Hello all!

I have a Sony CCD-TRV118 NTSC video camcorder from somewhere in the 90's. I have several hours of video, tracks, locations, trips and general bigfootery on these Hi8 tapes and need to get them transferred over to digital. The camcorder was purchased from a friend at an unbeatable price but without a manual or any of the AV cords or accessories that originally came with it. The friend I purchased it from is clueless as to anything regarding the Camcorder or where any of the accessories went. Good guy but he's got too much money and little appreciation for his possessions.

I was just wondering if anyone might have any idea how I can get these tapes transferred to digital?

Cheers

If you plan on doing it yourself, you'll need to buy a USB or internal card to capture the Analog Video signal, then your computer with the correct software will change it to a digital signal. I use the Turtle Beach Video Advantage USB system and it works well. You'll also need a fairly fast computer, or you'll get dropped frames which will give a choppy look to the video and audio. On my old computer, which was a Pentium 1.6 Ghz I'd get a few dropped frames but wasn't too bad. My new computer which is the AMD Phenom Quad Core at 2.4 Ghz gives no dropped frames. Depending on how much time worth of video you might want to check to see if there's a Photography Place near you that can do it for you. That may be more economical if this is the only video you plan on transferring.

Do NOT let the price of the capture device make the decision of which one you'll buy. Checking on the reviews by users you'll find junk ones are just as expensive as the good ones, and good ones that are cheap. Check computer parts online sites and search for Video Capture Devices to see which they carry and the prices. A number of them also have user reviews that may help you make a more informed decision.

Thanks so much for the info Moregon! I'll probably stick with this unit because of the nightshot and because it's proven itself to be a very durable little camcorder. I've had it for 4 years now and it's been out in the rainy, cold bush with me more times than I can count and it's never given me any trouble...knock on wood.

Thanks again sir!

Cheers

I agree, I have the Sony CCD TR818 NTSC that I've had for years as well, and it's also Hi8. With the capture device I have I just plug the composite cord into the unit and play the video. The software captures it, then converts to which ever format I want. Then I can either make a file that can be played or streamed or burn it directly to a DVD. I'm guessing that the USB system I have ran about $100 probably close to 8 years ago. There are some cheaper, but as I said a lot of those don't get good reviews. Then again there's a number of much more expensive systems that don't get good reviews either.

Here's a couple of YouTube videos I made using my Hi8 and the Capture Device to give you an idea of what it looks like if posted at YouTube. Don't forget they convert to their format which compresses the video a lot and you lose considerable quality compared to DVD you burn.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 2 was shot at night, but NOT with NightVision. I just used the available light from a nearby porch.

moregon,

I liked the the quality of both the audio and the video!

Thanks much!

Cheers

Spookysully,

I just transferred all the old family movies over from Hi 8 to Digital. I bought a Panosonic DVD player and recorder from Best Buy for under $150. You can use the RCA cables out of the Hi8 into the DVD recorder and record in real time right to a DVD w/o using memory on your computer or worring about dropped frames. You can later rip the parts you want to your computer using Nero or someother program later.

My new DVD's look as good as the originals.

If your Hi 8 camcorder does not have RCA out then most likely you have the little USB tye looking out. You can go to Best Buy or Radio Shack and get the cable to fit. It will have the Yellow, Red and White RCA's on the other end for connection to a burner or computer capturing device.

That's how I do it. I hope this helps.

Polypodium

I kept my Sony Nightshot, like you guys. The nighvision use is so low in resolution, it doesn't matter that it isn't HD. Even an HD recording of night vision would be low resolution, so,,,,keep the Nightshot anyways. It will always work.

