Hi there! Glad to help...
The problem with the Canopus box is that it uses the DV format, which was never intended to transfer video. It was intended as a shooting format (video cameras). You'll notice that Canopus was the only company pushing DV as being something else. (Matrox and DataVideo had them too, but did not push them with BS like Canopus did.) Reduced colors and softness is a direct results of 4:1:1 compression. VHS was closer 4:2:2 or even DVD's 4:2:0.
Hi8 is generally the best consumer format aside from DV. The one drawback to Hi8 is that it did not have "tracking" like VHS did, but instead embedded alignment issues in the recorded data. So hopefully none of your tapes are misaligned. Few are, so the odds are in your favor.
Dropout issues can be easy to repair (if you have experience, that is), depending on what's caused them.
I work on a Mac too.
But the problem is this:
- A computer is a tool. All tools have their purposes. You've not hit a screw with a hammer, right? You'd use a screwdriver!
- Mac has very limited video workflows. Mac is horrible when it comes to capturing video. It's main strength is DV/HDV editing from cameras, and authoring DVDs. Not this.
In other words, great tool -- but wrong task.
Once the video is captured with a Windows system, you can use either Windows or Mac:
- editing
- encoding to an uncompressed file for later editing
- encoding H.64 for streaming distribution or Blu-ray
- encoding MPEG-2 for DVD or Blu-ray
- authoring + burning to DVD or Blu-ray
- authoring + burning to Blu-ray
Capture Windows, edit/author on Mac. I do quite a bit myself. The ideal setup is to capture
Huffyuv lossless AVI files, and those open just fine on a Mac using the freeware Perian for OS X (which adds more codecs to Mac). No need to convert anything.
When saving after the edit, you'll of course use the Mac codecs. Quicktime doesn't have lossless compression, only uncompressed or the lossy (but good!) ProRes422. You can also use MPEG-2, H.264, etc, to export from an NLE. I use Final Cut Pro.
(I mostly use my Mac for photo editing. Windows is nowhere near as good, even when boith have the same version of Photoshop installed. I have CS5 on both systems! The Mac is more attuned to photo work, with less stability issues, and with more speed.)
As far as which service to use, I know it sounds biased, but use us. We do quite a few Hi8 tapes each year, and probably a third of our clients do their editing on Macs. So you're not alone.
