High 8 and Mini DV Conversion to hard disk

[JoshuaRossChristie]

Anyone have a suggestion for the best way to convert to rca for both soo that i can record my old high 8 and mini dvs to hard disk? Camcorder? if soo which one as i don't want to spend a lot of money on it.

[PlayStation 2]

Your options for converting Hi8 and MiniDV tapes are relatively limited and will both involve camcorders, unless you can find one of the rare personal players for each format. 

Hi8, unless you find a Digital8 camcorder with a DV output, is gonna be stuck to outputting via Composite out on most Hi8 camcorders. You can capture from there to digitize a Hi8 tape.

MiniDV is a bit more nuanced, as you can go full digital with this, so long as you have a machine with an equivalent DV/FireWire/i.Link/IEEE-whatever port and an older OS that plays decently with such formats. That or you can go the same route with Hi8, using an analog-out solution to digitize them.

[atxcyclist]

How many do you have to transfer? There are a lot of places that are already set up to do this, and you can avoid trying to track down equipment. 

[JoshuaRossChristie]

1 minute ago, atxcyclist said:

How many do you have to transfer? There are a lot of places that are already set up to do this, and you can avoid trying to track down equipment. 

god a shoe box full. my dad was gonna pay me to do them.

[atxcyclist]

6 minutes ago, JoshuaRossChristie said:

god a shoe box full. my dad was gonna pay me to do them.

I'd still call a place that does it for a quote. No clue what they'd charge you per tape, but they may give you a break since they're only going to have to set two types of equipment up. If it's less than shipping and the cost of the work, might not be a bad deal on your end. Then again, doing stuff yourself has its feelings of accomplishments so that might be more your style. 

 

If you do plan on tackling it yourself, eBay would be a place to find camcorders. Apple computers may have supported Firewire for longer.

[JoshuaRossChristie]

15 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

Your options for converting Hi8 and MiniDV tapes are relatively limited and will both involve camcorders, unless you can find one of the rare personal players for each format. 

Hi8, unless you find a Digital8 camcorder with a DV output, is gonna be stuck to outputting via Composite out on most Hi8 camcorders. You can capture from there to digitize a Hi8 tape.

MiniDV is a bit more nuanced, as you can go full digital with this, so long as you have a machine with an equivalent DV/FireWire/i.Link/IEEE-whatever port and an older OS that plays decently with such formats. That or you can go the same route with Hi8, using an analog-out solution to digitize them.

if you could give me more of a visual through a website it would help. I was thinking of doing rca outs to the elgato capture rca's coverter to usb