I am looking for a video capture device that will allow me to capture video from my old Hi 8 player, so that I can transfer all my videos from tape to electronic copies on my PC.

I'd like to keep as much of the quality as possible. What are some good options for doing this?

One other thing I'd like to do is to capture cable shows. Right now, I have only tape devices connected to my cable and would rather just capture directly to my PC hard drive.

Pinnacle Systems Studio MovieBox USB Plus
http://www.msdsite.com/temp/MovieBox.jpg

I have looked at this but don't know if this is at all adequate for copying Hi 8 tapes. What kind of quality would I get with something like this? Or rather, how much quality would I lose? Suggestions for low cost options.

I just picked up an Ads Pryo Av link (557?? the newest model) and it worked like a charm with Avid. after shipping etc it was about $150, svideo, composite and component I/O via firewire. install was as easy as plugging it in.

Looks similar but I don't have firewire on my laptop. Only USB.

thought about that after I posted,but didn't see a preference noted. Not sure about USB devices, sorry.

Moved from HD / HDV to The Long Black Line (all Hi-8 stuff goes here).

No way to capture video over USB unless it's coming from a consumer DVD camcorder. You'll need an analog video input card, or a FireWire card with some way to play Hi-8 over FireWire, from a Digital-8 camcorder or deck, or an A/D converter box from Canopus, etc.

You can get a firewire card cheap...$10-15.

Then pick up a cheap camcorder with pass through, A to D convert, off e-bay.
If you take your time you should have everything you need for less than $100.


Bob T.

Depending on the laptop, he may not be able to install an aftermarket Firewire card. I suspect he can't.

He can if he has a PCMCIA slot, and most laptops do. That's how I got FireWire into mine.

Just did a really quick Google search and turned up a couple out there that use USB, Plextor makes one, as does Ads Tech.... but... they seem to only transcode into Mpeg1, Mpeg2 or Divx.

No way to capture video over USB unless it's coming from a consumer DVD camcorder. This is puzzling as there are many devices that claim to be able to do it.

From Pinnacle re MovieBox Capture DVD-quality video from most analog or digital sources, such as camcorder, TV or VCR; high-definition video editing What do you mean, "not possible"???? I mean, I think I did say something about having hardware like the link to a MovieBox by pinnacle that uses USB. Are you still saying it's not possible using the hardware I was asking about?

BTW, not going to buy a firewire adapter.

BTW, not going to buy a firewire adapter.

I'm curious Michael, why not?
Newegg has PCMCIA firewire cards starting at $20.00....

Bob T.

I'm curious Michael, why not?
Newegg has PCMCIA firewire cards starting at $20.00....Because I don't think it's necessary. I don't want to start buying a lot of add ons to make my laptop better. I think I can get what I need, without going that route. My laptop is about 2 years old and I may replace it soon anyway.

I'm more interested in understanding why someone says it can't be done, at this point. I spoke with Pinnacle today and they said the MovieBox, over USB will do exactly what I need. I'm just wondering what I'm missing if some say it's not possible over USB.

I am looking for a video capture device that will allow me to capture video from my old Hi 8 player, so that I can transfer all my videos from tape to electronic copies on my PC.

I'd like to keep as much of the quality as possible. What are some good options for doing this?

One other thing I'd like to do is to capture cable shows. Right now, I have only tape devices connected to my cable and would rather just capture directly to my PC hard drive.

Pinnacle Systems Studio MovieBox USB Plus
http://www.msdsite.com/temp/MovieBox.jpg

I have looked at this but don't know if this is at all adequate for copying Hi 8 tapes. What kind of quality would I get with something like this? Or rather, how much quality would I lose? Suggestions for low cost options.

Michael - I'd do a little more research first, compare the pinnacle to an ADS and also if you are thinking that level to an All In Wonder (AIW) or Happauge card (which people used to use quite a bit with very good results).

