VideoHelp Forum




+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 6 of 6
  1. I have about 12 8mm tapes that I want to get to DVD. My 8mm camcorder is broke and I used a friends camcorder to dump them to VHS.
    My problem is I'd rather go directly from the 8mm tape to PC. I need another 8mm player to do this. Im mainly concernered with the quality of the playback. So any ideas? Im thinking I'll have to buy another 8mm camcorder since you cant get an 8mm player.
    Quote Quote  
  2. I'm currently converting my 8mm tapes to DVD.

    I use my new Canon GL2 camcorder as a AV>DV passthrough device, which is connected to my PC via Firewire port. Then you can press play on the 8 mm camcorder and capture video on your PC (I used Adobe Premiere). Then I fix up the video in Premiere then export to MPEG2 for DVD Authoring. Works pretty slick...

    If you don't have access to a new DV camcorder with passthrough, you could try a product like Dazzle's Holleywood DV-Bridge @ www.dazzle.com. I used that product in the past and it seemed pretty good for capturing video from an analog source.

    Hope this helps.
    Quote Quote  
  3. You can get a digital 8 camcorder to play your old 8mm tapes.

    The Sony TRV-350 can play 8mm and digital8 tapes and has a passthrough feature. Do not get the Sony TRV-250 or TRV-140 as they do not have a passthrough feature. A passthrough feature allows you to use your camcorder as a capturing device for VHS, etc as it will convert the video to DV (which can be sent to your computer through a firewire port).

    http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProduc...AAAADzBZYV6pST
    Quote Quote  
  4. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    I would buy a cheap Video 8 camcorder on ebay for $20-$100, transfer your tapes, then sell the camcorder back on ebay. Your out of pocket costs should be minimal.

    Also, older analog Video 8 tape decks occasional show up on ebay for pretty cheap - they may not be any better than a camcorder though.
    Quote Quote  
  5. I have a matrox RT2500 to capture the analog video from the analog source whatever it may be. Do you think the quality loss will be that much going from 8mm to VHS to DVD? I can use the VHS tapes I made from the original 8mm recordings but I wonder about picture quality degrading.
    Another factor is the camcorder I recorded the video on and the one I will use to play it back will be different. I noticed before sometimes the video doesnt look the same when played back on a camcorder it wasnt originally recorded on. Should i try to get the same manufacturer as my old broken camcorder(RCA) or try something else? Anyone out there know what Im talking about? Thanks for your replies.
    Quote Quote  
  6. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by jcort
    I have a matrox RT2500 to capture the analog video from the analog source whatever it may be. Do you think the quality loss will be that much going from 8mm to VHS to DVD? I can use the VHS tapes I made from the original 8mm recordings but I wonder about picture quality degrading.
    It depends on the person, but I find video noise from first generation Video 8 or VHS tape to be objectionable so I end up runing the video through virtualdub noise filters after capturing. Also the 2nd generation video may look ok now but the extra video noise will make the resulting dvd look terrible.

    Originally Posted by jcort
    Another factor is the camcorder I recorded the video on and the one I will use to play it back will be different. I noticed before sometimes the video doesnt look the same when played back on a camcorder it wasnt originally recorded on. Should i try to get the same manufacturer as my old broken camcorder(RCA) or try something else? Anyone out there know what Im talking about? Thanks for your replies.
    It would generally be preferable to get the same camcorder but I've had problems with a newer sony camcorder playing back Video 8 that was recorded on an older sony camcorder while a JVC camcorder had no problems playing it back.
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

Visit our sponsor! Try DVDFab and backup Blu-rays!