8 mm tape to DVD

[Dunster]

This is my first visit to this forum (Digital Media). I just want to know if anyone can steer me to a software program (and connectors) that would alow me to input my 8 mm tapes onto my computer and then transfer them to DVD.

Thanks...Dunster

[Jeremy]

ideally i think the higest quality method would be finding someone with a digital8 camcorder with backwards compatibility (you have analog 8mm video?) and then importing via firewire using any software you want...ulead videostudio is often bundled with capture hardware, or you can use professional software like adobe premiere. sony cameras pretty much a given for this task. i went through the same process, and the resutls were far superior to that of capturing video through a capture board, although mine costed only about $80-100.

apart from that you can ask zooner, who i think runs a business for this purpose, or you can look into professional quality capture boards running you a few hundred dollars at least.

[knightmare]

I have a leadtek tv/fm radip/capture card, but i saw a cool device for 48$ @newegg, supporting direct transfer & burn, no saving to harddrive, ok if you don't need to edit the video much.

check it out>> video to dvd transfer (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=15-100-112&depa=0)

[Dunster]

Thanks knightmare. I saw that too, but I wasn't too sure about it. It looks like you hook up the camcorder and then input the video via the USB and the Audio via the sterio input on you sound card.

I'm still undecided what I want to do. It would be nice to do some video editing and all, but I really don't know if I would have the time.

I have about 15-20 hours of 8 mm tape with mostly kids stuff on it. I just need to figure out what I want to do.

[Jeremy]

USB vid capture isn't great, especially the cheaper solutions. for good results worthy of DVD, you definitely need a more powerful solution.

like i said i have tons of 8mm tapes too. i tried a usb one first, and the results were terrible on TV (looked like it came from the web). then i bought a tv tuner (winfast tv2000 xp deluxe) and the results weren't bad but the original looked far better. then i borrowed a d8 camcorder and the quality is by far superior to the other two and nearly as good as the original. basically you generally get what you pay for unfortunately.

[Dunster]

Jeremy, I just want to make sure I understand this correctly. I should take my 8mm tapes and play them through my camcorder into the input on a digital 8 mm camcorder (buddy at work has one) and record them to a digital 8mm tape. Then, hook up the digital 8mm camcorder via sometype of video capture into my computer. I don't have firewire, but I do have USB 2.

[Jeremy]

you almost got it. depending on his model, a digital8 (they use the same type of tapes) camcorder can directly play the 8mm tape as if it were digital and output it directly via firewire. a minidv camcorder (which uses a tiny different tape) usually has an analog input so you can play your analog 8mm camcorder into the minidv camcorder. in both cases you WILL need firewire, but getting a $20-40 pci card is not bad compared to paying 100s for the service or a new camcorder or capture card.

when you get the card, fire up a dv program (ulead videostudio is a common bundled app, adobe premiere is another expensive one). if you can play directly via digital8, you control the camcorder from your computer, and simply rewind your tape and press record.

if you're using analog conversion (involving your analog camcorder outputting to a dv camcorder), you click record from your pc first, and then you need to press play on your analog camcorder manually (since you can't control an analog camcorder digitally).

oh, also a no-frills importer is WINDV. it is a 30k program, google it.

i did it both ways with video8 and vhs tapes, and the process is really easier than i'm making it sound. the hardest part is waiting for 2 hours of video to record and dropping frames (if a background app starts up) and running out of space (12GB/hr!!!).

[Dunster]

Thanks for the reply. I knew this was going to be a little bit involved. Time wise that is.

[zooner]

I use pinnacle for capturing. I've found it extremely stable with the current updates and I like it's ease of use. There are a TON of programs avialable for capturing from a miniDV, even some TINY free ones.

capture into the 'miniDV' format. This is a 4meg per minute codec that will give you perfect quality, but a huge file. I have captured over 6 hours straight before without dropping a single frame. I've also heavily multitasked, again without dropping any frames. using the 'miniDV' format utilizes VERY little cpu power.

after you have completed the capture step, you need to encode your avi file into a mpeg2. I recommend using tmpgenc for this because nothing beats it for the ease of use and quality.

After that, you have two options. You can either use tmpgenc dvd author to create your menu system and burn the dvd. Or, you can find the mpeg2 plugin for nero 6. Nero 6 is a little more complicated, but it produces SOME AMAZING content. You can easy create background video for your menu's, along with audio. You can mix custom made slideshows and your movie content. You can also re-encode the video the half D1, which will cut your mpeg2 files in half. This allows you to fit more content on a dvd. I've put 5-6 hours on a single dvd, with almost NO loss of quality.

nero 6 WILL do the encoding, allowing you to skip the tmpgenc step. however, the results are not as good. I've had some problems too using nero 6 for the encoding as well.

More affordable, but equal in quality to a miniDV camcorder is the canopus advc100. You can purchase this for as little as $200 if you're attending school. If not, let me know. I have a canon dr60 that i really dont need anymore. It carries a transferable best buy coverage that has about 3 1/2 years left on it. The conversion quality is equal to a sony trv33 or trv22, but MUCH cheaper.

tom