I think I read somewhere that most camcorders made after 1996 have a firewire attachment. Correct me if I am misinformed. What type of software do I need to transfer video from a VHS-C or Hi-8 camcorder onto my computer. Thanks, I'm kinda new to video editing.

8/2/2006 8:46:27 AM

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that every new camcorder has a firewire port. Or at the very least it would be harder to find a new one that didn't.

I've only done it once, and it was 1.5 years ago but I seem to remember that all I needed was:

1) A firewire cable
2) A firewire port on my computer
3) Windows Movie Maker (already included in windows install)

[Edited on August 2, 2006 at 8:52 AM. Reason : -]

8/2/2006 8:52:08 AM

Unless it's Firewire 800, USB2 is faster!

8/2/2006 8:52:41 AM

I'm getting a used one (~4 years old), probably a Hi-8 just wondering if its ten years old will it still be firewall compatible?

8/2/2006 2:04:29 PM

^^ shut the fuck up you off topic post whore

8/2/2006 3:48:45 PM

I've searched a god bit on the internet and have only found directions to transfer ("pass through") video from Hi-8 camcorder to mini DV and then to HD on computer. Not directly from the Hi8 source. Can anyone help me out?

8/2/2006 4:26:47 PM

USB connections are for downloading still pictures from memory
Firewire is used for digital video editing.

And you want a DV or MiniDV camera. Most all should have firewire. I just got a canon zr600.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Canon-MiniDV-Camcorder-ZR600-/sem/rpsm/oid/143691/catOid/-13181/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Works pretty good. Only complaint is if there is little to no noise where you are recording you can hear the motor winding and you can also hear it during playback. If there is lots of noise you can't really tell. From what i hear the Canon's have one of the better picture qualities.

Get your firewire cards/cables from newegg...much cheaper $10 for both at newegg of $30-$35 each at CC or BB.

8/2/2006 8:40:06 PM

What I'm trying to do is take my Hi-8 tapes and put them on my computer without having to use a mini DV camcorder. Any suggestions? Anyone?

8/3/2006 8:38:45 AM

Quote :

"Unless it's Firewire 800, USB2 is faster!"

Although the high end transfer speeds of USB 2.0 is supposed to be faster than firewire 400, most benchmark comparisons I've seen show actual performance to be significantly better with firewire.

[Edited on August 3, 2006 at 8:56 AM. Reason : ]

8/3/2006 8:55:49 AM

^^firewire ports only came on digital-8 and miniDV/DVC cameras that record digital signal directly to the tape.

your high-8 records analog signal

you have several choices:

a. you would need a video capture card to conver the analog signal of your high-8 to digital form required to store and edit it on the computer. Good cards give you a wide choice of compression formats and feature on-board harware encoders (as opposed to making your cpu to do all the work). you can pick ne up pretty cheap these days, i have not really been up with the market for a couple years so i wouldn't be able to tell you whats the best deal out there right now, but google should do the trick.

b. possibly a soni digital-8 camcorder would be able to play your high-8 tape and digitize it so you can output it to your computer through the dv port (never tried it personally, but it might be a possibility)

c. some DV cameras feature an analog input (my samsung has one), so you could run your camera into a dv camcorder hooked up to the computer with the dv cable and digitize it that way. the only thing is the file size is fairly large for uncompressed DV, requiring a better/newer computer in order to edit it without major headaches.

d. also you could pic up one of theose cheap 60 dollar dvd recorders and record your footage from camera to dvd, then import it to your computer as an mpeg file. some of those dvd player also have a firewire port.

[Edited on August 3, 2006 at 10:31 AM. Reason : .]

8/3/2006 10:30:04 AM

Quote :

"d. also you could pic up one of theose cheap 60 dollar dvd recorders and record your footage from camera to dvd, then import it to your computer as an mpeg file. some of those dvd player also have a firewire port."

I'm gonna try that, it seems the most simple solution.

Thanks

8/4/2006 10:41:15 AM