly fast computer with LOTS of available hard drive space.  There are many good forums about the Canopus ADVC 300. Good luck and know many have gone before you..grin... <br />