vhs to digital thru vcr and dv camera

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.video (More info?)

I don't have a question. I'm just posting this in case it could help someone
else and save them some of the time I spent learning it.

I have a super vhs vcr (JVC) and a dv camera (jvc-grd72).
I wanted to convert several of our old vhs tapes to digital and burn them to
cd or dvd. All are analog and the quality is not that good.

I followed the step by step procedure in the dv camera book.
It seemed that the only way the capture would work was while it was in
record mode. That is, play the vcr tape and while the camera was recording,
the computer would capture also. I did this for several tapes. I then
discovered that if you just take the tape out of the dv, and switch to play
mode, you can still
capture without recording to dv tape. I had tried to do this with a tape in
the dv camera, and every time I would click on the capture software to
capture (MoviePlus 4 and Pinnacle Studio 9) it would change from the video
that the vcr was playing and try to capture whatever was on the tape in the
dv camera.
It does put the logo on the dv screen for no tape, but the capture will work
without a tape in the dv.
Don't know how it will work on other models, but it could be worth a try.
BTW, this is on a firewire connection.