Hi8 to DV or DVD - Hardware

[Neville]

Computer literate so should know but obviously don't.
Can anyone advise on a suitable hardware card that enables me to use S-video from my Hi8 SONY to convert to DV?
I thought I could use my Hauppage WinTV Theatre but their Tech support advse against.

[tom28]

get the Dazzle Hollywood DV bridge

But the best method I found is to get yourself a Sony D8 which has Firewire output. Buy a Firewire card on your computer and capture your HI8 into DV using software such as Pinnacle Studio7/8, Ulead Video studio 5/6, etc. This method is the most reliable, no drop frames, no audio sync problem, and can do VHS to DV (VHS thru your D8 to the Firewire input of computer).

IF you buy pinnacle Studio DV 8, it will come with a firewire card and the studio 8 software for capture into DV, editing, authoring, encoding and burning are all in one package

[Neville]

Thanks but I do not want to buy another camera as I already have an expensive Hi8.

[fourthquark]

If your system is fast enough, you might able to use your WinTV card. You would do this by connecting the output of your Hi8 cam to the composite or (preferably) S-Video input of your WinTV. Then you could try real-time MPEG2 capture (requires very fast processor), or AVI capture using MJPEG or HuffYUV (requires fast hard disk performance). Hard to say anything more without knowing details of your system (including OS).

[heathrice]

I had the same dilimma a couple of months ago. I did go ahead and end up getting a new Sony D8 camera because my old 8mm camera was having problems anyway. Capturing the old 8mm tapes from the camera, through firewire, to the computer was definitely a breeze. I wasn't overly pleased with the quality if when panning is going on though. It's not smooth. I wasn't sure where the deficiency is. I was guessing it was in the analog to digital conversion that was being done in the camera (Sony TRV340). The computer I was using is a Sony DRX-570 laptop, so it may even just be the laptop screen on playback. I haven't gotten a chance to send the captured file to a TV yet.

Does anyone have any insight on the quality of capture that I could expect having the camera do the conversion? I really was kinda hoping to end up with an image that was as close to the original as possible.

Thanks...
Heath

[BJ_M]

buy a d8 from walmart .. convert as its posted here ... return said camera ... been there ..

[Toogy]

Canopus ADVC-100 or if you don't have a firewire card get the ADVC-1394. I got the 1394 and it works awesome.

I have converted 15 Hi-8 tapes to DVD and I am extremely pleased with the perfomance of the capturing.

[yg1968]

BJ_M,

I have a better solution:

Go to Walmart, get a Sony Digital 8. When you get close to the counter, run to the door like crazy. Be careful not to bump into the Walmart lady. (BJM, I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.)

P.S. just kidding. Please don't follow my suggestion!

[Jester700]

heathrice,
Pans are one of the toughest things for any digital encode, since almost every pixel changes from frame to frame. If it looks poor while still in DV format, it will seriously suck as a VCD/SVCD/DVD.