Considering a video capture device

[Zeke]

I have all knids of old movies, tapes and hi8 videos, plus a boatload of music that I could transfer to digital files on an external hard drive I bought for the wizz-bang laptop my wife has. We can burn DVD's (I think) and CD's on her combo drive. The problem is the reviews on these products is less than horrible, especially the Dazzle, which would have been my favorite from the descriptions. The laptop is pretty high end, so presumably it has the right video card in it as we purchased Windows Media as the OS.

Some websites have promoted the idea of buying a DV camera that plays and converts analog hi8 videos. Is there such a thing? Currently, we have a DVD Sony camera, so that's out and the Sony hi8 camera used to shoot all these tapes is presumably dead unless I can figure out how to clean the head. (So far alcohol and Q-tips on all the heads is not doing anything. The playback is nothing but wavey lines)

What to buy? How to use?

Thanks guys, this is my no. 1 source for tech support.

[id10t]

If you only have "some" old format stuff, I'd say take it to a local shop and have them professionally convert it. Works great.

[gaijindabe]

Ask Zeke. He knows about this stuff..

[RallyJon]

Why not just buy a Hi8 camera for a few bucks on Ebay? Don't compromise a DV camera purchase by trying to accomodate an obsolete format.

[84porsche]

Milt,

I could go into so many tangents on this subject but the best thing if you want to do this yourself is get yourself a desktop machine with a fast processor and a video card that can accept most video sources (Firewire/USB/AV cables/Co-axial etc.). Dare I say, a Mac. I have heard Macs are great for video work but I haven't used them personally.

Most laptops just do not have enough processor speed to edit video work and recompress and even if they do they take a couple of hours. It comes down to where your level of patience lies. The laptop is great for burning but the other negative with video work especially recording old works is you want the best quality you can get which at minimum should be 640x480 (standard tv resolution).

If ever you want help, let me know and I'll be happy to share.

[84porsche]

Now a possible simpler solution -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001Y7PSK/sr=8-2/qid=1152725360/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-7747721-2081535?ie=UTF8

[Zeke]

Originally posted by 84porsche
Now a possible simpler solution -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001Y7PSK/sr=8-2/qid=1152725360/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-7747721-2081535?ie=UTF8

I looked at that one this morning on the Net while shopping thru Froogle. The reviews weren't much better than the Dazzler, which were 100% negative. 100%, wow. I guess I could take them to a shop, but we've got a couple hundred hi8 tapes, 8mm movies and VHS to do.

I have some 8mm movies of a kart race in super slomo which is some of the best footage I've ever seen. You have no idea what these guys can do. It's just like watching On Any Sunday and the super slomos of Markel, et al on the dirt track. Just gives you goose bumps. I've gotta get that stuff up on a site. An opposite steering drift at 80 MPH 4 inches from the hay bales, one inch off the ground, on asphalt.

No one ever filmed me. I know I did it too.

[RickM]

If the 8mm movies are film then leave it to a pro. There's no way to get hi quality from a home set-up. The most common home transfer method is to take a picture of a picture....not good.

I agree with buying a mini-dv deck or camcorder in order to accomodate hi-8. Most Hi-8 camcorders have a firewire connector. Some sound cards and video cards have built-in conectors. ATI All-in-Wonder and Soundblaster Audigy come to mind. (I guess because I have both )

You'll have other features to play with when done as well....like TV on the PC.

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Connect a variety of video sources such as your camcorder, DVD player or VCR to your All-in-Wonder 2006 PCI Express and capture content digitally onto your computer

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[stomachmonkey]

1st, forget a USB device. Firewire or PCI card.

2nd, a good mini DV camera can be had cheap and most have a pass thru feature. They will accept your analog source, HI 8, VCR etc.. and pass it straight to the computer via Firewire.

3rd, video takes a huge amount of memory. Ideally you want to save at least the raw dump from input as uncompressed to preserve full quality. It's a bit more complicated than this but let's do some math anyway: video is 30 frames per second, a frame is just about one mb, so one second of video is 30 mb's, you can see where this going. Add the cost of a good quality 300 gb drive to your purchase.

4th. Video capture takes time, an hour of video takes an hour to capture, you can't exceed the tape speed of the output device. Then add in any processing and compression for intended output, web, DVD etc.. and it gets time consuming.

I recomend taking an inventory of the amount of footage that you have, figure out what a service would cost to convert. Then compare it to how much it will cost to kit you out and make a choice.

84porsche,

You can use a laptop to do video. You just need to have either 7200 rpm external drives or get 7200 rpm laptop drives like I have in 2 of my 17 inch Powerbooks.

I edit video using Final Cut all the time, no problem.

As far as Macs for the consumer I highly recommend it as a solution. iMovie has a feature that takes the video in feed and dumps it directly to a DVD. You basically press go and that's about it.

Scott