VHS & Hi8 conversion?

[larrewl]

I've got old family VHS and Hi8 video tapes that I want to convert and gradually (over a period of a few months) compile/make highlights videos using VS Pro to give each child (now in college). It might be something that could be played at their weddings. As VHS is low quality (maybe 200 horizontal lines?) and Hi8 medium quality (maybe 400 lines?), I don't want to use unecessary hard drive space yet don't want to further sacrifice quality. I've got a VHS/DVD recorder with (RCA/L/R) inputs so I thought I'd just burn DVDs of my VHS and Hi8 videos then convert on my hard drive. But I'm not sure how to convert from DVD or if there's a better method to convert from VHS/Hi8 to my hard drive. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

[BrianCee]

what sort of a VHS/DVD player do you have ? -- I have one which allows direct copying from tape to DVD so I just put the VHS in, put a blank disc in the tray and press 'copy' and the machine copies the video to disc without going any where near the computer.

You say that your VHS/DVD player has RCA inputs - but what about outputs - you particularly need three RCA OUTPUTS - that is yellow (video) red and white - without some outputs you have a problem.

The Hi-8 tapes are a problem - what have you got to play them, they will not play in a VHS player - so what do you have to play them and as important again what outputs does it have.

Once you have outputs the rest is easy - if your computer has RCA inputs just connect to them but if not you need to purchase a RCA to USB converter to plug into your computer. My personal choice for this is :- http://www.honestech.com/main/vhs-to-dvd-50-deluxe.asp but there are many others of different prices and functions.

Once the video is on your computer then put them into VideoStudio - edit if you wish - convert to mpeg-2 and burn to DVD using the burner on your computer.

[Ken Berry]

Sony makes (or made) a range of Digital 8 video cameras which can play back both straight 8 and Hi8 analogue tapes. The camera can be connected to your computer via firewire and you capture your analogue footage that way in DV format, which which guarantee the best quality and easiest editing for that type of video. While you may no longer be able to find a new Sony Digital 8, you might find one fairly cheaply, say, on eBay... Just do a bit of homework beforehand to ensure that it is a Digital 8 which allows the above sort of capture. Apparently not all of them did. Mine is a Sony DCR-TRV480.

[zoobie]

I used a device (Datavideo DAC-100) to convert hi8 to digital and ended up with nothing to compare the capture with. Then, I got a digital8 cam on eBay which converts the hi8 within the cam and spits out DV-AVI. In my case, the cam's PQ was about 20% clearer. I then actually re-sold the cam on eBay for $25 more than I paid. Like Ken said, not all digital8 cams will play analog hi8 so be sure to double-check.

[larrewl]

My Sharp VL-H860 Hi8 Viewcam is connected to Input 1 of my Magnavox MWR 20V6 VHS/DVD recorder by a RCA video/R/L cable. I think I'd prefer to have all my old VHS/Hi8 family videos stored on a removable hard drive rather than DVDs. What do you think?

[BrianCee]

Yes - all my videos are stored on removable hard drives - I have 5 of them now and simply label each one with all the videos on it and just swap drives as I need to import a video