Archiving Hi8 footage

Guy

Newbie Joined: Jul 22, 2008 08:24 Messages: 14 Offline

Solved by

Feb 02, 2009 08:38

Hi,

Like many, I have many old Hi8 tapes which I am now trying to record into the PC and store on a harddrive (not DVD).

I have captured the tapes using a Sony Digital8 camcorder (Sony DCR-TRV110 I think but can't look it up as I'm at work).

This stage has been successful, although I had to use Windows Movie Maker to do it as PD7 stopped every few seconds whilst recording.

What I now need to know/understand is what is the best format to Produce at (MPeg 2, DivX etx) and what bitrate to use.

I've tried MPeg 2 using a bitrate of 10000 and this doesn't seem to bad. It converts 19 Gb (1.5 hours footage) into about 6Gb. Using the default bitrate for MPeg2 didn't produce very good results.

Is this the best option or is there a better/more suitable format to use.

Thanks

Barry

Senior Member Location: N Attleboro, MA Joined: Jul 13, 2006 19:57 Messages: 295 Offline

Feb 02, 2009 12:16

I always converted to Mpeg2 HQ. Now however I tend to convert/produce to Mpeg2 720. Even though it is not Hi-def video, I seem to get better looking results on my plasma tv. It's bigger files, but storage is cheap now. Join/SignUp to SeeMyWorldOnVideo. We're PowerDirector Video Editors. Are you a member? - JOIN TODAY!

Guy

Newbie Joined: Jul 22, 2008 08:24 Messages: 14 Offline

Feb 04, 2009 08:43

Thanks for the reply Barry, it's certainly something I will try.

I don't have an HD TV as yet (still on an old 32in widescreen CRT) but I will get one at some point so I want all this footage to look as good as possible on that when the time comes.

Is there anyway of removing some of the visual noise that my captures seem to have (I guess it's because it's from an analog source).

Thanks

Guy

Barry

Senior Member Location: N Attleboro, MA Joined: Jul 13, 2006 19:57 Messages: 295 Offline

Feb 04, 2009 09:48

If your camera is digital, there should not really be any noise. Have you cleaned the heads, defragged with DEFRAGGLER, capture to internal drive rather than external USB drive? Join/SignUp to SeeMyWorldOnVideo. We're PowerDirector Video Editors. Are you a member? - JOIN TODAY!