I've been looking for an application or tool that allows me to capture video from an analog source with no timecode information attached to it. Now, the current version of iMovie allows you to make "Magic Movies," and these are great but without timecode information coming in over the FireWire, it does not know when to stop recording. Unfortunately iMovie doesn't seem to support AppleScript, so it looked like my only option was to use UI scripting and iCal to schedule the AppleScripts to stop and start the recordings. Doing a little more internet searching, I came across a free application called Vidi. Vidi allows you schedule recording in advance, or tell your device to capture now. The output files are compatible with iMovie and can be dragged into the media folders of your iMovie projects and work seamlessly. So using Vidi, I can have it capture a section of analog VHS tape and it will stop when I specify it to do so, say at two hours and five minutes.
Now the other cool thing is that you can use it with all kinds of FireWire capture devices like the Formac Studio DV, Studio DV/TV or StudioTVR device which allow you to change the channel, and adjust the video and the picture settings. I do not have any of these devices, and I am using my FireWire camera as a FireWire bridge to capture my analog VHS tapes. So I can't say how well those devices work with this application, but the ability to walk away from the video capture and have it stop when I specify is just what I needed. I might just have to get one of those devices and ditch my Tivo.
I do have one disclaimer. The Vidi capture software uses a process called Vidi server that "silently adds itself to your startup items." Its purpose is to facilitate the recordings, so even when the Vidi application is closed it can record the scheduled recordings with minimal processor usage. I haven't had any problems with it so far, so I haven't felt the need to remove it. The developer does include an AppleScript that will kill the Vidi server process if you feel like it when you are done recording.
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http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070316211151812