Underrated comment

hilarious

may i ask what camcorder you bought?

I ordered a hitachi hi8 camcorder, I don't remember the model off hand though

@@kristin4277 please try and tell me the model number, its been hard trying to find working camcorders

@@kristin4277 do you have any update what model you bought

OH WOW!!! THIS MIGHT JUST BE MY SOLUTION WITH A BROKEN OLD CAMCORDER!!! THANKS!

My buddy sang for Hoods and toured with Agnostic front in like 07. Pretty neato huh?

This is probably the worst way to digitize your videos.

@@Danielfucks69 Your homie is Mikey Hood?

Which camera is it !!

@@daniellekeane7904sharp viewcam hi8, there are 8mm & digital 8 versions also

How did you connect the DVD recorder to your laptop? I’ve already recorded the Hi8 tapes to DVD, but the DVDs will only play on the recorder I burnt them on.

@@highwayboy I just put in the disc into the laptop and it played. You can also buy an external DVD drive for your laptop. I used Windows 10 and it worked, but maybe try VLC or something to play it. Just copy the file and export it as MP4. It’s been like 2 years since I did this so my mind is a bit rusty

@@MrIDGAF ahh ok fair enough. That’s my problem, when I put the disc in my laptop it doesn’t acknowledge anything is on it, even using VLC. Appreciate the reply though!

@@highwayboy Your DVD reader could be the issue. Either that or your computer OS. But all I remember is copying the DVD file onto my desktop and converting that into MP4

@@highwayboy needs to be finalized

This is probably the worst way to digitize your videos.

@@SFtheGreat Okay, what would be the best way?

@@DavidRodriguez-hg6kq The best way, as in preserve as much quality would be studio grade professional VCR recorded to D3 tape, or to lossless YUV. That would also be probably the most expensive and space consuming way.

If ONLY -- I'm in the same boat -- camcorder doesn't work anymore! Need something that doesn't cost a fortune to put this HI8 into and download it into my desktop!!!

That's exactly what I said when looking for a camcorder online. Why isn't there just a machine that can play these tapes without needing the whole camcorder. It's beyond me why that product is not out there

Same problem here, I think I'll have to wait until someone solves that

You need to buy a Hi8 VHS adaptor and then buy a cheap VHS player to record through

Yeah C Net isn't what it used to be. This video is embarrassing.

Outstanding tip about S-Video vs. RCA.

Wondering the same, my old Hi8 camera has a S-Video output.

Thanks for the heads up!

How would you also get the audio for conversion though?

i own a hi8 camcorder, the charger cable should be able to directly connect to your camcorder as a direct power source

Buy the power supply on Ebay

Look at Dazzle by pinnacle . DVC100 or similar. Let me know if it helps.

I have the same issue

Ugh! I have mine but it’s broken. I bought a used one and it worked to play one tape:( Are we stuck paying to digitize it?

Not a chance. He can make copies of the video and mirror them on the internet. With a python script, he can even schedule it every four years to prevent bit rot.

I only have tapes. Handycam is lost long back. How should i digitize it ?????

I know it's 9 months old. But tapes deteriorate with age.

Hi8 tapes are EXTREMELY fragile. The tape can stick to itself on the spools, and tear when you try to play it. I work professionally with video digitizing, and see this in around 5% of the Video8/Hi8 tapes. Typically, it affects tapes that have not been stored in their cases and kept cool/dry. If a client walks in with a dusty ziplock bag full of grubby-looking cassettes, not in their cases, I can already predict what comes next! While the tape can be spliced, it will typically tear again just a few minutes further into the video. Often, upon inspecting these "grubby tapes", a few of them are usually already torn! Some people! 🙄🤷‍♂️

That entirely depends on the quality/condition of the playback device, the quality of the digitizing device, the codec used, and the skill of the person doing the transfer. For "home movies", something like a $100 Elgato, and minimal skill, will get you decent-enough results. For "perfection", you absolutely need an expert, with high-end gear. Most of those mail-in digitizing services are absolute garbage though. Find a local expert (good luck with that too, though! There aren't many around!).

1. This is probably the worst way to digitize your videos. 2. Deinterlacing means loss of data, keep it as is, if you want to upload to youtube, prepare separate deinterlaced master.

@@SFtheGreat interesting perspective, thanks. I want to edit and then share videos with my children. I figured that deinterlacing would be easier for all of us - especially as the capture software metadata lies and pretends it is progressive! I have separated the capture from the deinterlacing. I am trying to deinterlace from PAL interlaced 50 fields per second to progressive 50 frames per second, using freeware Hybrid and QTGMC on a Mac. Any thoughts? Thanks.