What the Sony used in the Hi8 outputs, was first, analogue, then added " Firewire ", which is a tiny USB type plug. You can still get those at at retail computer stores I think. Take the camera, and make sure it's the right one to fit. There might be a Firewire to USB cable, that comes with a program video editor. Either way, you will need a program. If you can't find a USB type input, then you do need an input video recording card, with a program. Those are cheap nowadays, since HD came along. You can upload from your Sony, directly to digital, but it won't be HD. Mpeg2 is about all you'll get from the low resolution of a Hi8 compared to HD. Good enough really. Mpeg4 is the HD format, and converting an older format to HD won't bring the resolution up. I always record video to AVI raw format, which is uncompressed. MPEG is compressed, and looses pixel content each time you convert it. Saving in AVI for your own file system is best, then you can make a copy for internet use, in MPEG, to send it out, or upload it to someplace like YouTube, or you can convert it to DVD and burn it to disc. You can buy a full boxed package with cables and a program for it to do all of that.

I'm battling with my system now, for downloading HD from the net, and it's spendy for now. Just upgraded my regular Pinnacle video editor to HD, and I'm still trying to figure it out.

If you're looking to get a better camera, like HD, when it gets cheaper, there are great retail programs that come with the new camera. All depend on what you want to spend.

Thanks for the replies everybody, I knew there was a practical reason for joining this forum but I usually enjoy my time here so much that I loose all reason for practicality. err..yea!

Thanks again!

Cheers

I've got an even easier way for you. Right after HI8, Sony came out with something called Digital-8, which uses HI-8 tapes but records in digital format. The handy thing about it, is that it reads HI-8 tapes and converts them to digital on the fly. So all you need to do, is to find an old Digital 8 Camcorder at a pawnshop (I bought one for $59 that works perfectly a while back) pop your tape in it, hook up the camcorder with a firewire cable, and capture it into your PC. You can continue to shoot with your HI-8 and pop it into the digital 8 to transfer to your PC, or shoot with the digital 8. Look for something like a TRV-120, TRV-320 or something along those lines. All Sony digital 8 camcorders say Digital-8 where yours says hi-8

That will work IF the computer has a Firewire Port. There are USB to Firewire adapters, but it depends on whether the computer is USB 1.0 or 2.0 compatible. 2.0 allows up to 480 mbps while 1.0 is only 12 mbps, most firewire is 400mbps but although it looks like it's slower it actually has a higher average throughput than the 480mbps USB 2.0.

Been doin some research for myself, to do the same thing, and found this dvd recorder that's perfect. Has analogue inputs, s-video input, records direct to dvd disc from your camera, or t.v, or anything. And no dropped frames, like with a PC. Then just copy the file from the dvd, to your computer if you want.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=S...ecorder&N=0

There are some on Ebay too. You may find one in a pawn shop. I'm gonna look there, as I'm driving around.

The problem with converting video to DVD, is that it will not be easily editable if you want to use it in a longer video, or edit out the non-useful stuff. Not many consumer level video editors edit DVD video well (MPEG2) without converting it, resulting in a loss in quality audio/video sync. Then when you are done editing it will be re-converted to DVD resluting in another potential loss in quality. By far the best way is to work in native DV format. Most editors support it, and it does not have to be converted until you go out to DVD.

Regarding dropped frames, if you have a modern PC with at least a gig and a half of RAM you will never experience it. I don't rememember the last time I had dropped frames.

Well, personally, I'm from the old country, where everything is recorded in raw format. I'd prefer to upload straight to avi, and keep it that way, in smaller clips. The internet doesn't like avi, from what I gather, and Hi8 is low enough in quality already, without websites converting uploads to compressed versions, like flv. Damned electronics evolves faster than most people can afford. Fascinating how they sell HD cams, but compress the data, losing a percentage every time you edit it. It still ends up better than mp2, just frustrating. Some people are gonna need 500 gig hard drives, and 25 gig processors. I've downloaded Tcs's HD clips, for editing, and none of my newly upgraded editors can do anything with it. I'm not spending another 2 grand, just for online video content, hehe. I'm always about 4 years behind anyways, waiting for new tech to level out, and the crap to disappear.

Mp2 is t.v. broadcasting quality, and that will just have to do. That Mc5 recorder has some fairly higher quality recording up to 760 I think, at 4x3 or 16x9. A new one just came out, Mc10, for 300 bucks, and records in HD, and still has analogue inputs. Might be worth the money.