On 2 Apr 2003 11:20:08 -0800, jberry@islandnet.com (Jonathan Berry) wrote:

>I have some VHS tapes that contain audio that I want to record to

>computer. I can toss the video, it does not interest me.

>

>I've tried VHS --> Stereo amp --> computer line-in and recording .wav

>via CoolEdit96 and it is maybe OK but not stellar. I don't have a

>very good sound card to do the analogue to digital conversion. Then

>there's electrical noise. I've thought about getting an external

>device (like an Extigy) to do the AD conversion, but it costs money

>and reports are mixed.

>

>However, I do have a Sony TRV730 digital video camera, and if I take

>the digital tape out of the unit, it allows me to pass the VHS input,

>converting it to DV (audio AND video) and out through the firewire

>port. It should be possible to do my audio-only capture this way.

>

>In investigating this NG in google, I read reports that the only

>software which was capable of firewire capturing without a video track

>was Premiere, which I don't have. Is there some utility which will

>capture audio-only via firewire?

>

>How good are the results? I'd probably capture the sound in 16-bit

>(which means MPEG level 2 at 48K), convert to 16-bit WAV, apply

>filters in CoolEdit, and then reconvert to MP3 at 41K or maybe even

>ogg.

Maybe the cheapest/easiest is to get a decent cheap

sound card. VHS-audio-outs->sound-card-ins->WAV-file

(Cool Edit), then do what you want with it... You

don't need the amplifier, and remember to do test

recordings and check the visual wave-form for

sufficient level without clipping (adjust the

Windows mixer levels to set proper levels for

recording).