Quote: oh darn. I don't think my computer has a firewire port!!!! My laptop seems to have a 4 pin port, but I can't see any on my NEW PC.

You can get a firewire to usb adapter cable, it won't cost much at all.

p.s. it's important to have the best possible connection i.e. cable and connectors on the analog side of the converter. A short high quality cable. The firewire port is the digital connection to the computer.

Quote: oh darn. I don't think my computer has a firewire port!!!! My laptop seems to have a 4 pin port, but I can't see any on my NEW PC.

You can get a Firewire PC Card adapter for a laptop.

You can also get firewire cards for PC's.
Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

Yes, that's the correct model.

I'm not familiar with Firewire-to-usb adapter cables, so I don't know if those adapter cables provide sufficient power and data transfer rates. Maybe someone else can chime in here.

The Canopus receives power from the Firewire port on the PC through the 6-pin Firewire cable. Or the Canopus can get power from a wallwart (AC adapter). I'm not sure the adapter comes in the box with the Canopus. If not, you can always buy an inexpensive AC adapter. Oddly, Canopus charges about $40 for their adapter. There is nothing unique or proprietary about the Canopus power adapter, and no need to spend that much.

You only need the power adapter if you are using a 4-pin rather than 6-pin Firewire cable. And possibly if you use a Firewire-to-USB adapter.

My newest PC did not come with a Firewire port and I bought a Firewire adapter card. Yet my older PC had one built in.

I'm going to buy the Canopus equipment.
I'm going to use the firewire, though my PC hasn't got a port, I'm getting a firewire adapter card. I'm not sure where it 'goes' but sounds like the best way to go. I want it to be right, the way it was designed.
This thread has been fantastic.
Longedge, noted regarding the quality connection on analogue side. Thanks.
Carl, Rob, Longedge, Barry, thankyou.
Yes, Rob...I love to learn all this stuff. I'm the 'archivist' in the family. Zillions of photos, are nearly all scanned now, to disc and HDrive, - Cyberlink PD is also my current new learning task, and a great way to keep nice home movies,...and next the old videos. I've previously put them on dvd, but am unhappy that I have no digital copy, and can't edit them for safekeeping or sharing. Grand plans, just have to expand the knowledge about the equipment required. So this has been great.

One day soon, I'll update you and let you know how I got on. I only bought PD11 about 3 months ago, I didn't know there was going to be a PD12 so soon, but it manages my needs just fine, very happy with it. Lots to learn yet. It's going to be fun editing the old video on it.

Thanks,
Jenny. Jenny

Assuming you have an open expansion port, you open the case (turned off, of course) and plug the Firewire card in at the back, normally under the power supply. Make sure you have an open PCI slot before buying an expansion card. If you have not added anything in the past, you likely do have one open. __________________________________
CORNBLOSSOM

Jenny, there may be a simple solution which costs you nothing. You are getting good results playing the tape back onto a conventional analogue TV, so...
Set up your digital camera rigidly to "look "at the "good" TV showing the video tape. Set it up fo fill the viewfinder.
May be best to do it in a dim room and make sure no reflections coming off the TV screen glass, Keep pets and
kids (not always the same!) out of the way and shoot a tape.
This way you are going direct from a good picture to digital without any further conversions.
You can usually tell if there are any artefacts due to differences in scan formats , but the camera lent me do thus
worked out fine, even though a few years old.
After this download yr camera to PC and use PD11 to do your thing. Be warned that in long videos PD11 may louse up your
quality anyway on standard DVD...break the recording up into shorter sections , produce and join them up after,
Try it out and let us know how you get on
John

John, no longer have an old analogue, so following the best option of getting the canopus ADVC 110 + I have to get a firewire expansion card. All will be done in the next week, then I can start. Goodie. Jenny

I purchased a Diamond VC500 converter a few weeks ago. After several attempts to get a decent capture I determined that it was a lousy piece of equipment and returned it for a refund. ~Tom~

