VideoHelp Forum
+ Reply to Thread
Page 2 of 2
FirstFirst 1 2
Results 31 to 52 of 52
Thread
  1. Yah, it saves space with the bottom mount tape slot, but still is nuts, The way the screws are set up for the tripod, if you use a Bogen or other tripod that has a quick release plate that mounts to the camera, you actually have to remove the camera from the tripod and remove the quick release plate to clear the tape transport before ejecting the tape. Nutty.
    Quote Quote  
  2. Member tim_k's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Didn't know this post was still going on. Well I bought the wife the TRV-350 for Christmas. Went out on Black Friday when Tweeter had a 25% sale on all camcorders. Paid $375 for it. Bought a firewire board with cable from Newegg for $20. All set to go. Just waiting for Christmas to try it out.
    Quote Quote  
  3. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Alabama, USA
    Search Comp PM
    Thanks for all of the good information in this post. I guess we made the right guess when we purchased the TRV-350. Got it back in October but have just started using it during the holidays. I have noticed the difference in digital quality that it produces on DVD's. Enough blundering..I just wanted to say thanks for the info provided here.
    It Cost No More To Go First Class, You Just Have To Pay A Little Longer
    Quote Quote  
  4. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Atlanta
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by tim_k
    vtecwil,

    I'm going to be buying a camcorder for Christmas soon. I currently have an old analog 8mm camcorder.
    Digital-8 was made for you! Sony developed the format for those of us who have older 8mm or Hi-8 tapes. However only the TRV350 will playback your old tapes. The lower model does not have this feature.

    I have had a TRV230 for a couple of years and love it. It makes great DVDs when paired with my Sony DVD R(W) drive in my computer.

    Solarfox,

    There is, in fact, no significant difference in quality between Hi-8 tape and "Digital8" tape.
    Change that "no significant" to none what so ever. Sony's website touts the fact that the camcorders use Hi-8 tapes and are designed to use them. It's just a different lable like you say.

    BTW I had alot of noise capturing old Hi-8 analog video while playing it in the camcorder. I hooked up my old Hi-8 camcorder to D-8 and passed it through... fabulous. I also taped a couple of specials off of satelite with the D-8 and transfered them to DVD. Sweet!

    Theseus
    Quote Quote  
  5. Member solarfox's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Change that "no significant" to none what so ever.
    Well, I was hedging my bets in case some smart-ass out there decided to dig through the manufacturer's specs and try the old "ha ha u dont know what ur talking about" over some difference in specification that, in reality, amounts to 0.00001% variance.

    TW I had alot of noise capturing old Hi-8 analog video while playing it in the camcorder. I hooked up my old Hi-8 camcorder to D-8 and passed it through... fabulous.
    This must be dependant on the camcorder model or something, because my TRV-103's analog-tape playback looks just fine... or at least as good as the analog can look, considering that some of it was shot on a camcorder that had one foot in the grave when I got it from the pawn shop.
    Quote Quote  
  6. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Atlanta
    Search Comp PM
    Well I will admit that the Hi-8 tapes were shot on a different manufacturer's camcorder... that is probably the souce of the noise.

    Theseus
    Quote Quote  
  7. Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Atlanta
    Search Comp PM
    Well I will admit that the Hi-8 tapes were shot on a different manufacturer's camcorder... that is probably the souce of the noise.

    Theseus
    Quote Quote  
  8. I use a Sony Hi8 & simply run the signal through it's s-video out to my Panasonic e30 dvd recorder s-video In. Converts it to a dvd in real time. The quality is the same as the original because of filters that panasonic uses.
    Quote Quote  
  9. Member solarfox's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    That's not a bad way to do it either, if you're not overly concerned about fine editing of the footage you've shot.

    I went with the Digital-8 method because I was making highlights tapes for a particular sci-fi/fantasy con at the time, and I had to distill some 10 - 15 hours of footage -- much of it shot by staff volunteers and convention attendees on their own camcorders, which were primarily 8mm and Hi-8 units (with the occasional VHS-C heretic, just to make my life complicated ) -- into a coherent 90-minute presentation. Nowadays, I get more of my footage on miniDV and Digital8, but I still get a fair amount submitted on Hi-8 tape (along with the occasional SVHS heretic, just to make my life really complicated ).

