Lois: If I remember correctly (and maybe I don't) it went something like this- Video capture devices allow you to capture both the video and the sound. Both generate very large files; video consuming much more of your resources than sound, however. The video and sound are recorded on different tracks. Still image capture is possible with the "Dazzle" device, as well. With the old computer I was using, the still picture (if there was any movement at all), was not good at all in a still picture. The picture was blurry and had static lines through it. Again, today's computers should make a huge difference in performance. I think a camcorder captures 30 frames (still pictures) per second. Say the resolution is 350 dots horizontal by 280 dots vertical. (I'm guessing at the numbers just for an example.) When the computer reads one of these frames, it has to read each individual dot across each horizontal line to the bottom, reassemble the picture and save it to disk. It has to do this 30 times for each second of video captured. This was about 3 years ago I tried the "Dazzle" device. I just thought someone may have tried it more recently with better results. I'm sure a modern digital camera would give the best results for still pictures. Sam TRPLUS@aol.com wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > I called the audio-visual service I've used in the past to duplicate my VHS > tapes. > > Here's what I was told. They can transfer your VHS tapes to DVD. I didn't ask > what that would cost as there would be many variables (i.e., length of the > VHS tapes, how many would fit on one DVD, and how many copies you'd want of the > DVD). Walmart may even be able to do that for you inexpensively. Would make > wonderful Christmas presents. > > Because VHS has two fields (audio and visual). You can only capture the audio > to a CD (this is what the transcriptionists use to transcribe). > > This particular place I called charges $85/hr to pull still images off of > VHS. They can do about 15-20 images/hr depending on how well organized the > information is that you give them. He explained that if you "zero out the counter" > and then note at what time the pictures appear on the VHS, they can maximize > the process. > > The software I mentioned before "Snappy or Snap It" may have some "motion > jitter or bluriness." I saw a demonstration years ago and although the freeze > frame technology was great, I don't recall seeing a finished snapshot off of the > equipment. The tech I spoke to said they can generally get a better quality > photo than you would get using the software above. > > I hope this information helps some. At least you have some of the industry > terminology to go forward. > > Lois Hetrick Stewart > > ==== MDGARRET Mailing List ==== > Looking for your Garrett County ancestors? Make sure to visit us on the web at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdgarret/index.html