Key to look at is whether / how the card is scaling your video to get to a 720x480 picture (if it does).. you can also bring it in at 360x240, which if it's NTSC, will closely match the resolution of your source (240 lines that is for VHS). There are debates as to wether you are better of capturing at 1/2 D1 (360x240) and leaving it that way or capturing at 720x480 even if the source was not that resoution.

If you had the $$, I'd go for the canopus advc 100 or 110, since they will lock the audio to the video and prevent drift, which the others might not do. Check on ebay to see if you see any around.

Also, (am I allowed to say this? mod can let me know if not and I apologize in advance), try the dvdrhelp board as there is a lot in that forum on what you are doing, esp. if you are not looking to spend a lot of $$.

Good luck!

On capturing cable shows, check out IUVCR (google) which I've used w/ good results (but you'd need a tuner card or external tuner). There are others too.

Thanks for all the advice. I will look at all the suggestions. If there is a device that is better, that uses firewire, that might get me to buy one. Michael - I'd do a little more research first, compare the pinnacle to an ADS and also if you are thinking that level to an All In Wonder (AIW) or Happauge card (which people used to use quite a bit with very good results).

Key to look at is whether / how the card is scaling your video to get to a 720x480 picture (if it does).. you can also bring it in at 360x240, which if it's NTSC, will closely match the resolution of your source (240 lines that is for VHS). There are debates as to wether you are better of capturing at 1/2 D1 (360x240) and leaving it that way or capturing at 720x480 even if the source was not that resoution.I think I will take a little longer to decide. I will compare all the ones suggested thanks.

Michael:

A lot of the Sony Digital 8 cameras will also play and convert Hi8 and 8mm tape to a digital signal in camera to transfer by firewire to your computer system. The output is DV. You won't be able to do better than that. I bet you could buy a used one on ebay for a couple hundred. Just make sure the model you get has that capability.

Good tip. I will definitely check that opeion out.

Update: I have just looked and the Digital 8 camcorder is by far the best option. I have found several that can do this transfer. Now to find the best one for the job. After I've transferred all my HI 8 tapes to a PC, I can just resell the Digital 8 and get most if not all the cost back. Thanks for that tip.

yes, what Chris says is true.

I was looking for a Dig8 camcorder but the prices kept climbming, then I found the AdsPyro Avlink for a good price, pluse it lets me take in from nearly any source, including composite.

My main concern was would it work with Avid XDV Pro (I have a Laird Dvora system with XDV 3.5 at work and its stopped recognizing the converter for some reason) but it worked like a charm for me.

One problem I'm finding, is that it's hard to tell which Sony will actually transfer HI8 video, to a PC hard drive. Most say they can play back the HI8 video but don't say specifically that this can be saved as a digital file on a PC.

How does one tell which Sony Digital 8 will allow saving the HI8 video to a PC hard drive? Playback doesn't necessarily mean that capability, as far as I can tell.

It seems the older ones did, it was a feature, some of the newer models dont.

I found the reviews at www.camcorderinfo.com helped figure out which did and which dont.

Ok, let me ask about another option.

If I buy a DVD recorder/player, can it record directly from a HI8 player?

I have a Sony HI8 deck that I've had for years. I have a DVD player but was thinking of getting one of the combo boxes that can record as well as playback. I've never used a DVD recorder so don't know of their capabilities.

Will a DVD Recorder/player combo unit be able to record directly from my HI8 deck? Is there anything special to look for in such a device. I assume that if I could do this, that I could then just rip the DVD back to my PC and would have the video on both a DVD and my PC.

Michael,

I've reread this thread, and I think you've been missing some points.

The Hi-8 is analogue video.

Your computer edits using digital files.

Somewhere between your Hi-8 player and your computer, you must convert the analogue into digital.

You can capture your analogue video by transcoding it to DV files and importing through a firewire. (Use the canopus converter, or a camera that will automatically convert the hi-8 to digital out, or use a deck that will capture/convert do digital out) and feed this into your computer through the firewire.

