ACK! So many choices... mind helping me narrow them down?

[staniks]

My sister has (t)asked me to convert her Hi8 videos to dvd. I have a firewire card for my miniDV camcorder but this will not work for her tapes.

I'd like to know which card would be best for me (or if there is a comparasion website there, I'll go read on my own).

I've looked at Pinnacle Studio, AverMedia, Dazzle...

I would like a product that will convert from Hi8 or analog to DVD using hardware encoding. Mpeg-2, preferably NOT usb. I don't mind adding a card. I could care less about PVR, I have a Tivo for that.

I thought Pinnacle Studio 8 AV would be good but can't find specs on their hardware.

I thought AverMedia AverDVD EzMaker or AVerTV Studio would be good but I don't see the analog A/V inputs(more so audio) or hardware encoding.

which one should I look at? oh yeah running Windows XP

Thank You!

[staniks]

no ideas?

[ahfairley]

Double check to see if your cam has analog in. Then you can record the hi8 video onto tape and then capture from your DV cam. Some cams have analog pass-through that let you pass the video out from the Hi8 cam corder into the DV cam which is connected to thePC via firewire.

[Poplar]

Check this out:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/video/01q3/010801/index.html

[irongang]

I've got a Canopus ADVC-100 analog-to-DV box. It rocks!


http://www.vcdhelp.com/capturecards.php?CaptureCardRead=Canopus%20ADVC-100&Search=Search

[dannee]

I am also using Windows XP. I got a firewire card when I got my mini-camcorder. Then I decided I wanted to convert my VHS tapes to VCD. I decided this when I tried to play my VHS tapes that my mother had made for me and all of my siblings. On these tapes are over 30 years of our home movies starting when I was first born. When I put my tapes in the VCR after not watching them for a couple of years, I could not believe how deteriorated they were. These VHS tapes were made 15 years ago. So I knew I needed to start making VCD's. Luckily I will be able to borrow one of my sisters tapes to do my captures. I did a lot of searching and reading and finally decided on the Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge, partly because of the speed of firewire.

I am very pleased with the Bridge. Some people have had problems with it not being recognized by their computer. It is very sensative to power surges and other interferences and loses connection with the computer. If you have lousy electrical wiring then the Bridge will not work for you. But if you live somewhere where you have good wiring or can have a line put in that is dedicated to just your computer and all peripherals and nothing else running on that circuit, then the Bridge is AWESOME.

I had a very pleasant surprise last night. I had heard of the DVD copy protection but didn't own any DVD's so I never tried to copy one using my VCR, however I rented Artificial Intelligence yesterday to play in my DVD player and decided to see what it would look like copied to my computer. So I hooked it up to the Bridge and guess what!! The Bridge removes the copy protection or filters something out, I'm not sure how it works but just know that it copied to the computer without any problems. I had no idea when I bought it that it could do that. An added bonus

Just thought you might like to know there is something like this out there -another alternative. By the way, I bought it for $299 about 6 months ago but hear they are about $250 now and probably even less at some places.

Good Luck

[staniks]

my camcorder does not have a/v in thanks for the idea though.

the hollywood dazzle dv bridge sounds great but i know my sister wont spend $300 for it

i'm reading the tomshardware article right now.

[Toogy]

I seriously recommend the Canopus ADVC-1394 for $249

http://www.canopus.com/US/products/advc-1394/pt_advc-1394.asp

I just got this device and am primarily capturing from my hi-8 camcorder and so far it works AWESOME.