Hi8 to PC?

[herbie_53]

My apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I want to transfer some video footage from an Hi8 camcorder to my PC. I was told a Dazzle would be just what I needed, but after reading up on these (as you do) and other makes of the same or similar thing, there always seems to be one person at least who reports back saying they are not that good.

Before I spash out is there anybody who can recommend the best way to do this?

Any advice would be very much appreciated,

Chris.

 

[OwenP]

Hi Chris,

No you're in the right place, at least as far as I am concerned you are.

You're HI8 will have 2 main outputs, S-VHS (S-Video) and Composite. The S-VHS is the circular connector with four pin socket and the composite
Is the singular phono connector which is usually colour coded yellow. This will to some degree depend on your camcorder but I'm pretty sure you'll have both.

They both output video pictures but in terms of quality the S-VHS output has the technically superior image quality.

Next you will need some kind of way of getting that signal into your computer.

I'm guessing your Computer has at least a USB connection, and a USB to S-VHS/composite adapter can be bought for a fiver on eBay. (inc postage)
( on the whole it won't matter whether it costs a fiver or five hundred as the technical standard is fixed. i.e. it's not like the difference between
Vauxhall V8 and a Ferrari V8)

Once you've got one and it's up and running just go into Movie Maker in Windows or iDVD on a Mac ( both are pre installed with your OS )
and from either programme you can capture footage into your computer from your Hi8.

The Dazzle you mentioned is just a flash brand of USB to S-VHS adapter as I mentioned above except you get some unnecessary software included.

All the best

 

[herbie_53]

:bonk: doh, now why didn't I think of Windows Movie Maker for the video capture. I had checked all my other video editing software, but was thinking I would need to buy something specifically for this job. What makes it even worse is, I was using WMM not so long ago for editing video footage from my MUVI camcorder.

I will give that a go.

Looking at the graphic's card on the back of my PC I see there is a female version of the S-Video plug, do you think I could plug the S-Video lead in there for the same results? or will I definitely need to use an adaptor for a USB port.

Many thanks OwenP for all of this information, it's been very informative and helpful

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[Skyviews100]

I doubt that the plug on the graphics card will do what you want, but I could be wrong.
You need to chnage the format from analogue (HI-8) to digital and unless your graphcs card can do this, it won't work. I guess that it's for output rather than input.