hi8 editing

Hey, I have been filming with a Hi8 for a long time and love my camera but converting the footage to DV has become a problem. When I plug my camera through the analog AV cables to my TV the picture is crystal clear, but when I convert it to .avi files on my computer using either an ATI tv tuner and digital video recorder, or my dazzle digital video creator 80, i get footage which in comparison is very pixilated and low quality. I know by plugging my camera into my TV that the footage is right where I want it as far as clarity and resolution goes, but why am I having a problem with converting it, is it my hardware, my capture software (MGI Videowave 4) or something else? would a analog video card rather than Analog to USB connection be better? thanks alot

[bsuttie]

Your best option would be to beg borrow or steal a Digital 8 camcorder which plays Hi 8 tapes then you can firewire straight in a DV stream.

If you can't do that then try to go s-video rather than composite.

regards

Brian

[MarkE19]

There have been a couple of threads about the Dazzle devices recently. The general opinion seems to be that Dazzle are at the budget end of capture and do give 'budget' results.
Any USB capture device is going to be of poorer quality than a dedicated capture card as USB just can't handle full bandwidth data transfer of video. They therefore tend to reduce the refresh rate and/or resolution of the video which then gives you a reduced quality final DVD. TV tuner cards also tend to be a compromise and not an ideal method of captureing analogue video.
If you want the best possible PQ from an analogue source then you have to spend a bit of money. There are however a couple of options:
1. Get a digital camcorder with AV-in. Connect the analogue cam to digi cam and then connect that to PC via firewire
2. Get a dedicated A>D converter such as the Canopus ADVC converters. These start from around £80 in price.

Mark.

[MarkE19]

Here is one of the recent threads that mentions 'Dazzle'.

Mark.