Best USB capture card for Hi8 to iMovie 10?

[Franco]

There are so many RCA plug to USB/Firewire devices to choose from. Any suggestions?

[alexstorm]

It's been a while and so far no response, I see on this. Why not have a look at the reviews in NewEgg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...NG&PageSize=36

More expense gives you USB 3, HD Video etc. It's always better to save incoming video to the highest resolution possible and then edit it and compress later. If you never need to edit, then saving it immediately to a compressed format that looks good is acceptable. iMovie 10 supports importing .mp4, .mov, MPEG2, AVCHD, DV, and HDV. So you want to make sure incoming format on your converter software are some of those with an uncompressed option.

Hope that helps.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franco

There are so many RCA plug to USB/Firewire devices to choose from. Any suggestions?

What you really mean by "RCA to USB" is that you're wanting a USB capture card. For Mac, you have few options, most of the coming from Elgato.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexstorm

It's been a while and so far no response, I see on this. Why not have a look at the reviews in NewEgg.
More expense gives you USB 3, HD Video etc. It's always better to save incoming video to the highest resolution possible and then edit it and compress later. If you never need to edit, then saving it immediately to a compressed format that looks good is acceptable.

Looking at Newegg (or Amazon or eBay, etc) is not the best advice. Lots and lots of devices are lousy, and too many are cheap Chinese junk. Even the advice to "capture the highest resolution" is not accurate, as you don't want to capture VHS as 1080p (max SD should be 720x480/576).

Quote:

So you want to make sure incoming format on your converter software are some of those with an uncompressed option.

Better advice: Use software that supports high-quality formats.

Quote:

iMovie 10 supports importing .mp4, .mov, MPEG2, AVCHD, DV, and HDV.

iMovie really was not created with tape (Hi8, VHS, etc) to digital in mind. It was for shooting video on a DV cameras, or HD camera, and importing that. As such, it has very limited capabilities. Mac in general is a poor capture platform. It's just not the OS for video work. You have few options: DV, AVC, and that's pretty much it. None are ideal.

[alexstorm]

Lordsmurf, Good advice. Do you have a favorite Video capture product?

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexstorm

Lordsmurf, Good advice. Do you have a favorite Video capture product?

Not for Mac. On an older OS, the older Elgato cards were quite nice. Not sure about anything newer. You're often stuck just using a Canopus DV box, and hoping for the best. NTSC video is harmed by 4:1:1 compression, while PAL really is not (4:2:0).

[alexstorm]

Yes, the Elgato brand does look nice. I have an old original Canopus DV Raptor card on a Windows XP box.

If Franco, you end up getting something, maybe you can add a review here, so we can know if you like it.