Hi8 to PC quality / process

I am new to video capture from camcorder to PC and could use some advice. I've used the search feature of AfterDawn.com and couldn't really find anything close to my problem....so here goes.

I have approx. 2½ hours of Hi8 video I'd like to capture to my PC and turn into a DVD or AVI. I have tried using Windows Moviemaker with moderate success, but not to my satisfaction. Initially, with the default settings the quality was 65% to 70% of the original tape. Pretty bad. I played with the settings in Moviemaker, which is hit or miss, and achieved much better quality. I'd say 80% to 85%. What I am shooting for is 90% to 100% if possible. My question is, is this possible? And, if so, how?

Equipment:
camcorder - Canon ES8100V with what I presume are all the usual in and out connections. i.e. S-video, composite, etc.

PC - P4 3Ghz; 1GB DDR2 RAM; 3 hard drives with roughly 500GBs of storage. Using ATI's TV Wonder to capture through/from. I also have a Dazzle Hollywood DV-Bridge, but have not had any success using it. I also have an old Creative Drx3 card that went with their DVD player. It is not installed so I haven't tried to capture using it.

This whole process is more or less foreign to me. Windows Moviemaker makes making videos fairly simple, however, it leaves a lot unmentioned as far as trying to find the best quality settings. What I mean is rank video capture settings as to which is good, better, best. I mean they kind of do it but not nearly as good as they could or should.

I am trying to keep from buying anymore hardware or software unless it is low cost. I have tried recording from the camcorder to the VCR. I thought if the quality was good, then I'd run the video to the ATI TV tuner, then record the video using ATI's software, but again the quality from camcorder to VHS tape was not very good and I am sure the quality would have only gone down from there.

So as you can see, I am somewhat stuck. I need to get this video to CD or DVD so I can send it off to my wife's family. They want to see her and where she lives now. Any tips or help would be much appreciate. Thanks in advance.

JA in Alaska

 

The quality that you get will depend on two factors:
1. The hardware that is used to digitize the analog signal. You're apparently using an AT card (a rather old one) for that. That card is reasonable but will never give you the best possible quality. You sais you don't want to buy new hardware, but if you already own a digital camcorder try a pass-through (see here: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php )
2. The compression that you are using. If you're goal is to put it on DVD, don't go for wmv (as suggested by Windows MovieMaker). I would try to capture in DV-AVI. I am not sure if Windows MovieMaker let's you capture in DV-AVI from an analog source just like that. But if you can't, install a third party DV-codec (you will find two of them at http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/downloads/freedownloads.php ) and then capture in AVI while selecting the DV codec.

 

i have a sony trv480... i used "dvdsanta" to transfer. It did a great job for my hi8 tape...but not so good on my 8mm tape..the 8mm tape transfered with dvdsanta but the words werent in sync...but my hi8 worked great..dont know why....but dvd santa might work for you..im still new to this camcorder thing :O)

 

Use a Firewire connection to get the video from your Digital8 cam not analog connection.
I don't know DVDSanta, but I have only heard people complaining about it. Are you doing a real time MPEG encoding during transfer? If that is the case, don't...

 

thx tp

i do use a fire wire and it transfers great, but the sound is way out of sync..like a record in slow motion ..lol....... i have the newest dell 1 gb mb....... 250gb hard drive....,and like i said, im very new to the camcorder thing.

can you recommend something keep the video in sync with words and video?... i appreciate any advice...ive been reading and searching for days on all kinds of sites... i went to the site you recommended,but still cant get everything in sync....thx

bob

 

If you're capturing Digital8 tapes through a Firewire, out-of-sync is very unusual. But if it happens, try to use DV type-1 i.s.o. type-2.

 

hey tp

sorry, but i dont understand what you mean by dv type.. iso type1 ..type 2..is there a tut or page on it to describe it?

 

In Type-1 AVI files, video and audio are combined in one stream, in Type-2 AVI files, video and audio are stored in separate streams.
Use a freeware capture utility like WinDV. Download from http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/downloads/freedownloads.php

You did not install a third party codec by any chance, did you? Because you don't need it.

 

thx tp....windv worked great :O))... but like you said..it is all in chapters and keeps stopping every chapter on the dvd player...so, i should try type 1, if i want all the chapters to stream with out stopping every chapter?....i stored all the avi. files to a folder...burned them to a cd to make a vcd...the sync is perfect now,but i will try for steady stream..thx again for the tip and link on windv

 

Glad it worked OK for you
I don't understand what you mean by chapters. There are no chapter on the tape. If you have chapters on the DVD that you created based on the captured video, the DVD authoring software that you used has created them... But a player should not stop at a new chapter. It does when there is a new title though..

