We currently have a number of old home movies that are on Hi 8 format that we would like to burn to DVD. Our camcorder died and I don't know if we have digital or analog tapes. I have the following questions: 1) How do I determine whether I have analog or digital tapes. 2) Without a camcorder to play back our old tapes, what is the best way to accomplish that, once I have determined the format (digital vs analog). 3) Depending on the format, what is the best way to record those old movies on DVD. We are in need of a new camcorder which we would prefer to buy digital in the future, however what do I do if the movies are analog? How can I play them back to record on DVD? Thanks for any assistance you might lend... John
1. Hi-8 is by definition analog. 2. You will need a camera that plays H-8 tapes. There are two options: a Hi-8 or a Digital8 camera. A Digital8 camera has the advantage that you can connect it directly to your PC via a Firewire connection and transfer the movies digitally to your PC. Disadvantage is that the choice of camera's is limited and are already dissapearing from the market. A better, future oriented, is to buy a miniDV camera. To transfer your Hi-8 tapes, buy a used Hi-8 camera (check eBay) and transfer them to your PC via the miniDV camera. 3. Once you have the movies on the PC, there are many programs thatyou can use to convertto the right format and burn them to DVD. Here some articles with usefull information for you: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/camcorder.php http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/basics/transfer.php There is also a forum thread that discusses buying a new camera: http://www.digitalvideoclub.com/forum/viewtopic.29.html