What I do with my Sony DV tapes which I recommend jaymay22 doing with her Hi8 tapes is connect your camera to a DVD recorder (which cost a pittance over here in the U.K) and record the WHOLE tape UNEDITED in the highest quality possible.
In other words put your original Hi8 tape into your Hi8 camera and record in HQ mode onto a blank write once (not rewritable) so you will have a good master copy, an exact replica of your Hi8 tape with no noticeable quality loss.
Even when Hi8 tapes are stored correctly, a cool dust free environment and placed vertically (never horizontally) they are still slowly degrading so it's best to transfer as soon as possible.
A DV tape lasts an hour as does a DVD in HQ mode, assuming a Hi8 tape also lasts an hour it's best to put the whole unedited tape onto a DVD, then finalize the DVD, and then it can easy be imported (as a vob file) into Cyberlink PowerDirector for editing.
You should always keep your original master tapes even after transferring, never wipe or bin them.

In my opinion this method is much better and much easier than just importing Hi8 or DV tapes into a computer because the quality is as good as the master, and you also have your tape archived onto a DVD.

I should like to also point out that Canopus converter costs more than the Philips DVD recorder (pictured bottom link).
Which would you prefer?

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-rufv-130kb.jpg

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-ascb-144kb.jpg

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-7czd-62kb.jpg

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-exix-72kb.jpg

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-khy5-44kb.jpg

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-iavd-246kb.jpg

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/11869/20131022-k6wk-243kb.jpg

Hey Nic.
Thanks for that great response, and funny you should explain that, I actually have done that, I bought a Panasonic video to dvd dubbing vcr dvd combo unit. I did dub all the video to dvd, but I feel like the vob files aren't what they could be.
So I'm trying the convert.

Kmot, I haven't even tried the diamond. I'm glad, if you say it isn't much, that I didn't!

John, Jaime, Carl...everyone...
I bought the canopus. Just about to try it. I got a firewire card put into my new pc, (it was too new to have one!!).
AND I bought a second hand Panasonic vcr, just incase I need it. I do have my original sony camcorder, so most of the tapes can play through it.

Now...someone said somewhere here they had better results throught he S video than the um...three coloured ports.
I wonder why?

I'll respond when I've had a go at it. Very pleased. Jenny

Quote: Now...someone said somewhere here they had better results throught he S video than the um...three coloured ports.
I wonder why?

I'll respond when I've had a go at it. Very pleased.

Earlier in the thread I had said SVIDEO is better than the single composite video, the yellow RCA jack. The way S-Video works is that it basically separates the color information (Chrominance) from the brightness (Luminance). By doing this, it reduces things like color bleeding, dot crawl and greatly increases the general clarity and sharpness of the picture relative to a single pin composite RCA jack (yellow plug).

Not sure why you mention three colored ports, as in Y-Pb-Pr (component video), yes that is even better than SVIDEO. However, if you got the Canopus ADVC110 it does not support component video, only composite or svideo (yellow jack) and left and right audio, white and red RCA jacks.

Jeff

Quote:

Quote: oh darn. I don't think my computer has a firewire port!!!! My laptop seems to have a 4 pin port, but I can't see any on my NEW PC.

You can get a firewire to usb adapter cable, it won't cost much at all.

p.s. it's important to have the best possible connection i.e. cable and connectors on the analog side of the converter. A short high quality cable. The firewire port is the digital connection to the computer.

I've never seen a firewire to USB adaptor work. Do you know of one that does work well? Have you used it? I would save your money. If you can install a card, that would be your best bet or a pass through whoch has already been covered.

For most A/D converters, you would use a USB port anyway. .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

Quote: Hey Nic.
Thanks for that great response, and funny you should explain that, I actually have done that, I bought a Panasonic video to dvd dubbing vcr dvd combo unit. I did dub all the video to dvd, but I feel like the vob files aren't what they could be.
So I'm trying the convert.
.

You must use the master tape, i.e the Hi8 tapes directly onto a DVD.
There should be NO video tape involved.
If connected through a S-VHS lead there should be NO noticeable loss in quality.
Because my tapes are DV (digital) the quality is very good, it's far better to transfer directly to a DVD or bluray than going straight into your computer.
I have tried using Avid Composer, Sony Vegas, Adobe Encore, none give the results of a 'direct to disc' transfer.