OR

Capture the analogue video AS Mpeg-2 files. These are more compressed than DV files. Many 'capture' utilities will do this, and typically send the files to your computer through the USB port. You then have MPEG2 files of your analogue video. Some editing systems will allow you to edit these files, some won't. Ultimately, whatever editing system you use, will have to BURN MPEG 2 FILES to a DVD to playback on your home television DVD player.

If you don't plan to add a firewire input to your laptop, this will be your choice.

Yes, you can buy a 'dvd burner' and plug your Hi-8 camera/deck or ANY OTHER ANALOGUE source such as a VHS deck into it, and 'capture/burn' this source to a DVD file. It's just burning mpeg2 files onto the disc. SOME DVD burners will also export these files to a computer via firewire. You will have to read the specs for each player seperately.

To sum up - two choices. Capture as MPEG2 or Capture as DV. Mpeg 2 is slightly more compressed.

If you don't intend to do any manipulation or editing or complicated 'authoring' then simply buying a DVD burner and connecting your Hi8 deck to it to make 'dvd' dubs of your tapes will certainly be the easiest route to take.

Hope this helps.

If I buy a DVD recorder/player, can it record directly from a HI8 player?

I guess it's subjective, but to me "DVD burner" sounds like a drive for your computer, whereas "DVD recorder" sounds like a standalone unit. :-)

Regardless, the answer to your question is a simple "yes". If your Hi-8 deck has s-video output then you can plug it into just about any DVD recorder and make a basic DVD (without any fancy menus) that will play on most DVD players.

The better DVD recorders have firewire INPUT, but very few have firewire OUTPUT.

What Boyd says... I should have used the term "DVD recorder" instead of burner. Please read my previous post with that caveat in mind. And as Boyd says, the options available for set top DVD RECORDERS varies widely. So read the specs.

I'm a newbie at video and have the same request. I need a used Hi8 camera but what is "pass through" and how can I tell if the used camera has it. Also at B&H they have the A/D conveter model api-558 for 135.00. Also on ebay a guy has a Sony CVD 1000 Hi8 Deck for 155.00. I also need a mini DV deck.
jbechdel@comcast.net

The Plextor convertx seems like it will take an analog feed and convert it to several different digital file formats and it uses USB 2.0 to do it.

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402UMac.htm

Is this type of encoder rare in that it appears to not need an NLE program to import into a computer?

Alessandro
The plextor box is simply a transcoder, which takes analogue or digital feeds and transcodes them to either Mpeg1, 2 or DivX files. It seems to be aimed at Mac owners. There are similar devices for PCs. It is 'rare' only in that it appears to be specifically FOR the Mac platform.

Note, it does not say it 'records it' to your MAC. It says it sends it to your Mac. You will still need some way to RECORD on the Mac. iMovie at the very least... some sort of NLE/Capture program. Though I suspect they may include a rudimentary capture program with the box.

Then you must send the signal, BACK out to your DVD recorder. (Or burner if your computer is so equiped)

Take a look at these from Canopus.....

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC300/index.php

Alessandro
The plextor box is simply a transcoder, which takes analogue or digital feeds and transcodes them to either Mpeg1, 2 or DivX files. It seems to be aimed at Mac owners. There are similar devices for PCs. It is 'rare' only in that it appears to be specifically FOR the Mac platform.

Note, it does not say it 'records it' to your MAC. It says it sends it to your Mac. You will still need some way to RECORD on the Mac. iMovie at the very least... some sort of NLE/Capture program. Though I suspect they may include a rudimentary capture program with the box.

Then you must send the signal, BACK out to your DVD recorder. (Or burner if your computer is so equiped)

They have a Non Mac version as well. I am more interested in the Mac version since I have Mac. The Plextor convertx also does MPEG-4. If it transcodes to mpeg-4, then I can upload that MPEG-4 file directly to YouTube, no? It also seems to come with rudimentary software for doing basic titling and editing.

