[TheaterCub]

Quick Q

I want to make my mom and dad a nice holiday gift and transfer a home movie from my Hi8 sony camcorder to my 17in ALBook's iMovie for editing and then onto iDVD. Since my camcorder isn't digital and is Hi8, how do I go about transferring/importing it to my ALBook?

I'm assuming I'll need a specific adapter that witll either go from my firewire or USB to the chords into my camcorder, yes? Can someone please advise me on what to get (models) and where to find it? Thanks!

[danbrew]

The easiest thing to do is to pay someone to transfer the video for you if you're doing just one.

Other than that - you can simply dub the analog tape you have now into a DV firewire camcorder - using the analog cables. Once you've done this simply import the tape from the firewire camcorder into the Mac.

I do this all the time and would put a 60-minute tape on DVD with no edits (straight copy) for $200. You could probably find somebody local to help you as well - you'll probably pay about the same.

:->

[orsadude2]

Great advice,

However, suppose you want to do this as a hobby. I have some vintage 8mm film (60,70s era) that I would love to update to CD or DVD. I'd also like to convert vhs and new 8mm to the same. Where does one get started? What equipment is needed? Any info would be appreciated.

[KeilwerthSX90R]

As stated, the easiest thing to do is find someone with a DV firewire camcorder. Just dub it to the DV camcorder and then attach it to your powerbook with a firewire cable and import it into iMovie.

For regular transferring of older movies etc. you will need a video capture card or bridge. Check out the digital video forum for more information and what products work well.

Josh

[Eug]

Originally posted by KeilwerthSX90R:
As stated, the easiest thing to do is find someone with a DV firewire camcorder. Just dub it to the DV camcorder and then attach it to your powerbook with a firewire cable and import it into iMovie.

Just a heads up... Most of the recent higher end models support this, but the lower end models do not do A->D conversion.

It works quite well by the way. From what I understand of the $200 video capture device market, a DV camcorder works MUCH better. I did a few with my Optura 200MC and GHz TiBook (with iMovie), and it works great, with no dropped frames or anything.

The other option I have is simply to do direct to DVD. I have a DVD recorder, which essentially works like a souped up VCR. For about $350 you get a machine that will accept regular analogue inputs and will record direct to DVD-R in real-time. The longest part of the process requiring my active involvement is typing in the track titles using the remote control.

So:

1) Standalone DVD recorder - Press record on the DVD recorder to make a DVD-R automatically. Even the menus are generated automatically, and all you have to do is type in the track titles.

OR

2) DV camcorder - capture into iMovie and edit, and then format your DVD-R in iDVD. Much longer process but nicer looking menus obviously than option 1.