    So, as usual, the "best" method all depends on exactly what you're trying to accomplish.
    Quote Quote  
  10. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    California
    Search Comp PM
    Glad to see all these people using Digital 8 Camcorders. I have a Sony TRV-740 for more than a year and love it. It does just about everything mentioned in this post and it has firewire in/out, Comnposite in/out, S-video in/out, and USB in/out.

    My question is,... with all these happy people, where is the forum where we can discuss what we really want to do, i.e., Transfer, Edit, Author, and encode our movies to whatever, VCD, sVCD, DVD, MPEG-1,-2, etc.

    I'm sure that all of you that have a camcorder have or are facing all kinds of problems, and looking for good guides on how to do each of the above. If you know the answer,... please post it here so the rest of us can get on with what we really want to do. All the other forums on this web site all full of stuff that I (we) really don't want to have to wade throught to get some good info on DV. Wouldn't it be great if we had a forum on this site dedicated just to DV.

    Thanks for your help
    "Technology",...It's what keeps us all moving forward.
    Quote Quote  
  11. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Augusta, GA
    Search Comp PM
    where is the forum where we can discuss what we really want to do, i.e., Transfer, Edit, Author, and encode our movies to whatever, VCD, sVCD, DVD, MPEG-1,-2, etc.
    Uuuhhh!!...........
    I believe you are here https://www.videohelp.com/
    Unless I am confused by your ?
    There are guides , forums for capture , edit, author etc. here.
    God Bless
    Quote Quote  
  12. "That's not a bad way to do it either, if you're not overly concerned about fine editing of the footage you've shot"

    Just put the dvdr in the computer & edit.

    Frankly, I do it so nicely that I don't have to edit. If youre great with a camera you do your editing when shooting by using the record button
    Quote Quote  
  13. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    California
    Search Comp PM
    I guess I wasn't that clear in my "Question",.... Where is the Forum....

    Currently, each of the forum in VCDhelp are wide open. In all of them you can basically post on a very wide list of subject. There must be a 1000 different ways to ask on "Editing", everything from VHS, DVD, TV, Digital cable, S-video, AVI data, MPEG date, etc.,etc., etc.

    What I would like to see is a "Forum" on Digital Video Camcorder to X" I think this is already such a broad topic there would be plenty of interest.
    If you search through just about any current forum, you have to wade through 500 post to find something about DV and exclusively about DV, Transfer, Editing, special effects, titles, authoring, burning, etc.

    I really have appreciated VCDhelp over the last 2 years and I've used it alot and will continue to use it. I also think it would be great if there was a Digital Video (DV) forum. After all , why do we have 12+ fourms right now. It helps people narrow down their search for information on their subjects and needs.

    Bud
    "Technology",...It's what keeps us all moving forward.
    Quote Quote  
  14. This forum link is all about camcorders.

    http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/index.php?s=

    Still might not be exactly what you are looking for.
    Quote Quote  
  15. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    California
    Search Comp PM
    Funny thing about my camera. It has all of the in/out connectors, RCA, S-video, Firewire, and USB,... but no where in my manual can I find how to set it up for "on the Fly" transfer of analog video. I know the TRV350 has the Pass through function, and I thought my camera did also. But when I search the Sony site I can find nothing about it.

    I have a feeling that Sony does this to separate different products at different prices, even though they have the same capabilities. I have real about what sony does for Cameras in Europe by disabling features just to segment markets and justify prices. It seems they do a lot of mix and match to control markets.

    Anybody have any experience with this. The TRV 350 is a lower cost camera because it only has a 360,000 pixel CCD, where the TRV is 1,070,000 pixel, plus a few other features. I know I can copy the VHS tape to a Digital 8 tape and then firewire that to my PC,... but that seems a waste of time. It has to have the conversion hardware or it could not do that. If I put in an old HI 8 analog tape, I can play that and transfer it in firewire to my PC in DV mode,... and that proves it can do on the fly conversion.
    "Technology",...It's what keeps us all moving forward.
    Quote Quote  
  16. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Augusta, GA
    Search Comp PM
    I have a trv 740. It does not have an analog passthru, at least not like my trv 103
    If you are converting analog video say VHS to digital , your choices with the 740 will be to do it as you described ( I know I can copy the VHS tape to a Digital 8 tape and then firewire that to my PC,... but that seems a waste of time.)
    or
    to purchase a device to do it for you, a camera such as the 103, a digicam with passthru or a device such as a advc 100.

