copying Digital8 to miniDV

[Linelle]

I have about 25 hours of Video8 and Digital8 tapes that I want to first copy to miniDV, and then later edit and burn to DVD. I no longer have a working camcorder or VCR in the Video8 format, so I'm borrowing a Sony DCR-TRV730 as the source player. I have a Sony DCR-TRV27 (miniDV) as the destination.

Can I copy straight from Video8/Digital8 to miniDV? Each has the AV mini jack, plus S-video. What kind of cable would I use, i.e., what would the connectors be at each end?

Or do I have to first go from Video8/Digital8 to my computer and then back to miniDV? Both camcorders have firewire and I have both a PC and a Mac. If possible, I would really prefer to go straight from Video8/Digital8 to miniDV.

Thanks in advance.

[holistic]

I don't have (or have used) either camera but I would suggest trying the following :

Connect the DCR-TRV730 to the firewire port and see if that camera will take the analog signal on the Hi8 and pass it to the computer as DV.
(I say this because the specs on the camera state it has Analog-to-Digital Conversion with Pass-Through)

* Try DVApp or DVIO to get the original DV source.
* Import in VirtualDub and perform edits (to get 60 minute DV clips)
Export from Virtual Dub (Direct Stream Copy)
* Using (for example DVIO) transfer the DV back to your new DCR-TRV27

That is what I think is the simplest way to get the Hi8 to a DV tape
Unless of course those cameras allow direct firewire to firewire.

Another thought , 25 DV tapes will start to cost you. Have you considered 2 * 160GB drives with your 'edited' DV then making the DVD from that.

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[Jester700]

The cams should allow direct firewire transfer. I've done this myself, but the other direction.

[Linelle]

Holistic, I already have some of the DV tapes, and getting more isn't my biggest concern. The first thing I want to do is get all the Video8/Digital8 onto miniDV, 1) since that is the format of the camcorder I now have, and 2) because I will be taking some time with this project. I want all my video on tape until I can get the time to go on to the next step.

[Linelle]

Jester, direct firewire transfer between cameras? The TRV730 doesn't have a manual, and the one with the TRV27 is less than easy to read. How is it done and what cable is used? Thanks.

[thecoalman]

Jester, direct firewire transfer between cameras? The TRV730 doesn't have a manual, and the one with the TRV27 is less than easy to read. How is it done and what cable is used? Thanks.

You need a firewire cable....also known as I-Link or 1394. Since it's Sony it will be labled I-Link on your cam. The port will look like a USB port except it will have a slight indentation. There's two varieties, cams usually have 4 pin and the ports on your computer will be 6 pin if you have firewire port. You'll probably need a 4 pin to 4 pin for transfer from cam to cam and 4 pin to 6 pin for cam to computer.

If you can transfer via firewire (including the hi- 8) that's the way to go. FYI any digital tape you have will be a lossless transfer via firewire to your computer it's an identical copy. Not sure about to mini-dv but it should be, perhaps someone else can clarify that. Using the Cam to convert the hi-8 to DV is also a very good method for conversion.

If your transferring your hi-8 and D8 tapes to mini-dv for backup purposes I would just transfer them to your computer in 4.2 GB split files, most capture programs can be configured to split files by size. Then burn the captures directly to DVD. You can fit about 20 minutes per DVD and it will be an exact copy at least as far as the D8 goes. The Hi-8 would be nearly an exact copy but won't be since it has to go through the conversion process. You could then archive them and use them for future editing to create playable DVD's.

[Linelle]

Wow Coalman, thanks for all the good info!

If I go with the Hi8/Digital8 to miniDV conversion via firewire (4-pin to 4-pin), do I just hit Play at the source end and Record at the Destination? In other words, how do I designate what is Output and what is Input?

From what I've read, I thought keeping source (backup) on miniDV was a good idea. I have 14 tapes in the *8 format, only about 4 of which are digital. I don't know if Hi8/Video8 degrade as much as VHS does, but I thought miniDV was a more secure format. In any event, other than borrowing the TRV730, I have no way of accessing them, so I want to get out from under that format.

