video capture

[H2O lover]

I have a Nikon Hi8 camera and will be taking it uw. My question is video capture. I have been looking around and am confused by the options. I have Pinnical has 3 different solutions where the video is sent toa box then convereted into digital. This does seem good because it is less dependent on processor speed. Can anyone offer some suggestions? What are you using?
Thanks
John

 

[HowardE]

I have a Nikon Hi8 camera and will be taking it uw. My question is video capture. I have been looking around and am confused by the options. I have Pinnical has 3 different solutions where the video is sent toa box then convereted into digital. This does seem good because it is less dependent on processor speed. Can anyone offer some suggestions? What are you using?
Thanks
John

I think to be able to offer good suggestions, you should be more specific as to the model of your camera and what your computer has.

For example... I use a Sony HC-30 which shoots in Mini-DV, and has a firewire connection to my computer. Thus I capture via firewire which produces excellent results.

When you say you have Pinnical - what exactly do you mean? You have an A-D box that you can hook RCA cables into?

 

[H2O lover]

Howarde,

It is a analog tape camera model VN750. Sorry I miss typed about Pinnacle, I went back and edited my post to clarify it.

 

[HowardE]

Yeah... I know HI-8 is Analog. For Example... I have a "Dazzle" which can capture analog sources.

But are asking for help, but your question need to be more clear..

I have Pinnical has 3 different solutions where the video is sent toa box then convereted into digital.

What are the 3 solutions? It sounds like you already know the answer to your question.

 

[H2O lover]

I'll try to make this simple I need to import my anolog video into my computer and am looking for suggestions/recommendation on what hardware and software to use.
In searching the web I came across 3 different packages that Pinnacle makes:
1) Studio Plus 700-USB version 10.5 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...tudio+Family/Studio+Plus+700-USB+version+10_5
2)Studio 500-USB version 10.5 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...deo/Studio+Family/Studio+500-USB+version+10_5
3)Digital Video Creator 150 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...s/Home+Video/Dazzle/Digital+Video+Creator+150

Any opions on any of the above packages would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[HowardE]

I'll try to make this simple I need to import my anolog video into my computer and am looking for suggestions/recommendation on what hardware and software to use.
In searching the web I came across 3 different packages that Pinnacle makes:
1) Studio Plus 700-USB version 10.5 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...tudio+Family/Studio+Plus+700-USB+version+10_5
2)Studio 500-USB version 10.5 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...deo/Studio+Family/Studio+500-USB+version+10_5
3)Digital Video Creator 150 http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...s/Home+Video/Dazzle/Digital+Video+Creator+150

Any opions on any of the above packages would be helpful.

Thanks

I have the Dazzle - which is #3 on your list. It works. It seems like the most serious device of the 3 listed. #1 has better software, but the converter looks inferior to #3 and #2 just doesn't look serious at all.

I wish I could offer more opinions on the Pinnacle Software, but I use Adobe Premier for editing my videos.

I hope this helps.

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

Howarde is correct in that you will need some type of hardware device to digitize your analog video from the Hi8 camcorder before you can do any editing.

I have had Pinnacle (now owned by Avid) since Studio version 1. I have since upgrades to the professional editing software but the basics are still the same. I also used to have a Sony hi8 camcorder and while it did a fair job it was always a pain to get it captured so I could edit.

You might want to eventually look into a new camcorder with miniDV that uses firewire (1394) as an output so you can feed it directly into the computer without the loss you get when digitizing an analog signal.

Either way back the which package you should get, be aware the USB devices are 2.0 and are picky as to which USB chipset you have on your computer. You might want to check on line as to see if your computers chipset is compatible with the USB devices you are looking to possible get.

Hope this all helps. I would live to get a housing for my camcorder but they are way too expensive for me!!

Jeff
Created Design Video

 

[Barracuda2]

I use Media 100 lxi editing system. I can bring any analog into the system via RCA or S-video. Lots of times customers ask me to put their old VHS tapes into programs that are eventually made into DVD programs. Because VHS has the lowest video signal and has timecode breaks that you can't notice or that a VCR does not notice, I can't bring the VHS media in directly; my editor will stop digitizing when it hits one of those timecode breaks, and that's often.
I first transfer the VHS media to DV tape, then digitize the DV tape into my system via firewire, S-video, or RCA; no problem. Now I can edit into a program and create any media form I want: another VHS, back to Hi8, to DV tape, or burn a DVD. The disadvantage: The process has to be done in real time, and that's why I charge more when a customer wants me to handle VHS.
Perhaps you could just dump your raw Hi8 to DV tape then bring it into pinnicle. You won't even notice the generation loss. My $.02

 

[CompuDude]

I use Media 100 lxi editing system. I can bring any analog into the system via RCA or S-video. Lots of times customers ask me to put their old VHS tapes into programs that are eventually made into DVD programs. Because VHS has the lowest video signal and has timecode breaks that you can't notice or that a VCR does not notice, I can't bring the VHS media in directly; my editor will stop digitizing when it hits one of those timecode breaks, and that's often.
I first transfer the VHS media to DV tape, then digitize the DV tape into my system via firewire, S-video, or RCA; no problem. Now I can edit into a program and create any media form I want: another VHS, back to Hi8, to DV tape, or burn a DVD. The disadvantage: The process has to be done in real time, and that's why I charge more when a customer wants me to handle VHS.
Perhaps you could just dump your raw Hi8 to DV tape then bring it into pinnicle. You won't even notice the generation loss. My $.02

I suspect that if he could afford to splurge on a DV tape deck he would have a DV video camera and wouldn't be messing around with digitizing Hi8. If he has access to one, however, that would do the trick. Not all that much different, however, from using a digitizer. Frankly, it just depends on how good the digitizer is in the DV deck compared to how good the digitizer is in the conversion unit he chooses... they're both doing the exact same thing, it's just that one is streaming it right back out to firewire/usb to go into the computer, and the other is streaming it onto DV tapes.

 

[MarkH]

One thing to check is the capture format. Many of those anolog capture boxes only capture in VHS -equivalent resolution (320x240 I think). Your Hi-8 camcorder records at a higher resolution than that so when you capture you are losing the benefit of having a hi-8 (as opposed to a regular 8). I used an internal capture card when I had a Hi-8. I think it was called "Winfast TV 2000 XP Pro" or something like that. It was only around $100 and captured up to DVD-quality resolution. I think that with all of the consumer-market anolog capture boxes or cards, your computer processor does matter. If it's not fast enough you will drop frames.