Analogue to Digital Conversion (again!)

[Video ham]

My first post and, sorry, it is one that has been covered ad nauseam. The technical aspects of most of the suggestions I read, however, are way over my head. Like many, I have quite a number of Hi8 Video tapes (taken on a Sony CCD-TR3E and still in good working order) with precious videos I would like to convert to digital and edit with Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11.0 (which I have on my laptop) and retain as much of the original quality as practically possible. Analogue camera to digital camera conversion seems to be an option mooted by some. I have a Sony HDR-SR10E HD digital camera but I am assuming that any such conversion would require an input that this camera seems to lack?! For what it's worth I also have a Sony DCR-DVD602E (Mini DVD) camera which only has an AV output port.
I have tried a couple of Digital Converters a long while ago without much success (both Belkin and now prehistoric)- maybe there's something better around now without costing the earth?
Please, anyone, I'm really hoping for analogue to digital conversion 'for dummies'! When people start talking about codecs and different compression types I'm lost. Yes, maybe it's a lost cause for a technophobe such as I... any 'monosyllabic' help would be greatly appreciated!

[Cornucopia]

I would think, for your situation & level of sophistication, it would make the most sense to get a Digital8 camera, since it should natively play back both D8 tapes and Video8 and Hi8 tapes, and (many models) can act as Analog-to-Digital passthrough converter all in one package.
Then you would be transferring onto the PC as DV-type material. How you go from there is your choice.

Scott

[Video ham]

Thank you Scott for your advice. Your solution would probably be the easiest for someone like me. I note, however, that not all these Digital cameras that use the same size tapes will play back Analogue tapes. A quick look on eBay doesn't come up with a great deal of these on the market either... maybe a trip round the pawn shops required?! In the meantime I thought I'd give another of these analogue to video converters a try. I sent off for a Kogan USB AUDIO/VIDEO GRABBER. Well for a bit over $20 you cannot expect a great deal. I DIDN'T get a great deal! The quality of the converted image is horrible and not worth the trouble. I'll keep looking for the camera to do what you propose. Thanks again.

[Brad]

Are you using S-Video input into the Kogan thing? It's probably the same chipset as the EasyCap, which has godawful composite quality and perfectly fine S-Video.

[Video ham]

I connected it to the camera with the AV cables although there is a seperate S-Video connector (if I had a male to male lead to hook it in to the camera). The unit looks a lot like the EasyCap you mention. Kogan doesn't actually make anything- it's all 're-badged' product so it might well come out of the same factory as the EasyCap. You think it's worth finding the S-Video link and trying that?

[Brad]

Yep. An S-Video cable is useful to have around anyway. Here is my quick comparison using cables from the local dollar store.



(The bad Y/C interference seen on the S-Video capture probably isn't the fault of the device but rather a poorly shielded cable, as using the ATI 600 with the same input looks almost as bad.)

[Video ham]

Thanks for the advice- yes quite a difference between the 2. I'll get myself an S-Video cable and let you know how I get on.

[Video ham]

I bought an S-Video cable to link the Audio/video grabber to my Analogue camera. Alas the end-result is no better than it was using the AV cables. Looks like my only option is to find a decent Sony Digital8 camera (Pal- Australia) to convert my analogue tapes. Obviously these fetch a decent price due to their popularity for this purpose. Seems like the going rate on eBay is about $300.

[Video ham]

Hi, I'm back after a few months' absence. In the meantime I sourced a Sony DCR-TRV310E Handycam on eBay with the hope I can use this to convert all my old Hi8 video tapes to digital format. I had to get hold of a firewire cable to connect this to my laptop. I also had to get hold of an Express Card 34 to hook the firewire into... so far so good!
When I plug the firewire into the adaptor to the Express Card and turn on the handycam it only proposes 2 capture options- Windows Live Photo Gallery or ULead Video Studio 10 (this came with the laptop and I had uninstalled it... or so I thought). It doesn't give Sony Movie Studio as an option. I proposed to capture video with Sony Movie Studio Platinum 11 but when I go to 'Capture Video' and select HDV device it initiates a prompt 'No Device Selected'.
A bit of web research suggests that my VIA 1394 Host Controller connected to my firewire cable and camcorder should not share an IRQ with another device? As you can see on the attached file it would appear that it does share an IRQ with something else. I am unable to move the Express card to another slot- my laptop doesn't have one. I am not computer savvy enough to know whether or how I should reallocate this to another IRQ number or even whether this has anything to do with my problems.
If anyone can propose a fix with which I can capture my HDV video from my Hi8 tape in the Sony Handycam (in simple terms please, I'm not a computer nor a video junkie!) using Sony Movie Studio I would be very grateful. Regards.

[turk690]

A bit of web research suggests that my VIA 1394 Host Controller connected to my firewire cable and camcorder should not share an IRQ with another device? As you can see on the attached file it would appear that it does share an IRQ with something else. I am unable to move the Express card to another slot- my laptop doesn't have one. I am not computer savvy enough to know whether or how I should reallocate this to another IRQ number or even whether this has anything to do with my problems.