@@grahamf695 My only thoughts on mac is that it's a paperweight. What converter are you using? With PAL and MAC you can basically get a miniDV camcorder that supports passthrough so it will convert incoming analog signal to digital and output it through FireWire, which you need to connect to FW to ThunderBolt adaptor and MAC should have Thunderbolt port, so that way it will preserve most of the quality and it will be great transfer and the file will be natively interlaced. You don't need to transcode and deinterlace, when you play in VLC, or quicktime it has software deinterlace filters.

@@SFtheGreat thanks for your input. I have connected my DV camcorder via FireWire and it imports well with just iMovie. I am using a Panasonic S-VHS VCR with built-in TBC to play S-VHS-C tapes into a Video2Mac USB adaptor, which takes S-Video and audio cables. I have tried OBS, QuickTime and iMovie to import the data. I am getting some frame dropouts, but actually the quality is pretty good.

@@grahamf695 But you get dropouts. Connect it to miniDV camcorder, see in the manual if it supports passthrough ie the analog to digital conversion on the fly, or the Electric-to-electric mode (names might be different) and it should do the trick and should be better quality without dropouts, this is how I do it.

Most shoes come with lacing. But you can also buy shoes with Velcro, if you are too lazy to tie them 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@user2144 haha I can decide if I want to say that this made me laugh because you're being funny or cringey lol

*can't

check the tape to see if write protection is on

Try buying one (camcorder) on Craigslist. Make sure i works and has all the cables and power adaptor

Try a different breakout cable

Don’t wait 7 years like I did.. The tapes and their quality are deteriorating. I have one tape that only play audio and I can only see video when I put it in fast forward or rewind..

broo transfer and upload those man i love slightly stoopid loo

Which concert? *NSYNC Britney Spears Michael Jackson ?

I see the defects too. But what hardware do you recommend? I have an extremely solid hi8 camcorder I can use as deck, but don't know what capture card or other hardware to get. The Roxio ain't it and Elgato captures at 2.4 Mb/ps, lol

Pretty useless comment genius. Why bother making this comment? You don't say what this hardware is that doesn't cost much more...

@@irishjohn1066 Perhaps if you actually read the above comments, you'd see links to two sites where quality hardware is discussed in depth. You clearly don't know what you don't know, as there's no singular suggestion for what "better" is. For example, OS has an impact on which capture cards are used. Additionally, VCR and TBC matters, but it depends entirely on formats and recording modes, as each has different considerations for playback. Again, you can't just randomly grab at hardware, as you'll get random (non)quality results.

@@lordsmurf You really do waffle on without any real substance. You STILL can't give me similarly priced hardware that does a better job here. I bet you love the sound of your own voice

@@irishjohn1066 You want an answer without asking a question. Details are needed. (The initial comment was also left 6 months ago, and I don't remember what the video was rambling on about. So if/when you do get around to asking that question, state a reasonable target budget.)

Sending it into a video converting service

I have to recommend EBay , it’s about the only place to reliably find old cam-corders. I really hate to hear that and I hope you can find a solution. If worst comes worst you can always pay someone but it is usually not cheap .

Since you have experience, what are your thoughts on using an AV to HDMI upscaler box, connected to PC via an HDMI to USB converter? Will it give a much better conversion? Do you have any recommendations for a recording software?

Is there any specific equipment you can recommend? I have a somewhat older Dell laptop with an hdmi input. I no longer have the H8mm camcorder, but plan on buying one since I have about 30 tapes to transfer. I don't want to lose any quality if possible. I have an older "Go Video" vhs to dvd recorder, which I was originally going to make dvds of my Hi8 tapes when I purchase the camcorder to play them. I want to get the best possible quality for backups. I don't plan on trashing my original tapes, but know over time (and its already 20 years or so) the tapes will deteriorate. I love the idea of being able to have them on a cloud as well as some sort of easily played media. Would love your advice for the best equipment. Thanks.

@@jo-deegriffith3788 the best way would be to buy an D8 camcorder with backwards compatible Hi8 playback option and with firewire passthrough. I had sony TRV 480 that done it. Other option is to buy a good quality PCI express card like Avermedia capture catd and and use your camcorder to transfer composite signal to PC. But you need a PC with PCI Express slot.

Yes you can send them. I'm down.

@@mevaser770 What's your playback and digitizing setup, and free or is it a commission cost per tape?

@@damian9303 I have a camcorder linked to a av to usb device which works well. Maybe not the most professional but it works. I wish I could do it for free, maybe when I win the lottery :) Its 10/tape and saved onto a USB drive or cloud storage. If you want something local Costco does it as well.