[amyhr]

I've currently got an iMac DV SE and an old (pre-firewire) sony 8mm camcorder. I would like to get my movies from the tapes to iMovie on the iMac w/o spending more than $100.

I've thought of a (in my mind) creative way to do this: Get a PowerMac 7500/7600/8500/8600 (all of which have s-video and audio in from what i can tell). I could pick up a 7x00 for around $50, or a 8x00 for about $100 (my budgetary limit).

I've never done any video capture work, so I'm asking the more experienced among you, what do you think? I'd also like to know if the 8x00 has signifigantly better video capture hardware than the 7x00 series to warrent the extra $50 (which could be used for a harddrive or memory for the 7x00). I'd have other uses for the second system, so it wouldn't be just for this one use, and I don't know anyone with a firewire capable camcorder I could borrow (a popular answer in most forums).

The ultimate end result I'm looking for is to create VCD's, or maybe even SVCD/DVD's.

ThanX!
a.m.

[garyj]

I don't think the older Powermac would help you much, because you would still have to convert the imported video to DV format in order to import it into iMovie.

The $100 limit is a little tight, but there are devices for about $300 that have RCA and SVideo jacks and a firewire cable to let you convert the analog video into DV and bring it into iMovie (and back out again).

For just over $400 you can get a Canon ZR45 camcorder or other similar model that will let you connect your old camcorder and copy the video over to MiniDV tape and then you can import it into iMovie as well.
(You'll want a digital camcorder anyways if you plan on doing movie editing with iMovie).

One thing to remember is that DV is very BIG, about 25GB (yes, GB) for 60 minutes of video. So I don't think the older mac would handle it.

Originally posted by amyhr:
I've currently got an iMac DV SE and an old (pre-firewire) sony 8mm camcorder. I would like to get my movies from the tapes to iMovie on the iMac w/o spending more than $100.

I've thought of a (in my mind) creative way to do this: Get a PowerMac 7500/7600/8500/8600 (all of which have s-video and audio in from what i can tell). I could pick up a 7x00 for around $50, or a 8x00 for about $100 (my budgetary limit).

I've never done any video capture work, so I'm asking the more experienced among you, what do you think? I'd also like to know if the 8x00 has signifigantly better video capture hardware than the 7x00 series to warrent the extra $50 (which could be used for a harddrive or memory for the 7x00). I'd have other uses for the second system, so it wouldn't be just for this one use, and I don't know anyone with a firewire capable camcorder I could borrow (a popular answer in most forums).

The ultimate end result I'm looking for is to create VCD's, or maybe even SVCD/DVD's.

ThanX!
a.m.

[dlefebvre]

Originally posted by garyj:
One thing to remember is that DV is very BIG, about 25GB (yes, GB) for 60 minutes of video. So I don't think the older mac would handle it.

It's more like 1Gb for 5 minutes of video. With 10Gb you can usually capture 55 minutes approx.