copying standard 8mm tapes to DVD recorder

[mjwhite]

I recently purchased a Toshiba DR-400 DVD recorder. I have a lot
of old standard 8mm home movies which I'd like to dump to DVD.
I've copied a couple using the S-video output of my Sony DCR-TRV510
attached to S-video in of the DVD recorder. Results are very good.

The DR-400 also has a 4 pin DVI input which I could attach to the Sony
TRV510 4 pin DVI out. I don't have a cable for this and would need to purchase.
I'm wondering if its worth doing this. In this case I think the camera will
digitize the analog signal internally and send the signal over the DVI cable.

I'm wondering if the picture quality will be any better by using DVI vs sending the
analog signal via S-video to the DVD recorder, and letting the recorder
convert to digital when recording. Any advice would be appreciated.

[edDV]

I recently purchased a Toshiba DR-400 DVD recorder. I have a lot
of old standard 8mm home movies which I'd like to dump to DVD.
I've copied a couple using the S-video output of my Sony DCR-TRV510
attached to S-video in of the DVD recorder. Results are very good.

The DR-400 also has a 4 pin DVI input which I could attach to the Sony
TRV510 4 pin DVI out. I don't have a cable for this and would need to purchase.
I'm wondering if its worth doing this. In this case I think the camera will
digitize the analog signal internally and send the signal over the DVI cable.

I'm wondering if the picture quality will be any better by using DVI vs sending the
analog signal via S-video to the DVD recorder, and letting the recorder
convert to digital when recording. Any advice would be appreciated.

It should be somewhat better. I have a similar TRV-103 and can see a difference going to a computer. The difference may be less for a DVD recorder. IEEE-1394 cables are cheap online.

You probably need a 4pin to 4pin cable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000010001+1177512106&name=IEEE+1394

[KeepItSimple]

I've transferred similar old footage from my Canon MiniDV camcorder to a DVD Recorder and the DV input was a little better than S-video but not by much!