Hi8 to DVD via PC

[dragonklkl]

I have a Sony Handy cam CCD-TR713E which although quite ancient is working perfectly well. I want to use my PC to create DVDs using Movie Maker but when I connect everything up the PC says 'a video capture device was not connected etc'.

This is the first time I have tried to do this so any help would be appreciated. This is for my daughter's forthcoming wedding and if absolutely necessary I would buy a new camcorder, I read on this forum that the Canon MD235 is an ideal cheap purchase.

PS I am a complete amateur.

[senu]

How are you connecting it up to the PC?
It is an analogue Hi-8 AFAIk
Also for your daughters wedding you could get better than WMM for not very much...
PS:The Canon will probably do a better Job

[crumbs]

I have recently undertaken this activity successfully.

I purchased an old Hi-8 camcorder off eBay. I then purchased a PC TV-PVR card (a Hauppage one) that has video-in inputs, S-Video and composite) for my PC. I connected the camcorder to the TV card in my PC using a S-video cable for the video and converted the audio out of the camcorder down to a stereo 3.5mm plug and connected this into the audio-in of the TV card.

I then used the WinTV application supplied with the TV card to record the output of the Hi-8 camcorder to a DVD-format MPEG file on the PC. I then edited this in Windows Movie Maker (supplied with Vista Home Premium and Ulitmate) and exported the movie to Windows DVD Maker. The results were very good for not much effort.

I hope that helps!