Archiving Hi8 to miniDV/DVD

[sb]

I used to have that same camera (sold it on ebay a couple years ago)

If you can buy/borrow a Video8 camcorder, it will play Hi8 tapes, but has
the firewire connection. They are pretty inexpensive (under $500 usually)

If you dub from Hi8 to mindv, you will probably need 2 minidv tapes for each
Hi8 tape. MiniDV tapes are 1 hour, Hi8 tapes hold 2 hours. I wouldn't use
Extended Play on the miniDV tapes! You run the risk of dropouts.

I don't know if iMovie will recognize the timecode on the Hi8 tapes and do
the scene breaks if you use the Video8 camera for playback. I would guess
not, but I don't know and iMovie is pretty good at capturing. You already
know that there won't be any automatic scene breaks if you dub, since the
camera only starts and stops one time.

One converter is pretty much the same as another as far as the quality of
the video, unless you get into the professional (expensive) ones, where you
do see an increase in quality.

Of course, manufacturers are always improving their products, so there might
be a camera or converter box that does a much better job at a consumer price
in the next few years.

 hth,

 sb

On 7/16/2004 9:12 AM, "Rosen, Marc" <Marc.Rosen at gs.com> wrote:

> I would like to accomplish 2 goals with my old Hi8 tapes
> 
> 1. Archive/Save them to DVD or miniDV
> 2. Edit them
> 
> I have an old Hi8 Sony Camcorder CCD TR81 (without a firewire/iLink
> interface)
> 
> When I plug the Hi8 camera into the miniDV camera via analog cables  (S-VHS
> video and red/whit audio cables) The Hi8 tapes are copied to miniDV, but
> from the miniDV standpoint this is just one long clip without breaks. When I
> then import from the miniDV to the Mac via firewire, the Mac iMovie software
> doesn't automatically break up the clip into scenes  (which it does with
> originals recorded directly on MiniDV)
> 
> If I found a Hi8 camera with firewire, would I be able to import into the
> miniDV or directly to the Mac and preserve scene breaks?
> 
> Also a general question, does the miniDV camera impact the quality of the
> copy, i.e. if I buy a better miniDV camera in a couple years, will I be able
> to make better copies of my original Hi8's
> 
> In short, am I on the right track? Is there a better way to do this without
> breaking the bank ?