A few years ago I remember a device known as "Snappy" advertised, which would capture stills from your videos. Did any of you guys or gals ever use one? Were the results any good? Is there a new improved one or better competitive device on the market? I have miles of videotape that I would love to get some stills from. Thanks.
There are a myriad of products out on the market now that will allow you to capture video and stills onto your computer. Although pro systems can cost upwards of $2000, a very capable system for personal use would could be had for under $300. Most products revolve around a card that goes in the computer and provides the necessary hook up for analog or digital camcorders. Some devices can be hooked up through the USB port on your computer and no major PC surgery is required. I know B&H Photo has a lot of different systems available and that'd probably be the best place to research it. B&H Photo and Video
I've had the 'Snappy' device for many years. I bought the first one plus the latest upgrade. I still have it hooked up but my digital camera has taken over it's use. Sorry to say the company (Play Inc) www.play.com stopped supporting or selling the device. Before scanners, digital cameras and USB ports the Snappy device was the only cheep source of downloading photos shots from video cams. I found no problem with it and used it to record all my Web page railroad and travel pictures. A interface device attached easily to the PC parallel port (inline with printer). Accepted input from the video cam or TV. If you could find one somewhere, I'm sure it would be a good find and would work on most versions of Windows. ....Eddie
Thanks Brian and Eddie. Darn, I was afraid that it was no longer produced or supported. Eddie, are ALL the photos on your travels on the webpage from the Snappy? If so, I'm impressed with the quality. I have a lot of older video with steam that I would like to "freeze-frame." Maybe can find one on ebay, eh?
Fitz, Most of the vacation pictures were downloaded off my video cam using 'Snappy' VCR playback or were photos viewed and downloaded using the video cam in live mode attached to 'Snappy'. I used it as a scanner and digital camera in the days before these devices became common. Quality was not as good as today's digital cameras but there wasn't anything back then to use. As you mentioned ...... thousands of photo shots are recorded on VHS or video cam tape. I would like to find the time to look through all my video tapes and record the best frame shots. Version 3.0 of Snappy had a multi frame option which allowed you to pick the one to download and also a mini-movie option. There must be some old 'Snappy's out there somewhere? I still have one and plan to use it again. ...Eddie
Eddie, I bid on a couple at Ebay today, and they are going for about $26.00. Hope I can snag one. They are advertising version 4.0 or better.
Fitz, Goodluck on E-bay find. Sounds like a great buy for $26.00. My upgrade to ver 3.0 cost me $39.00. I had a problem running the software when I changed my PC to Window ME. I have a 'patch' to make ver 3.0 run on ME. If you have any problem just E-mail me and maybe I can help. No problem with Windows 95 or 98. Printer parallel port must be set to accept 'input' as well as the printer output. This is usually not a problem but fixable in Bios setup. ...Eddie
I got my snappy with the last version of the software for $5 plus S&H on Half.com! The Snappy is pretty cool, very easy to use, and the quality of the scans is pretty good. Here is a low res scan: The hardest part of the process is guessing the delay between the mouse click and the actual scan...
Ed, you just burst my bubble. I "won" the last one I bid on for $30. No matter, I made up my mind that I had to have one. That's a good quality image you put up there. 3751 enroute to Railfair '99? Eddie, I am using Win ME so may contact you if the software doesn't work the first time. You guys know I have posted jillions of photos. If I learn how to make this baby work, you're in for a real deluge. Looking forward to receiving it.
Yo, Eddie D. and Ed H. The machine arrived today. I haven't started messing with installation yet, but wanted to ask you guys if you tried to install it say on the output plug of a flatbed scanner attached to your parallel port? The seller said it likes to be plugged in by it's lonesome to the parallel port (I only have one). Thanks.
Fitz, Snappy device can be plugged into the output port of the scanner. In fact my is plugged into the output port of a 8mm Tape backup drive which is then plugged into the back of the scanner which is then plugged into the computer port. Prior to scanner I had it plugged into the printer output port. Of course it has to be always the last device on the daisy chained line. I use to time the mouse click with frame by holding down on the mouse key (snap button lights up) and then let go when I see the shot I want. Reduces some of the delay on the 'snap'. Another thing which helped the timing was to watch the Cam Video display window and not the computer display window. There is some delay in display the image to the screen. Also did alot of Cam video rewind and guess work on forward play to catch the fast frames. My biggest problem was getting the Cam video in focus when taking closeup model pictures. Snappy shots would always tell me I was a little out of focus or too dark. Another method of attaching Snappy device to parallel port is to use a 'A-B' switch inline connected to your computer port. Then put printer or scanner on 'A' or 'B' port and Snappy on the other. Then one port can run either device with the change of the 'A - B' switch. RadioShack sells the A-B switch and I've used one before with no problem. I believe this was a Snappy capture of video during my trip to Grand Canyon. Just South West of Four Corners area. ...Eddie [ 02 February 2002, 05:47: Message edited by: eddelozier ]
Eddie, thanks for the info, man. I hooked it up and loaded the software tonight, disconnected everything off the parallel port and have been playing away. This thing is great. I wish I had better video equipment, now, after trying to catch some of what I thought were highlights on video--well, they were, but you don't get the whole scene in one freeze-frame. I know I'm gonna have fun with it. I'll post one of my first tries (without reading the manual of course!)
Fitz, Happy to hear the Snappy is working for you. You have made me start thinking about some of the old video that I have made over the years. I may review them and try some Snappy shots myself. You will also find that other video software will accept the Snappy import recordings. I have Windows Movie Maker and it likes the Snappy as a recording input device. Does automatic clips in motion, etc. Goodluck. ..Eddie
Fitz. About a year ago while on the railroad.net photography forum. I asked Ken Whitehead a professional photographer about using frames from videos. And he told me that you can get a shot of something you like but you canot get Portrait quality which is obvious from the two nice pics on here.Check out Kens pics sometime I consider him one of Americas Greatest Railroad Concist photographers. If it isn't perfect you will never see it.
Art, thanks. I will check out Ken's site. The nice thing about these stills from video is that the resolution is good enough for the internet or any other media that you use a TV monitor for viewing. The only reason you would need higher resolution is for printing them. I have so many train episodes on video tape, and no stills, that this thing is going to be very useful to me.