Many years ago, I noted that the likelyhood a FireWire controller card behaves unpredictably increases when it uses anything but a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset. On some occasions, merely replacing one that had VIA, Promise, SIS chips on it with one that had a TI, installing current drivers, same settings, was enough for Windoze moviemaker to recognize and capture from a connected DV camcorder. It may or may not be, despite being identified as such, that it is a UHCI (universal host controller interface), which is good enough to attach FireWire HDDs with, as opposed to OHCI (open-host controller interface, required for DV camcorders, for commands to be sent to camcorder, and data to be sent to PC).
For important tapes, I will also desist from using a laptop to capture them with, even if the camcorder was duly recognized by it (and by the capture program and NLE). Capturing video is one of the more critical things one can demand of a PC (despite what capture device manufacturers like you to think). Typical laptops have a plethora of bloatware and TSRs known and unknown that conspire to interrupt and prevent video capture; they can also overheat, and most fatal is they only have and can often only have one single-controller drive (which goes against one very basic requirement of video capture: the computer should have at least two physically separate single-controlled hard drives, one for system and programs (C: ), the other the capture drive (where you dump the files to coming from the camcorder). Note that, SATA or eSATA classifies as single-controller, while USB is not (and therefore doesn't count).

[Video ham]

Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate the high-tech reasoning which, alas, mainly goes over my head but I think I get the gist of it... as follows:

1. My IEEE 1394a Express Card is probably not up to scratch to do the job (why do these cards have a power supply port on them... does this give them greater 'grunt' and more prospect that they'd actually work for video capture?)
2. Don't use a laptop to attempt video capture (my laptop is a pretty high-spec unit but, as you say, only has 'C' drive).

I do have a PC I can use. I wonder if you'd be kind enough to offer a link or two to suitable cards on eBay with TI chipset that might do the job.

Thanks again for your help.

[turk690]

....my laptop is a pretty high-spec unit....

A laptop, even a "pretty high-spec unit", IMHO, has nothing going for it except for that one factor: convenience. It is pushed by manufacturers as something you must absolutely have to "increase" your productivity, even while you are mobile. That turns it into not much more than an expensive toy: good for delving into such neo-trash like fezbuk and its ilk, but not for something as serious and as demanding on attendant h/w and s/w, as capturing video. That said, there is hope: some laptops have an eSATA port. If yours has one, you can buy an external hard drive that has eSATA, connect it, and that will fulfill one basic requirement of using a PC to capture video. The majority of external HDDs are USB though, so for some, the only option left is to buy an external eSATA enclosure, and stuff your HDD of choice in this enclosure. All this fuss is avoided if you use a desktop PC; current ones have a number of internal SATA connections, so it's a simple matter of getting any SATA HDD of your choice and putting it there. You should get the biggest hard drive you can afford to put your captured files in. An hour of DV AVI (the form the captured video from a DV camcorder takes when it lands on the HDD) is about 13GB.

....to offer a link or two to suitable cards on eBay with TI chipset that might do the job...

Searching eBay with the keywords "FireWire PCI card TI" returns matches of several such cards that emphasize that they sport a Texas Instruments chipset. That should subtly tell you that for those who still require a FireWire port (like current HDV camcorder users), TI-based cards are the only way to go. I last actively used one several years ago when such cards were available for the PCI bus only. You may get that, but if you intend on installing it on your mentioned desktop, and the latter has a PCI-express (PCIe) slot, then it's better to get a PCIe FireWire card for the purpose.

[The_Doman]

If anyone can propose a fix with which I can capture my HDV video from my Hi8 tape in the Sony Handycam (in simple terms please, I'm not a computer nor a video junkie!) using Sony Movie Studio I would be very grateful. Regards.

What i understand your camcorder is correctly detected?
You should then first try if you can get the DV capturing working with ScenalyzerLive.
http://www.scenalyzer.com/

This software is now free available for use.

[Video ham]

Thanks all, I'll let you know how I get on when I try all this out on my Desktop PC (hopefully with appropriate card- although I see this has a firewire port but doubt the card has a TI chipset... will give it a go and let you know!). Regards

[smrpix]

Movie Studio[/url] Platinum 11 but when I go to 'Capture Video' and select HDV device it initiates a prompt 'No Device Selected'...

If anyone can propose a fix with which I can capture my HDV video from my Hi8 tape in the Sony Handycam (in simple terms please, I'm not a computer nor a video junkie!) using Sony Movie Studio I would be very grateful. Regards.

Since you've made the same error twice I'm going to assume this is not mistyping. You are capturing from DV not HDV. Make sure you tell Sony Vegas this.

Also, Windows 7 is notoriously finicky with firewire drivers. Search these forums for solutions