Need some direction. 8mm+GF=XMAS!

[jstewart]

My girlfriend ask me to do her a big favor this christmas and burn some old home movies she has of her and her dad. The tricky part is there on 8mm and me being of the younger generation, do not know where to go with this. I know how to burn basic DVD Backups ect. I have a capture card called the video mate (Purchased from newegg.com). I also have a video card that I know has s-video on it and might have audio-video too. If anyone could help I would appreciate it. I have used my capture card slightly so I understand some of the basics. But I could use some step by step including connecting cords. My Video Mate is currently hooked up to the cable which is an analog connections. Thanks again for whomever can share information

Jonathon

[Bjs]

Do you have access to the camera that was used to produce the 8mm films ??? , that would be the starting point .

You will need access to the manual to understand how to "output" from the camera as well , as there are a few differences between models now .

[Capt.Video]

Get a Digital8 camcorder to use or buy, then cap the video to DV, then to DVD. There are guides on how to build a DVD MPEG file so I wont go into detail.

Either that, or get an AV to DV converter, but you can get a Sony TRV-120 off ebay for the same cost or a little less and have a digital camcorder to boot! Ive had mine for many years, I know its not the same quality as an XL1 or VR2000, but Im still impressed with its sharpenss and color!!

Good luck,
Andrew

[ozymango]

I'm of a generation where I read "8mm" and "home movies," my first thoughts are of 8mm movie film, so I immediately started writing a treatise on setting up a movie projector and some kind of intermediate "screen" and then aim your camcorder at the screen ... ...

Being it's almost December already and it always takes me about ten times as long to make a DVD as I think it will, I'm sorta of the mindset that you might wanna consider just taking these tapes to a video store and having them transfer them for you (what you lose in $$$ you'll save in having your girlfriend not kill you!) ... ... but if it's "just" 8mm video to DVD, depending on what equipment you've already got and/or how much $$$ you've already got, plus how many tapes you've got, plus how much disk space is on your PC ... ugh ... so many variables ...

Well, as already noted, give us a list of what you've got to work with and we can figure out something!