Anyway, I guess you mean that you get the captured video in several individual files..?
Change the following settings in WinDV (under "Config"):
Discontinuity threshold=0 (this means that WinDV will not look at the timestamp on the tape to split files accordingly)
Max AVI size (frames) to a big number (WinDV will limit the filesize to the number of frames indicated in this field).

 

cool..thx for the info,i will try it. from the tape it made 157 files...lol..... and nero would only let me burn 98 files to a cd,,,and it says "chapters" on my dvd player..i hate to be a pain, but is there a way i can make all those files( into one big file) so i can put it to a disc

i am doing this for my dad and really want it on dvd,but ill take what i can get ..or do i have to capture the whole tape over again and do what you said in windv...thx again for your time..i appreciate it...ps..that link you sent of digital videoclub is very infomative

bob

 

Every video editing program is able to merge seperate video files into one file. Take your pick...
Also Nero Vision Express can do it. Just place all the files after eachother on the timeline and export it as a new AVI file.

 

Thanks everyone for all your help. I finally got the video to the computer in .mpg format and in a 90% to 95% quality. Now what I need is an easy to use video editor for .mpg format. I have downloaded a few and tried them but they don't seem to work so well. The one I used 3 or 4 months back, DVD-lab, worked great, but it was a trial version and it has expired. Does anyone have any suggestions for a mpeg video editor that is not complicated to use and works well. Preferably freeware. Thanks.

John
Anchorage, Alaska

 

You should not edti in MPEG format.
You captured in AVI and it is better to first edit in AVI and after that encode to MPEG. If you'r looking for a freeware video editor that is easy to use, Windows MovieMaker would be the easy choice.

BTW: DVD-lab is not a video editor, it is a DVD authoring program. You've got Nero and you can keep using that to create the DVD's after you edited your video with MovieMaker.

 

The problem that I may have is I have recorded the video in 30 to 35 minute sections to keep the files from gettng too big. By using this process I am overlapping the video a minute or two, so I need to edit out the overlap once I have joined all the video parts together. I still have 2 more video transfers to the computer complete. So far the 3 files I have are around 7.5GB to 8GB.

I am concerned when I join all parts of the video the file will be around 30GB to 40GB and maybe too big to edit then. Has anyone out there worked with files of this size? Are they hard to work with? I do have some experience using VirtualDub. Would this be a good program to edit the files with? Thanks for your help.

 

DV-AVI is about 13 GB per hour, so if you're talking about 40GB for a movie you've got a full 3 hour feature film. Are you sure that is what you want? You won't get it in decent quality on a single layer DVD anyway. Wouldn't it be a better idea to split that over a couple of movies?
But anyway, there is no problem whatsoever to work with a 40GB file. Again, you can easily merge AVI files together with MovieMaker. You can also use VirtualDUB but you will have to install a VfW DV-codec in order to enable VirtualDUB to open DV-AVI files and it is less user-friendly.

 

My wife and I recorded approx. 2 hours 40 or 45 minutes in Hi8. We just want to send the video to her parents and family in the Philippines. Is DV-AVI the same as Hi8 recorded to a PC?

I forgot to ask, it doesn't look like MovieMaker exports to other formats which is a problem for me. It appears it will import them, but I see nothing permitting exporting or 'Save as' then select a format other than .wmv. As for joining videos I bought AVI/MPEG/RM/WMV Joiner v4.81. It works great.

I have a dual layer burner and dual layer blanks so a large file should not be an issue to put the video on DVD dual layer. I haven't tried movies to dual layer yet, only data, so I am not sure. Thanks.

 

If you used a pass-through through your digital camera (or using a Digtial-8) and trensferred through Firewire: yes, the result is a DV-AVI.

If you use MovieMaker check this article how to export to DV-AVI:
http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/tutorials/moviemakermistakes.php

 

i found that TP's suggestion of windv for capturing is great and also i just worked with movie maker 2.... this program does it all. It captures...it is easy to edit your tape...and it makes it all one file . Then i just burned it to a cd...perfect sync and easy learning curve :O)

there is a cool (free) program for editing and conversions...its called "avidfreedvd"..but it is 50 mb's..and more of a learning curve,but seems very capable. The avi. file(s) burn easily to a cd,so you dont have to convert them to mpeg,which is of lower qulity ..i think.

 

It's me again. I was finally successful in getting all the DV video to the hard drive. The 2 files are 27GB and 8GB. I tried importing to Moviemaker2 for editing (and rendering if necessary) but MM2 crashed the 2 times I tried to import the files. My questions is now, does anyone know a program that will let me edit such large files? I want to do just the minimum. Cut out a few pieces here and there. I am fairly sure the 2 files will fit onto 1 4.7GB DVD because I did the 27GB file to DVD, unedited and I had almost 1 gig to spare.

I haven't had time to work on this in the past 4 or 5 weeks. Thanks to everyone for all your help.

john
anchorage, alaska, usa