Yes, you can send an Mpeg 4 to youtube.

But the quality stinks!!.

I am going to work with http://zeop.com/ so I can do more control
of quality.

My goal is to completely encode and upload a few hundred hours of
family video so it is all on line. Media is dead.

Dave

I went through all this last year.

Not all Sony Digital8 camcorders can read a Hi8.

Get the Sony TRV120.

It was the cheapest I could fine.

Sony.com has a list of which camcorders are compatible.

Got mine off of craigslist.com.

I went from the Digital8 -> MiniDV -> then to DVD.

alan

I'm about to go through this with a zillion hours of Hi-8, 8mm, SVHS and VHS. My plan is to dub to DVCAM for archival purposes (I'm going to use the large Panasonic AMQ 3 hr tapes which will deliver 2 hours of DVCAM) and also capture onto hard drives to edit down selects on FCP.

I'm concerned about timing issues however--when I hit breaks in the control track on the original tapes, will that cause a time code or sync break on the DVCAM which will slow down the capture process. I've had trouble with this before.

I'm thinking that the best way may be to black all of the DVCAM tapes first, then dub the footage onto them via a video/audio insert which will preserve the control track and timecode. Not sure if this will still satisfy FCP and keep it from getting thrown by bad sync/control track breaks in the original stuff. I'm going to test it shortly but wondering if anyone else has gone through this and has suggestions. I think the only way I can make it through the ingest process is if I can capture the complete reels without having to supervise--it will be too much effort otherwise.

Take a look at these from Canopus.....

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php

http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC300/index.php

i am just going to add my two cents to an already confused thread:

in my experience all the USB capture devices and low cost consumer PCI capture cards out there will end up giving you a huge headache - if you can get them to work at all. typical issues are: drivers flakey, require special software for capture that is written by a 5 year old, won't capture full res or full frame rate or both. captures in weird proprietary codec or captures with massive compression artefacts. so in conclusion stay well clear of these 'solutions'.

what i would recommend is the capture boxes mention above and also the ADVC55. or even better a cheap DV camcorder with video input and digital pass through. the latter is probably your best bet. i found that the canopus boxes drop frames when digitising poor quality video (old video 8) - the ADVC300 excluded since it has a time based corrector (but i haven't tried it)

I use a trv340, it is d8, reads hi8, firewire connection, and passthrough.

I am ready to start my Hi8 to DV project here this year and all of the suggestions were good.

I am going to be using an older Hi8 camcorder to get all of this off, basically just take it into iMovie as raw footage then go back and do the editing at another time.

I purchased from eBay a device from Pinnacle called MovieBox DV, which has both firewire in/out and analog (RCA and S-Video jacks) in/out.

I've not used it yet, but it appears to be pretty simply to plug and play.

If the older Hi8 camcorder doesn't produce the results I want, I may end up getting a used Hi8 deck or getting a D8 with firewire port and importing the analog footage via that digital connection.

Either way, I'm trying to make this as painless as possible. Some of the Hi8 tapes are almost 17 years old and I know the life of them, how they have been stored and other factors will be reduced.

Alessandro
The plextor box is simply a transcoder, which takes analogue or digital feeds and transcodes them to either Mpeg1, 2 or DivX files. It seems to be aimed at Mac owners. There are similar devices for PCs. It is 'rare' only in that it appears to be specifically FOR the Mac platform.

Note, it does not say it 'records it' to your MAC. It says it sends it to your Mac. You will still need some way to RECORD on the Mac. iMovie at the very least... some sort of NLE/Capture program. Though I suspect they may include a rudimentary capture program with the box.

Then you must send the signal, BACK out to your DVD recorder. (Or burner if your computer is so equiped)

It ends up as a video file on the mac, however it seems to be stuck as an "eyetv file" and when I change it to mpeg it transcodes again and that second transcoding is a killer.

