Transferring Hi8 to digital and using imovie 11

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Level 1

8 points

Transferring Hi8 to digital and using imovie 11

Christmas is coming and I am trying to make a list for me 🙂 but am not sure what to really ask for. I have been trying to read posts here about editing in imovie 11 but I have never worked with video before so I don't know what to do or what I need to accomplish my desires. I have a BUNCH of home videos that we have recorded on hi8 tapes and I want to transfer these to digital. I have asked at a store what to do and they suggested using a device: Sony dvdirect, vrd-mc6 multi-function dvd recorder or dazzle. Another store was selling: VuPoint DVC-ST100B-VP-BX4 Digital Video Converter - AV to SD/SDHC Card. However, none of these do not say they are compatible with apple. I understand that I will get them to dvd with the sony, but then if I ever want to use these videos in imovie will I be able to import them? I am thinking that for the most part, just getting them to dvd would be enough but my daughter is graduating this year and I want to edit some of her in imovie to make a disc of her activities as a graduation gift. I don't even know if I am asking the right questions or if I am just confusing myself more than necessary trying to figure it all out? What formats does imovie 11 accept? Is this the route to go...transferring to dvd with a device or trying to do it all through imovie? I would actually like to create chapters on the dvds but don't know if that is necessary or even possible? Eventually, I would also like to get a new camcorder that is digital and maybe that is what I need to do now/first? I just want to know what the cheapest way to do all this and just don't feel knowledgeable at all in this area so it is very hard for me to research. Is there a way to transfer hi-8 tapes through another digital camcorder to the computer? Would theses cause loss of quality? I don't even know settings that are necessary (I see numbers like 720 or 1080 and 30 or 60 and don't know what these mean or what impact they have on anything) Can anyone help get me started in the right direction?

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 216GHz intel Core 2 Duo; Memory: 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Posted on Nov 26, 2010 7:28 PM

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Answer 1

kwolson

Level 1

23 points

Nov 26, 2010 9:43 PM in response to CT_7

Buy an old Sony Hi8 Digital camcorder (has a Firewire port) off of eBay. Hook it up, fire up iMovie, import footage and off you go. The Sony will convert your Hi8 tapes to a digital format that iMovie can work with. then you can edit to your heart's content and burn DVDs, upload to YouTube, sned Quicktime movies by email and load them onto your iPhone, too.

Worked great for me (though tape-based comsumer camcorders are dying fast and I really need a newer, memory card camera).

If you don't want to buy that one, Canopus and other converters are available (my local Apple store has at least two) or you can send your tapes to a professional converting lab and receive your movies already digitized. Depends how much time and money you want to spend...

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Answer 2

Nov 27, 2010 5:29 AM in response to CT_7

I also did this by buying an old Digital 8 camcorder from eBay. Many of them will play Digital 8 (DV), Hi 8, and 8MM, and pass it through the Firewire as DV. I bought the Sony TRV-230 on eBay for $150. I sold it a year later for $140.

If you prefer to buy a device, look at the Digital Analog converters from Grass Valley. These are available on the online Apple Store. Also look at the EyeTV Hybrid from ElGato. It will import the analog footage, and it will also turn your Mac into a TV and DVR.

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Answer 3

Ziatron

Level 5

4,186 points

Nov 27, 2010 12:53 PM in response to CT_7

I have a BUNCH of home videos that we have recorded on hi8 tapes and I want to transfer these to digital.

I have done LOTS of this.

You will need a FireWire analog to digital video converter (If you have no Hi8 player with FireWire). I like the Grassvalley ADVC300. Audio and Video go in, FireWire comes out.

http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300

I've played around with countless other conversion systems, ranging in price from $79 to $399. Short verison, this is the ONLY unit to own. No dropped frames at all, even with questionable quality tapes, no jitter, great color, excellent sound quality. Zero setup with iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11.

This is a prosumer deck. The time code function is alone worth the price if you have old analog footage. Absolutely NO "Out Of Sync" audio.

ADVC300 is for anyone who wants to do editing and is concerned about quality of color and speed, for the novice it is an incredible gizmo that will restore tapes to a state close to the original fixing midtones, highlights and shadows on the fly. Not only can you simply convert analog to digital you can actually manipulate the signal going in (if you want to).

A bit pricey but it WORKS.

The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material.

I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 11.

iMovie 11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.

I like and use both iMovie 11 and iMovie 06, for Transferring Hi8 to digital you will get a better end result using iMovie 06. You can find iMovie 06 on the iLife 06 install disk.

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