    I typically use an Canopus advc 100. fire wire to it, fire wire to computer, capture with Pinnacle Studio 7, edit, render, and then transfer to Movie maker 2 to add titles, chapters and menus. This does a good job for me but is time consuming.

    The set up in the pic presented, I can use my advc100 also and capture raw footage from dig8 to vhs for my Church members w/only vhs while capturing to my computer on same pass for burning to dvd.

    I am acquiring a Pioneer dvr210s and will experiment withcapturing to it on -rw and editing on computer. Then reburning finished product to -r.
    This will require that I upgrade to MM3 , I believe. I am hoping this will be less time consuming. if not, it shouldn't be more time consuming and I can transfer everything to dvd-r or rw for now and worry about editing in future.

    In some ways the 103 is a nicer camera, it does have passthru analog and is toploading. The auto focus and some other auto settings are better on the 740. I have a few days left to return the 740 at Sears. I paid so little for it, but if I return it it will pay for the pioneer. I am undecided.
    God Bless
    Quote Quote  
  17. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Augusta, GA
    Search Comp PM
    God Bless
    Quote Quote  
  18. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Augusta, GA
    Search Comp PM
    God Bless
    Quote Quote  
  19. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Augusta, GA
    Search Comp PM
    lets try one more time, then I give up.
    I call him borg
    God Bless
    Quote Quote  
  20. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    California
    Search Comp PM
    First let me appologise for my first post. After doing 2-3 hours of research on the web, and trying to contact Sony, I decided to give it a try and of course it did not work. However, It forced me to look one more time in detail through my manual, and you won't believe what I found. Onn page 89 is a detailed guide on how to use The "Signal Conversion Function. In other words,... full Pass through. You can do it with any of the I/O functions but of course the firewire is the best.

    The first time I tried it, I failed. Then I realized that when you do this pass through you must not have a Tape in the camcorder.

    So, if you have a TRV-740 you'll be very happy to know that it really does "on the fly" transfer and recoding of the analog into DV.

    I tried a copy protected movie, just to see if it would go and it did. The camcorder does not see the Macrovision. It transferred full speed and did not drop 1 frame. I used VideoStudio in DV capture mode to store the incoming file as DV .avi. After that I did a quick edit and finished by encoding it to a SVCD MPEG file. Then I burned it to a CD-RW to test it on my Apex 1500. Works perfect.

    Only had one problem and haven't figured that out yet. I tried to import the .avi file into TMPGen and use that to encode to SVCD but it rejected the file. The strange thing is, it would load the file and preview all of it, but it would not encode it.

    Anyway,... I'm now more than happy with my TRV-740. There are so many more features that I'm going to have to learn. By the way, the way you get into "Pass through" mode, is to open the menu and with the scroll but at the bottom of the camera, roll down and select "A/V to DV out" and the click it to turn it "ON". With everything connected, turn the camera into VCR mode and start your source ( mine was a VHS tape in my VCR).

    This who feature is going to save me all kinds of time. I have about 50 + hours of older 8 mm analog tapes with stuff I've shot all over the world. Now I'm going to be able to reduce that to SVCD.

    Hope this helps you.
    "Technology",...It's what keeps us all moving forward.
    Quote Quote  
  21. Originally Posted by MachineMan
    I just noticed that I have been using Hi8 Tapes in my Sony
    DCR-TRV520 Handycam which is supposed to take Digital8 tapes.
    They seem to work but are there any potential issues?
    Article answers the original question of this post:
    http://www.camerahacker.com/Sony/8mm_Tape_Differences.html
    Quote Quote  
  22. Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    California
    Search Comp PM
    As you can see, this forum has been upgrade to include the things that you can really do with a Digital Camcorder. It's the best thing that I ever did,... i.e., buy a GOOD DV camcorder. It has totally simplified my Video processing efforts.

    Here is a link to another topic where there is a great deal of information on what you can do and how to do it,.. with a DV camcorder. I'm also going to post some links to discussion on the software that I use to "Produce" excellenent SVCD, DVD's, from Camcorder, and from Satillite quality TV movies. That will be in another post Editing Digital Video.

    https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=204000&highlight=bstansbury
    "Technology",...It's what keeps us all moving forward.
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

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