Since I have 14 tapes, all of which may contain up to 2 hours of video, and a DVD will hold 20 minutes of (I assume) uncompressed footage, if my math is correct, I'd need about 85 DVDs, as opposed to 56 miniDV tapes. What's the best deal dollar-wise? More importantly, what's the more stable storage media? I can see where DVDs are going to be more convenient than having to hookup the camcorder to access the tapes.

One more thing...my only DVD burner is on a Mac. I want to be able to burn DVDs that have no problem being read in either Windows or a Mac.

Thanks everyone for all the help so far!

[thecoalman]

If I go with the Hi8/Digital8 to miniDV conversion via firewire (4-pin to 4-pin), do I just hit Play at the source end and Record at the Destination? In other words, how do I designate what is Output and what is Input?

I don't know I've never done it, I'd imagine it's just a matter of hooking them up pushing play on one and pushing record on the other. Might be something in the menu..... one thing to note if you have a editor that supports it you can "print" your movie to tape from your computer. Isn't firewire great?

Since I have 14 tapes, all of which may contain up to 2 hours of video, and a DVD will hold 20 minutes of (I assume) uncompressed footage, if my math is correct, I'd need about 85 DVDs, as opposed to 56 miniDV tapes. What's the best deal dollar-wise?

I would think DVD would be cheaper, guess it depends on the quality of the media you purchase.

More importantly, what's the more stable storage media?

I would think DVD is, tape is fragile. Moisture, heat....much more than DVD.

One more thing...my only DVD burner is on a Mac. I want to be able to burn DVDs that have no problem being read in either Windows or a Mac.

I don't see where that would be a problem. DV is a universal format just like a .jpg at least that's my understanding. That question is probably better left to someone who uses a Mac.

[Jester700]

Yeah, play on one, record on the other. Just hook 'em up and play with 'em - it'll become self evident. The only hangup might be if you need to enable DV in or out on one or both; that'll be in the menus and should only take a few minutes to suss out.

Decent Ritek DVD blanks are under $0.50 each; that's about 9GB per dollar. A more expensive solution would be a hard drive for this purpose - about 2GB per dollar. But much faster, more convenient, and when the project is done you can wipe & reuse it.

The DV AVI files you generate are playable on PC or MAC, though if you use a hard drive the disk format might not be transportable.

[Linelle]

I do have a LaCie 120-gig external drive, good on the Mac and PC.

The thing is, a DVD burned using iDVD on the Mac (DVD-R) a couple of years ago won't play on my Dell DVD-ROM drive, although it plays great in our DVD player, and the Dell drive plays movie-DVDs just fine. Could it be the driver for my drive is old (computer is 2000 vintage)? So does it matter whether it's DVD-R or +R? I thought it made a huge difference.

[Jester700]

I do have a LaCie 120-gig external drive, good on the Mac and PC.

The thing is, a DVD burned using iDVD on the Mac (DVD-R) a couple of years ago won't play on my Dell DVD-ROM drive, although it plays great in our DVD player, and the Dell drive plays movie-DVDs just fine. Could it be the driver for my drive is old (computer is 2000 vintage)? So does it matter whether it's DVD-R or +R? I thought it made a huge difference.

Older PC drives can have issues with some DVD recordables, since the reflectivity is much lower. Some play only +R, some only -R, some neither. But you can't generalize; it depends on the individual player.

[Linelle]

Just wanted to follow up and say that copying Hi8 to miniDV via Firewire is a piece o' cake! As per recommendations, I set each unit to 16-bit audio and the Hi8 to AV/DV-out. Hit Record on the destination, then Play on the source, and that's it. The hardest part was logging the scenes, since some tapes have footage from many different years. Rather than swap tapes in and out to keep things chronological, I'll take care of that when I edit on the computer.

Thanks again for all your help so far.