Hi-8 to Digital convert

[stevster]

I have a Hi-8 cam and want to convert the video to digital to store on my H/D.Is there a cheap way of doin this.Thanks

 

[OVERKILL]

ttt as i'm interested in this as well.
Meanwhile, google here I come

 

[speedlever]

I have a broken Hi-8 camcorder and also need a way to view/move the tapes to DVD. I need to research digicamcorders too.

 

[Tom]

Digital-8 camcorders can do this on the fly, but I don't know how cheap they are unless you can borrow one.

 

[videopho]

I have used this Sony Trv-480 that works fairly well for me. It's backward compatible to both analog or digital hi8. It also uses memory stick for taking still pictures or video. I have used it for converting all of my aged old analog 8mm tapes to DVD. Believe or not the restored pictures look somewhat better than originals thanks to digital age! Still picts on the memory stick is pretty svcky anyway (2meg pixel)
EDITED: It comes with ieee 488-Firewire so the conversion from tape to digital mpeg2 is very straightforward and reliable. I also used window movie maker for the conversion.

Avermedia EZ-DVD maker is good for those who still have analog 8mm camcorder.

 

[stevster]

Thanks Videopho for the advice on the avertech site for converting analog video to digital

 

[gsellis]

Yes, if you have another digital camera, it may allow pass-through conversion to digital. That may be setting in the camera menu.

I deal with the uncheap end, so not too much help. Kworld has some really cheap stuff at Newegg, etc. I have a All-In-Wonder, which works OK. BUT, you can get packages that include a PCI card, Pinnacle, for as low as $99 including the editing and author software.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: gsellis
Yes, if you have another digital camera, it may allow pass-through conversion to digital. That may be setting in the camera menu.

I deal with the uncheap end, so not too much help. Kworld has some really cheap stuff at Newegg, etc. I have a All-In-Wonder, which works OK. BUT, you can get packages that include a PCI card, Pinnacle, for as low as $99 including the editing and author software.

Pinnacle software is the biggest POS you can lay your hands on. Search around the net if you don't believe this ex-user.

 

[sep]

I?m using my Sony HC-42 with IEEE passthrough technology to convert my analog media to digital (disk or dvd). If your camcorder doesn?t have passthrough then I recommend you use a device with hardware compression (not software). You can get a device for about $65 buck or higher.

I?ve been using Sonic My DVD Deluxe and it? works great for home projects. Pinnacle 9.x works good, but 10 crashes all the time.

-JC

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: gsellis
Yes, if you have another digital camera, it may allow pass-through conversion to digital. That may be setting in the camera menu.

I deal with the uncheap end, so not too much help. Kworld has some really cheap stuff at Newegg, etc. I have a All-In-Wonder, which works OK. BUT, you can get packages that include a PCI card, Pinnacle, for as low as $99 including the editing and author software.

Pinnacle software is the biggest POS you can lay your hands on. Search around the net if you don't believe this ex-user.

Not really. With any Pinnacle software, anything ending in .0 will have bugs. V10 has a new bug fix which clears it up. Version 9.x (9.4?) was very stable. Version 8.0 sucked, but version 8.1+ was good.

I have used Magix, Ulead, Pinnacle, and Sonic. All had bugs or could not do something without a workaround. I have tried Adobe. But now with the Avid buyout, my software has been rebranded as Avid.

Edit - I know of no software that will stress a system harder than a video editor. It will bring out the weak links in a system faster than anything else.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Screw Pinnacle and theyr buggy, spyware-infested crap.

I've only good experiences with a piece of hardware called ADS Instant DVD 2.0... the hardware encoding is comparable with set-top recorders, and you have much more flexibility in tweaking the image.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
Screw Pinnacle and theyr buggy, spyware-infested crap.

I've only good experiences with a piece of hardware called ADS Instant DVD 2.0... the hardware encoding is comparable with set-top recorders, and you have much more flexibility in tweaking the image.

