Confused: Best conversion method for Hi8 and 8mm video?
 

I currently have several boxes of Hi8 and 8mm video tapes I would like to convert to digital, edit out the boring, repetitive portions, and burn to dvd or blue ray to share with family members. I have been reading and am still confused as to the best method. I have read many suggestions, some older than others and wondered if you would clarify for me the current best choice. I believe I would prefer a lossless method but am confused whether the Hi8 and 8mm should be output through firewire since they are not digital to begin with or through the s video connection or something else.

I currently have a Sony digital handycam model DCR-TRV120 with option to turn on and off internal tcb and with several output options: s video, firewire, etc. The tapes I want to convert were not recorded on this camera, but will play on this camera. The original cameras no longer work.

1. Is this camera appropriate to use for converting to digital?
2. If so, which method of output would be better? s video to ATI 600 card, firewire, or something else?
3. Should Hi8 and 8mm method be different?
(sorry I couldn't figure out how to make pic smaller)
Attachment 3942

1. That camera might be fine -- try it.

2. Only use Firewire/IEEE1394 for D8 tapes. For the analog Hi8 and Video8, use the ATI 600 card you have, via s-video. The ideal method of lossless capturing (Huffyuv AVI) in VirtualDub. Then you can edit in your favorite editor -- Premiere, Vegas, etc.

3. Both Hi8 and Video8 are essentially the same. Hi8 tapes won't work in Video8 cameras, but you're using a Digita8 camera anyway.

Use the TBC. Again, try it, and see what it does. Most TBCs help.

Post back what you observe. We'll continue guiding you. :)

I have an older desktop with xp with no internet connection that I am using to capture video.
XP professional Service pack 3
IBM pentium(R) 4
2.8 GHz
992 MB RAM (why does it show this when it has 2 512GB sticks of RAM?just wondering)
40GB hard drive

I got video camera and capture card attached. I downloaded virtualdub and huffyuv to flashdrive and transferred to that computer. I opened virtualdub and began transfer without changing any settings. How can I determine if it is using huffyuv? I don't know what you can determine from this, but here is a small clip. It seems to be using about 1 GB of space per minute (seems like a lot). It showed no dropped frames.

The hard drive has approx 27 GB free. Is it possible to capture to an external hard drive? Or do I just need to capture in small enough pieces to fit, or replace the current hard drive? I plan to move the files to a different computer at some point.

Download VirtualDub 1.9. When you have it in capture mode, you need to select Compression (I think under Video tab - don't remember) and choose Huffyuv.

I always use external hard drive and it never gave me any headache.

Thx so much! What you said reminded me that I had tried a little of this a year or more ago and had made some instructions for myself. When I paid attention, and quit rushing to select capture mode, I found the compression selection under the video tab as you said, but I had to select the compression before selecting capture mode. It was not under the video tab that was available in capture mode.

I don't know much about hard drives. Is there a certain type that would be best?

Since you are using an older computer, get a USB 2.0 HDD rather than the newer USB 3.0 drives. A lot of people end up going with Western Digital or Seagate. Its always good to have at least two copies in two different places, especially when its something important.

You cannot capture to USB2 -- it's not fast enough, not sustained. Even USB3 is blah.
It must be either eSATA or Firewire, for external.

I use Toshiba Canvio 1Tb or more and I always use USB 3.0 drives. Nevertheless, I always plug them to USB 2.0 port of my laptop. Never had any issues.

Set VD in capture mode and look for Compression tab somewhere. You will find it and you'll also get familiar with options available.