Although I do agree that as soon as someone turns their video into an mpeg file it will never be anywhere near as good looking as the original video.

I am ready to start my Hi8 to DV project here this year and all of the suggestions were good.

I am going to be using an older Hi8 camcorder to get all of this off, basically just take it into iMovie as raw footage then go back and do the editing at another time.

I purchased from eBay a device from Pinnacle called MovieBox DV, which has both firewire in/out and analog (RCA and S-Video jacks) in/out.

I've not used it yet, but it appears to be pretty simply to plug and play.

If the older Hi8 camcorder doesn't produce the results I want, I may end up getting a used Hi8 deck or getting a D8 with firewire port and importing the analog footage via that digital connection.

Either way, I'm trying to make this as painless as possible. Some of the Hi8 tapes are almost 17 years old and I know the life of them, how they have been stored and other factors will be reduced.

I discovered that my camcorder would get head clogs from certain older Hi-tapes. The camcorder still works fine to this day but I stopped using it as a player for capture and instead acquired a digital 8 clam shell.

I discovered that my camcorder would get head clogs from certain older Hi-tapes. The camcorder still works fine to this day but I stopped using it as a player for capture and instead acquired a digital 8 clam shell.
I ran into that back when I used it. Had a couple of decks (the EVS-3000 worked best) that I used for playback.

I am ready to start my Hi8 to DV project here this year and all of the suggestions were good.

I am going to be using an older Hi8 camcorder to get all of this off, basically just take it into iMovie as raw footage then go back and do the editing at another time.
...

iMovie captures digital footage by converting it to Apple Intermediate Codec (not raw) which creates large files in the hard drive. One hour DV footage is approximately 12GB which turns into ~ 24GB when converted to AIC by iMovie. If you have many tapes to convert, storing them as iMovie files will fill your hard drive very quickly. In that case, it might be better to record the digitized footage on miniDV tapes (or on Digital8 tapes) for storage rather than capturing into iMovie.

P.

iMovie captures digital footage by converting it to Apple Intermediate Codec (not raw) which creates large files in the hard drive. One hour DV footage is approximately 12GB which turns into ~ 24GB when converted to AIC by iMovie. If you have many tapes to convert, storing them as iMovie files will fill your hard drive very quickly. In that case, it might be better to record the digitized footage on miniDV tapes (or on Digital8 tapes) for storage rather than capturing into iMovie.

P.

Pedanes, I think you are confusing HDV capture, which iMovie does convert to AIC, with simple DV capture which is essentially a straight file transfer, with no increase in file size. (I am using iMovie HD 6.0.3.) For the purpose of transferring Hi8 tapes to computer files, there would be no reason to use HDV, as DV would do the job just fine.

I am in a similar situation. My old Hi8 tapes aren't that important, but I did want to make some sort of backup. What I did was to use a stand-alone Panasonic DVD recorder, and record the Hi8 tapes to quality DVD-R's at the XP speed (1 hour per DVD). This isn't perfect, and for some of the footage that I don't really want to lose, I'll record that footage to hard disk via iMovie and DV.

For my extensive miniDV tape collection, I am currently in the process of copying the tapes with two backups. I record them to a DVD-R using a stand-alone DVD recorder, and simultaneously I ingest them onto a hard disk via iMovie. Since hard disks are becoming so inexpensive, I may do an additional backup of the files from one hard disk to another.

For my current HDV work, I am immediately transferring all of the HDV footage to hard disk via AIC and iMovie. I of course will also keep the tapes, as I never re-use tapes.

David Sholle, you are right. I thought that iMovie converts DV files to AIC as well, but now I looked at one of my iMovie package contents and as you said, the footage is stored there as DV files.

Sorry for my mistake...

P.

I've found that sometimes the Hi8 tape may need to be played/captured using the same camcorder originally used. Sometimes the tape will not play back properly.

Just my two cents worth of experience.