Newbe needing help deciding best way to convert minidv Hi8 and HD video tap

[peterellen]

Hi,
I have about 62 video tapes, a mix Of mini dv , Hi8 and HD which I need to convert to digital
to edit . I have a mini dv camcorder I realise it has a firewire port I hopfully will find a HI8 and
HD camcorders also with firewire ports. My own laptop dose not have a firewire port but I
plan to buy a old lptop with one just to capure the fotage. I then hope to transfer this to the
laptop I am currently useing by burning fotage onto discs as I have adobe elements on this laptop
as all video fotage will need to be edited. Firstly I am not sure If I am over complecating the
process just dont think conversters work. Also do I need to put a specific software on the old
laptop when I get it to capture. Any advice or help would be so much appreciated
petterellen

[smrpix]

Two thirds of this is easy. DV needs to be transferred by firewire. Though you have not specified what type of HD you have, if it is tape it is probably HDV -- also firewire. In any case, there is no consumer HD video format that is NOT digital, so the data can be copied directly.

For the Hi8, the options are the same as for VHS -- there are many posts here.

Hi8 can also be transferred from a digital 8 camcorder via firewire. Folks here have strong feelings about that both ways.

Adobe Premiere Elements can capture from a properly configured firewire card.

[johnmeyer]

When capturing DV via Firewire, use SClive. "Capturing" DV is actually nothing more than a copy, so you get the identical bits to what was stored on tape. While you would think that would be a simple operation and the software wouldn't matter, it does.

If you are going to get an old laptop for the capture (good idea, BTW), then put Windows XP on it because this software (and many other old capture programs) run best on the older O/S.

I don't have any specific software to recommend when capturing Digital8 or HDV (the other two tape-based digital formats). I just use the capture that is built in to my old versions of Sony Vegas (now owned by Magix).

[babygdav]

Minidv.
Find any hdv camcorder - they all have firewire and can let you feed into a computer with firewire. Eg canon hv10/20 etc.

Hi8
Find a digital 8 camcorder that can do it.
http://www.dvdyourmemories.com/blog/camcorders-support-8mm-hi8-digital8-tapes/

Windows xp through 10 all worked for me with firewire and Sony Vegas. Any other software like windv that can talk to firewire devices and capture ought to work fine, too.

Win8/10 you might need to install the Microsoft Legacy Firewire Drivers.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2970191

....

If unsure, an old mac mini/laptop with firewire for <$100 will easily capture, too.

[peterellen]

Thanks everyone for your advice so far. I will now check it all out and let
you know how it works out
peterellen