Issues converting PAL Hi8 to digital using Canopus ADVC-100

[tosstestter]

I have a few PAL Analog Hi8 Cassettes that I'm trying to convert to digital video. After reading through many threads on this forum, I came to the conclusion that I would need a Canopus ADVC-100 converter and after a few months I was able to track down a relatively unused ADVC-100 on eBay.

The Camcorder I have is the Sony CCD-TRV138. The only video out port it has is a Mini AV (looks like a headphone jack), and the other end is a Yellow and Black RCA. I have an iMac 2011 that has a FireWire 800 port. I connected the Camcorders Mini AV to the Canopus video input, and then the Canopus FireWire 400 6 pin output to the iMac's FireWire 800 port.

For the ADVC-100 DIP switches, all of them are in the OFF position except for the first one which on set to ON for PAL video mode.

I turned on the iMac, then the Camcorder, rewinded the cassette, turned on the Canopus, opened iMovie, created a new project, clicked on Import Video, selected Canopus ADVC-100 from the list. And viola I can see the video from the Hi8 Cassette with Audio. I click Import and It's working.

And then all of a sudden the video on iMovie freezes. I try everything I could think of, nothing works. I then turn off the ADVC-100, and try again. I can see the video again, and then again after a few seconds the video freezes. I try this about 20 times, every time the video freezes after a few seconds. Then I try again and it randomly works now, and then it freezes again after 5 minutes.

Does anyone have any ideas what is happening here? Is the ADVC-100 damaged? Do I need to start my hunt again for a new A/D video converter?

[DB83]

This may be better answered in the Mac sub-forum but here are a few thoughts from a non-mac user (but owning an ADVC 300)

Let's eliminate the ADVC first. Follow your described setup but just play the tape without capturing. Does it play the full length or stop randomly as described.


If it stops you might wish to consider a replacement power adapter before replacing the ADVC


If it does not stop, and this is where a i-movie user will be more useful, review your capture settings in the program. My understanding is that you should transfer as a raw.dv file so it is a pure digital exact copy what the ADVC has already converted for you. There may be other capture settings like transcoding to other video formats which, quite possibly, have affected your pc + software and cause a memory issue hence the random crash. Encapsulating that raw stream in to a .mov file should also be fine.

[october262]

I have a few PAL Analog Hi8 Cassettes that I'm trying to convert to digital video. After reading through many threads on this forum, I came to the conclusion that I would need a Canopus ADVC-100 converter and after a few months I was able to track down a relatively unused ADVC-100 on eBay.

The Camcorder I have is the Sony CCD-TRV138. The only video out port it has is a Mini AV (looks like a headphone jack), and the other end is a Yellow and Black RCA. I have an iMac 2011 that has a FireWire 800 port. I connected the Camcorders Mini AV to the Canopus video input, and then the Canopus FireWire 400 6 pin output to the iMac's FireWire 800 port.

For the ADVC-100 DIP switches, all of them are in the OFF position except for the first one which on set to ON for PAL video mode.

I turned on the iMac, then the Camcorder, rewinded the cassette, turned on the Canopus, opened iMovie, created a new project, clicked on Import Video, selected Canopus ADVC-100 from the list. And viola I can see the video from the Hi8 Cassette with Audio. I click Import and It's working.

And then all of a sudden the video on iMovie freezes. I try everything I could think of, nothing works. I then turn off the ADVC-100, and try again. I can see the video again, and then again after a few seconds the video freezes. I try this about 20 times, every time the video freezes after a few seconds. Then I try again and it randomly works now, and then it freezes again after 5 minutes.

Does anyone have any ideas what is happening here? Is the ADVC-100 damaged? Do I need to start my hunt again for a new A/D video converter?

Try restarting your computer and opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys, and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the freezing issue is resolved. more info here - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253002664

[tosstestter]

This may be better answered in the Mac sub-forum but here are a few thoughts from a non-mac user (but owning an ADVC 300)

Let's eliminate the ADVC first. Follow your described setup but just play the tape without capturing. Does it play the full length or stop randomly as described.


If it stops you might wish to consider a replacement power adapter before replacing the ADVC


If it does not stop, and this is where a i-movie user will be more useful, review your capture settings in the program. My understanding is that you should transfer as a raw.dv file so it is a pure digital exact copy what the ADVC has already converted for you. There may be other capture settings like transcoding to other video formats which, quite possibly, have affected your pc + software and cause a memory issue hence the random crash. Encapsulating that raw stream in to a .mov file should also be fine.

Without doing the capture, the same thing happens. The video freezes after a random time. I've seen it freeze between 3-5 seconds, 35-38 seconds, 5 minutes, 6 minutes. The video playback on the actual camcorder works with no freezing.

I tried it using QuickTime as well, but QuickTime always shows a video thats skipping frames with no audio. But I believe thats an issue with QuickTime because iMovie plays back to the video+audio cleanly until it freezes.

[tosstestter]

I have a few PAL Analog Hi8 Cassettes that I'm trying to convert to digital video. After reading through many threads on this forum, I came to the conclusion that I would need a Canopus ADVC-100 converter and after a few months I was able to track down a relatively unused ADVC-100 on eBay.

The Camcorder I have is the Sony CCD-TRV138. The only video out port it has is a Mini AV (looks like a headphone jack), and the other end is a Yellow and Black RCA. I have an iMac 2011 that has a FireWire 800 port. I connected the Camcorders Mini AV to the Canopus video input, and then the Canopus FireWire 400 6 pin output to the iMac's FireWire 800 port.

For the ADVC-100 DIP switches, all of them are in the OFF position except for the first one which on set to ON for PAL video mode.

I turned on the iMac, then the Camcorder, rewinded the cassette, turned on the Canopus, opened iMovie, created a new project, clicked on Import Video, selected Canopus ADVC-100 from the list. And viola I can see the video from the Hi8 Cassette with Audio. I click Import and It's working.

And then all of a sudden the video on iMovie freezes. I try everything I could think of, nothing works. I then turn off the ADVC-100, and try again. I can see the video again, and then again after a few seconds the video freezes. I try this about 20 times, every time the video freezes after a few seconds. Then I try again and it randomly works now, and then it freezes again after 5 minutes.

Does anyone have any ideas what is happening here? Is the ADVC-100 damaged? Do I need to start my hunt again for a new A/D video converter?

Try restarting your computer and opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys, and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the freezing issue is resolved. more info here - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253002664

I will try that out and get back to you

[Eric-jan]

Did you try the Macrovision "mode" or did you set the lock dip switch on the ADVC100 ?
You power the ADVC100 externaly ? (400/800 power conflict on one side ?)