Quote: I've never seen a firewire to USB adaptor work. Do you know of one that does work well? Have you used it? I would save your money.

I've got to put my hands up to this one. I've never used one for video editing. When I was still working I had a firewire external drive that I used to connect to one of my PC's USB ports using one although I did in the end manage to get an additional graphics card which had it's own firewire port fitted to the PC - no I don't know that it would definitely work in fact it probably wouldn't

Nic - I did use the original tapes, the Hi 8 tapes played through the camera dubbed onto the dvd. Doesn't look as nice as my originals. But have to realise that the original analog tapes were played on an analog tv, and now the digital dvd copies are played on a great big digital tv. Just not as good. Have to reduce the frame size to make it look better.

Jeff - ah yes, I see, it IS what you said, not the three altogether. There's the S video, a yellow video out, and a red and white audio. I just mistook it, as I have said previously I'm not au fait with technical components or what they do. But I CAN follow instructions...lol. So I'll use the S video port.

Jenny

Quote: Have to reduce the frame size to make it look better.

A blu ray player should up-scale the picture to fit the screen, you shouldn't have to change the original aspect ratio or video properties, for example if you shot in 4:3 720x480 then that's what should be put onto blu ray.

I have found Carl to be right about everything and extremely helpful in my quest to not only digitize 25 years of home videos (three different successions of camera technologies) but also the many feature films my father co-starred in that were never released on DVD. After a year of trying different things and again, Carl's great input, here's what it boiled down to for me:

1. 4-head Hi-FI Stereo VHS player
2. Dazzle USB capture device (I think it was about $29)
3. Pinnacle Studio 16 software to capture (I could probably use that to edit and produce but I've become so familiar with PD interface)
4. PD 11 Ultimate to edit out any of the crud at the beginning or end. The nice thing about Studio 16 is that you can set a time length so if you're capturing a couple hours of video you can walk away from the computer and it will stop...then edit off the excess at the end.
The quality is acceptable except for a few feature films that were recorded off TV and have been sitting in my cabinet for 20 years but that's to be expected with VHS tape.

Just an aside. If that Dazzle Device works with PD 11, then PD11 too has the ability to set the length and/or additionally the size of the capture). I think you had to buy the program to get that device but there are other devices on the market that will work with PD 11 and are inexpensive. Your price for the Dazzle device is lower than what I expected. .
.
BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

I'm using the Pinnacle Studio software because PD11 does not do a good job of capturing, at least with Dazzle and the previous USB capture device I threw away only to find out it wasn't the device but PD11 that was glitchy with capture as has been pointed out by others in this forum including my favorite guru here, Carl312.

Quote: I'm using the Pinnacle Studio software because PD11 does not do a good job of capturing, at least with Dazzle and the previous USB capture device I threw away only to find out it wasn't the device but PD11 that was glitchy with capture as has been pointed out by others in this forum including my favorite guru here, Carl312.

I use PD to capture from a digital cassette video camcorder (Firewire) and get excellent results.

I do not have an analog device that will work with PD 11 for direct capture. I can use pass through from a VCR through the camcorder and it works well.

I know that if the incoming signal is bad, some programs will either give a protected error or will think the VHS tape has ended. Was this your problem or something else? .
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BoilerPlate: To posters who ask for help -- it is nice to thank the volunteers who try to answer your questions !
Anything I post unless stated with a reference is my personal opinion.

I'm curious about using a digital camcorder as pass through as some others have mentioned as well. I have a Sony mini DV Handycam (DCR-TRV10 NTSC) which has a few video/audio ports including S Video, DV in/out, and "ID-2 Audio/Video." So would I be able to do what you're doing? And if so would that be better quality than using the Dazzle capture device? and if so, how do I configure that? Which of those ports would be the input from the VCR and I assume I use the DV out to the computer as I did in capturing my mini DVs? Does the signal just pass through or do you record to a mini DV and then send back to the computer?

thanks for any further insights,

Ron