Capturing video from a Hi8 camera

Gaspode

Hi,
I want to transfer video to my PC from a camcorder and wonder if the hardware I have will do it. I've a load of tapes from it that I'd like to get onto DVD or even just onto the PC.

The camera is a Sony HandyCam (CCD-TRV208E PAL) video recorder, which is in Hi8 format.
There are 2 output ports on it, S-Video out and AV out.

My video card is an ATI Radeon X1300/X1500 series, which has a DVI port.

Any opinions on what the chances are of being able to get the video from the camcorder to the PC without having to buy any new hardware?
I'd imagine a cable will be required at the very least since I dont ahve anything with a DVI connector on it.

decob

deswalsh wrote: »

Hi,
I want to transfer video to my PC from a camcorder and wonder if the hardware I have will do it. I've a load of tapes from it that I'd like to get onto DVD or even just onto the PC.

The camera is a Sony HandyCam (CCD-TRV208E PAL) video recorder, which is in Hi8 format.
There are 2 output ports on it, S-Video out and AV out.

My video card is an ATI Radeon X1300/X1500 series, which has a DVI port.

Any opinions on what the chances are of being able to get the video from the camcorder to the PC without having to buy any new hardware?
I'd imagine a cable will be required at the very least since I dont ahve anything with a DVI connector on it.

well assuming your card allow for a video input it should have come with the relevant cables... generally there would be a circular port with 11 or so pin holes for the a/v cable for the input.

To be honest the easiest and stress free way of converting the video to a dvd is using a dvd recorder with the component (a/v) outputs from the camera.

SouperComputer

Not gonna happen, you need to buy hardware. If you arent too fussed about making the best quality capture, you can get a PVR card or one of the DVD capture units. However if you want to make the most of what you have, an framebuffer capture card is the way to go, ie one that does not compress on board. This are pretty cheap. Then you can do the nessacary post-processing with minimal compression and loss of quality.

Here's a guide to help you: http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/vidcap.ars

To use this method you will need a fair whack of HD space. Generally you will at least want to crop the edges, perhaps adjust black level and if its going to be viewed online or on a computer, you may want to deinterlace too.

Gaspode

Cheers folks, I kinda suspected it would not be easy. I think the transfer to DVD using a DVD recorder might be the quickest option. Soupercomputer, thanks for the link, I'll have a read of that today in work if I dont get caught!!

CLADA

Just to follow on from deswalsh,
I recorded from a hi 8 sony on to a dvd recorder.
I then burned the content on to a dvd.
Wanted to store the video on my media player so converted it to dvix.
Now I find that the sound is out of sync.

Any ideas why?

thanks