Transferring old analog home videos to PC - need some help

[Dreece47]

I am hoping someone can help me out with transferring my parents' old home movies from their video camera to our computer. They are 8mm tapes and the camera has a yellow/white av cord. I have done a fair bit of research looking at video converter usb devices etc but I also discovered that I can plug the old camera into my panasonic blu ray recorder and record the footage to the hardrive while it is playing through the av input. The problem I have is when I am watching the footage through the blu ray recorder it looks quite acceptable, however when I Go back and play the recorded footage from the hardrive there is a noticeable drop in quality. In regards to the video capture devices I think that this product:

Amazon.com: Elgato Video Capture Device 10020840: Electronics

seems to have gotten the most positive reviews. However there are still complaints that the quality of the transfered footage is not that great. I have read that it is better to use a solution where the hardware does the analog-digital conersion rather than a product that uses software to do it. Does anyone have any information about products that do this and produce high qualoty results? I am aware that the footage recorded on old 8mm tapes is not very stellar but basically I want to transfer the footage over with the best quality attainable. I also would like to be able to do this for other people as a service and earn money from it (I plan on starting a small 'business' from home, editing videos for people who don't know how (there are a lot).

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and welcomed.

Cheers

 

[jonna]

Have you tried recording straight to dvd using your recorder av inputs, then put the dvd into the dvd tray and import onto your pc using editing software.
You should be able to adjust the recording quality on your Panasonic menu.

 

[chrishull3]

Well i find that realy strange that you get a lower quality after copying to the bd recorder hard drive,i have found copying any analogue to my dvd recorders hard drive that the footage is the same as the origional and going onto a blu ray recorders hard drive should lose no quality at all ! unless you have the recorder set to record at one of its lowest quality settings,set on a a reasonable quality you should get no loss.

 

[Dreece47]

Hey, thanks for the responses. I just checked the instruction manual in regards to recording from video equipment through the av2 input and it says underneath "The video quality will be degraded"

Now this actually annoys me, obviously this is deliberate so that people can't pirate vhs tapes and burn them to dvds. Oh well, I guess that option is out of the question. I'll have to find another way.

I have done some more research and until I get a good enough computer so I can install a video capture card, I think that this is my best bet

Amazon.com: Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder: Electronics

 

[Chelters]

How about an older miniDV camcorder with AV in?
You'd just play the 8mm and feed it through the miniDV (no tape inserted) and capture the feed via firewire and your PC. Hmmm now I have an old Canon MV500i, any offers

 

[chrishull3]

Its a pitty you dont live near,i still have a Sony GV-D300E DV recorder you could have borrowed,ideal for the job.