ADS Pyro v. Canopus ADVC110

[rusty]

UPDATE - I went home last night and took some footage with the Sony Video8 camera (there was an unopened tape in the camera bag) and it played back perfectly both through the viewer and on the TV. So it wasn't the camera. Then I noticed that among my old Video 8 tapes, there was a Hi8 tape that I must have purchased by accident at one point and used. That got me thinking - what if my old camera wasn't Video 8 after all, but in fact Hi 8 or even Digital 8, and I had just been purchasing and using the wrong kind of tape all those years (I had transferred some of them to VHS tape so I knew the recordings were fine). The old camera isn't around anymore so I couldn't check. Now, I had read on some other forums that Digital 8 cameras are backward compatible and will play Hi8 and Video 8 recordings and I knew a fellow at work who has a Digital 8 camera. So I brought some of the tapes in and presto - they play perfectly! Now I'll just have to see if they will transfer to the computer via Firewire - if so, I won't need a Pyro, Canopus, or other device. Fingers crossed.

[Chuck Engels]

That sounds like great news Rusty !!
Steve knows a lot about digital 8 cameras I think.

[Bobby]

Rusty, I think all those tapes are the same. I have a Digital 8 (although moved on now to Canon HV30) but even when running digital I just used the same 8mm tapes I always did even for Hi8. But I have to confess that I never actually had or used a Video8 - Hi8 was my first entry into it.

[Ken Jarstad]

Borrowing the Digital 8 camcorder for your captures is an excellent solution. Few people have them and perhaps fewer would lend. The converter boxes have the advantage of working for any analog source and many folks also have lots of VHS to convert.

[rusty]

Ken, I certainly thought about my VHS tapes. I don't think there are too many, so I'll figure out how many I'm looking at. If it's only a few, I'll pay a video service to do them - there are a number of them in my vicinity. If it is more like 10, then I'll get the Canopus and have some fun myself (my wife will be so pleased if I spend more money on another gizmo that keeps me down in my cave!).

[Chuck Engels]

You may be able to connect a VCR to the Digital 8 camcorder and capture those too

[Ken Jarstad]

Chuck is right. Many, but not all, of the D8 camcorders had a "passthrough" feature/mode which made the machine capable of receiving an analog input and converting it to a DV/Firewire output. If that camcorder has it and your friend is willing you could do the whole job at once.

[rusty]

I just wanted to post a final update on my efforts to capture my old Video/Hi/Digital 8 (still not sure which), VHS and miniDV tapes to the computer. I'm all done! All those old memories are now captured and ready to save to DVD, make into movies, etc!

For the miniDV tapes, the borrowed camera I started with was giving me trouble so I bought a cheap Canon one at Walmart (CAN $179!) and it works great. It even takes nice movies, in decent light conditions.

For the Video/Hi/Digital 8 tapes, again I borrowed a camera from a colleague at work and that went great too. I started using WinDV to capture about half way through the tapes, which allowed me to break the huge one and two hour files (13 and 26 GB) into bite sized clips by setting the number of frames per clip: 9000 frames = 5 mins.

For the VHS tapes, I noticed a little headphone sized A/V input next to the DV plug, so I hooked up my VCR using a cable I had in my collection that has that type of jack on one end and white, red and yellow RCA type jacks on the other. After fiddling with the menus for about two minutes (no manual available), I struck paydirt and was able to capture the analog signal by passing it through the camera and outputing it via Firewire to my computer, again using WinDV (thanks for suggesting it Chuck!).

I couldn't have done it without the patient, helpful people at Muvipix. Many, many thanks!

[Ken Jarstad]

Excellent, Rusty! I'm happy for your success.

[Chuck Engels]

Very happy to hear of your excellent results Rusty