There is no spyware in Studio. There is a component that checks registration (Hollywood FX). There is another component that does not work if there is a port blocked, but that is not evidence of spyware.

 

[Fis]

I have used every version of Pinnacle Studio since 1.4. I would agree that the x.0 releases are always buggy, but otherwise I am a fan. Video capturing and rendering will stress any system and should not even be tried if you aren't comfortable micro-managing your system resources. It's not for amateurs.

Cheapest way to capture analog is definitely to use a digital camcorder with A/V in and pass-through capability.

The original question was how to store on HD. My advice: hard drives are the worst place to store/archive video. DV quality video will take up 13GB of HD space for each hour of footage, and hard drives do fail. Use your hard drives for temporary capture and editing. Tape is still the best medium for "permanent" storage.

 

[Jojo1971]

i have converted my old Hi8 and miniDV tapes into DVDs by using this dvd recorder.

setting up was very easy: i used firewire cable for minidvd -->dvd recorder and regular RCA cable for hi8-->dvd recorder... the picture quality of the final DVD is almost if not equal to that of the original tapes.... editing is limited with this kinds of setup though...

if you want to do alot of editing, i think you'll be better off using a PC...use a firewire cable for minidvd -->PC and for Hi8--> PC, you got to use a capture card... you got to use a fast PC with lots of ram, good capture card, good software etc... there's alot of factors in this kind setup that can degrade the quality of the final DVD...

if you just want to archive and preserve your "old memories" into DVD format and don't want to be bothered with editing and time-consuming process, i would suggest going the camcorder--> DVD recorder way...

 

[Jojo1971]

The original question was how to store on HD. My advice: hard drives are the worst place to store/archive video. DV quality video will take up 13GB of HD space for each hour of footage, and hard drives do fail. Use your hard drives for temporary capture and editing. Tape is still the best medium for "permanent" storage.

i store my homemade movies in DVD-Rs and my harddrives.. i would rip the final dvd into my hardrive and compress the files using "dvdShrink".. each ripped movie occupies a maximum of about 4.6 gb harddrives space... im not so afraid of harddrive failure because i always make sure my important files are copied in at LEAST 3 hardrives...one of those hardrives is only powered on when i have to backup important files.. i also made alot of copies in DVD-Rs and kept those copies in my brother's and close friend's houses... ( just in of fire/calamities... ).... i do the same thing with my digital photos/ scanned old photos etc...

 

[Madellga]

Back in 2004 I tried to capture and edit my D8 tapes (Sony TRV520) using the PC through firewire port. The capture itself was not a problem, but whenever I touched the gigantic 20Gb file, the quality was greatly reduced. Not to forget also the long hours the computer needed to encode it (I bought a P4 to do that).

I tried all types of software, including Adobe Premiere. No business. I returned everything (software, hardware) and bought a DVDR77 from Philips. Plugged the camera on it through firewire and could have a DVD done every hour.

Since then, I upgrade to a Pioneer 430H. The hard disk allows some editing and putting together different clips.

Yes, it is not sofisticated and flexible as a computer software, but it is much easier, faster and cheaper. The quality is the same as the tape.

Don't waste your time with the PC. Buy a Pioneer 430H or any similar recorder. You get also an useful device for the living room.

 

[gsellis]

Madellga, what you got was a poor DV-AVI -> ? -> MPEG-2 transition. If you recorded onto your PC with MPEG using the older editors, you would lose a lot of quality. Your DVD Recorder probably did 6000 to 8500 kbps CBR, which is really good and hard to beat for quality. I can just bet it with 2 pass 8500kbps VBR (no low peak) and if I had a spare $2k sitting around, spank it with 5 pass VBR (your P4 would beg for mercy.)

It boils down to what you want for the end product. If you edit it, you can cut to "toe cam" and "sky cam" out and sync the pieces. You can point in motion menus, custom menus, synched soundtrack, etc. But, it takes work. Expectations are everything.