A way to convert an analog hi8 camcorder video to dvd?

[AshleyQuick]

I have a Sony tvr-68 and I desperately want to convert to dvd. What methods/hardware do I need?

Thank you.

Ashley

[ZippyP.]

A DVD recorder would be the quickest and easiest and will give great results.

[Epicurus8a]

There are many options available to you. It all depends on how deeply you intend to commit yourself in terms of time and money.

A DVD Recorder, such as a Pioneer 320, 420, or 520, should work great for most people. The 420 & 520 models offer hard drives for storage and (simple) cut editing. If you want custom menus or chapters, you'll need to rip the disc to your computer hard drive and re-author/re-burn. You can also do more sophisticated editing with the proper software (I like Womble MPEG Video Wizard), then re-author/re-burn. You can also use the DVD Recorder to record TV programs, like a VCR.

If you intend to do extensive editing, you'll probably want a Canopus capture device for your computer (instead of a DVD recorder). This device captures in DV (rather than MPEG2) and is easier to edit. Once the editing is complete the video is converted to MPEG2, and finally authored to DVD.

Note: a lot of the Authoring software available is garbage. My suggestion is to buy/use TMPGEnc & TMPGEnc DVD Author until you become intimately aquainted with authoring. Meanwhile you can check out other software. Also, from my perspective -R discs are more compatible with standalone players than +R discs. But I'm sure someone else will say exactly the opposite.

[Quantum]

You could buy, or borrow, a Sony Digital8 camcorder that will play the analog 8mm tapes and pass them through to the PC via firewire. Then use TMPGEnc to convert them to DVD MPG2 and TMPGEnc DVD Author to author a DVD.