Hi8 conversion

[Ad_astra]

Hi,
I'm making good progress capturing a bunch of Mini DV tapes and cutting them up using Scenalyzer. When I'm done with that, I have another box with older Hi8 tapes. Before I start on them, I thought it would be a good idea to check with experts here on how to go about that.

Ages ago, to capture a small amount of Hi8 footage on a few occasions, I plugged my Hi8 camcorder (which I still have) into my Mini DV camcorder which was connected to the computer via Firewire. Is this still the best way to go about it? For any USB-based setups, I might have to first upgrade to USB-3 which I don't currently have.

As for the scene splits, Scenalyzer has been a god send for Mini DV but only because of time codes embedded in the tapes. There are of course date/time codes on Hi8 as well, but I have no idea if those can be used and how.

Thanks!

[DB83]

There should be no issue using the DV camcorder as a pass-through for the Hi8. Of course you end up with a DV capture and I doubt if date/timecodes can be captured.

Of course, better than DV is a lossless capture of the Hi8 with a usb device. The Hauppuage USB-Live2 is def usb2 (I know since I have one) and I thought that the other recc. ones were likewise.

[Ad_astra]

Thank you. I'm seeing other devices on Amazon that are a fraction of the cost of Hauppuage. Just wondering if Hauppuage is an absolute must.

[DB83]

No. It is not an absolute must. But with the recc. ones you do get proper drivers and manuf. support.

But you get what you pay for.


Most of these cheap units are of Chinese origin and based on the same chip. We called them 'Easycrap'. They knocked of another perfectly good product called Easycap.

[The_Doman]

Ages ago, to capture a small amount of Hi8 footage on a few occasions, I plugged my Hi8 camcorder (which I still have) into my Mini DV camcorder which was connected to the computer via Firewire. Is this still the best way to go about it? For any USB-based setups, I might have to first upgrade to USB-3 which I don't currently have.

For my understanding, I think most (SD) capture solutions still just use USB2.

But for the DV/Firewire discussion, this sums it up still for me

The old "war of opinion" - Capture 8mm tapes in DV or lossless?

Capturing as DV is about getting reliable results, while capturing through SVideo is about trying to squeeze the maximum quality. As such, it is apples and apple crates - the optimization criteria are different.

DV provides decent results, but it has two downsides: compression noise and limited colorspace (especially NTSC). For most people who aren't perfectionists, given that they are starting with VHS/SVHS/8mm/Hi8mm which are all pretty lousy to begin with, the damage done by DV's limitations are often the least of the problems in the capture.

[Ad_astra]

Thank you for your input. I've got one of those dongle usb contraptions that look a lot like Hauppuage USB-Live2. It works, however I'm having an issue with resolution/aspect ratio as the resulting video is about a quarter of the screen displaying in the top left of the monitor.

My guess is that it's a settings issue. In OBS, I was able to set the right resolution (720x480) for the Video capture device. However, in the File-Settings menu, Base (canvas) resolution only has three options, all of them hi def and the wrong aspect ratio (16:9 whereas the footage is 4:3). The Output (scaled) resolution options in that same video menu do go down to approximate standard res, but appear to require a downscale filter. In one of the quick youtube tutorials a guy was showing identical 720x480 selections for both the capture device and base and output options. No idea how it worked for him. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Darryl In Canada]

The consensus among the experienced users is to use either AmarecTV or VirtualDub for capture, instead of OBS. While there is a learning curve for those software, too, I think it may help avoid this specific issue you are experiencing.