Digital & Analogue 8mm to DVD

<p>I have over a hundred analogue and digital 8mm tapes I have shot over the years. I am looking to copy selected tapes onto DVDs. Most were shot with a Sony DCR-TRV740 digital camcorder. I have been using a Sony GV-D800 digital video cassette recorder for playback, but I would like the convenience of having DVDs. I stopped using the 8mm tape equipment about 7-8 years ago but find I have hundreds of hours of tape I would like to put on DVDs. Any advice would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Karl, if you have a Windows PC, there's a nifty little piece of (free) software called WinDV which will capture digitally through Firewire in AVI; you can then burn to DVD or dedicate a hard disk for archival purposes. <br>

<a href="http://windv.mourek.cz/">http://windv.mourek.cz/</a></p>

<p>Alternatively commercial software such as Sony's Movie Studio is inexpensive, captures via Firewire, and includes a DVD authoring tool: <br>

<a href="http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope">http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiope</a></p>

<p>If you want to skip the computer altogether, there are discontinued standalone DVD burners such as the Sony DVDirect MC5 which will burn digital video directly to DVD. THey are available as New-Old-Stock but are rather pricey: <br>

<a href="http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Sony-DVDirect-DVD-Recorder-VRDMC5-/380789893760?pt=DVD_Players_Recorders&hash=item58a8d8aa80">http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Sony-DVDirect-DVD-Recorder-VRDMC5-/380789893760?pt=DVD_Players_Recorders&hash=item58a8d8aa80</a></p>

<p>Michael,</p>

<p>I am inclined to use the computer and will check out the links you sent. I can't see spending US$500+ on a stand-alone device if I can do it cheaply on my laptop with the right software. Thanks.</p>

<p>A couple years back i purchased from Tiger Direct a Sony device. It was a simple DVD burner with input for RCA video. You add VCR or 8mm player. It would record a DVD simply direct from the player. My problem was having a consistent player for the 8mm tape. I had about 4 camcorders, a Walkman 8mm player, and a Sony 8mm tape dedicated player. Sony doesn't really support these devices any longer. Till I got an 8mm player limping along, I was stuck. But the tapes are now copied to a stack of DVD's. Now to edit.... Sorry I don't know the model but it was not expensive - less than $100. And if you consider an outside source to copy your tapes it is an enormous savings. Good luck.</p>

<p>Check out this software and connection hardware from Roxio. There's a box that plugs into the USB port on your computer on one end and accepts the audio and video connections from any camcorder on the other end. It's billed as a VHS-DVD convertor but will work with anything that has a standard video output (and also S-video output, I believe). Besides the box, it has super-simple software for making DVDs. It's about $60. If your digital 8mm camcorder still works, it might very likely have a connection that can be plugged into your computer without the need to buy anything at all, and many digital 8mm camcorders will also play analog 8mm tapes. All you need is DVD authoring software. Your computer presumably as a CD/DVD drive already, so you might already have the software to burn DVDs. If not, Roxio also sells the software.<br>

<a href="http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html">http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html</a></p>

<p>Craig,</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure both my Sony 8mm camcorder and the cassette recorder have USB connections, but I haven't used them in a long time. I have to dig them out with the instruction booklets. Maybe I will be able to simply feed the signal in to my laptop via the USB port and use the Roxio software to burn DVDs without needing any additional convertor.</p>

<p>I would definitely give that I try before I buy anything. And be sure to see if your computer has DVD software on it already -- most computers I've bought that have had DVD drives have at least a basic DVD-burning software included. Not sure, but Windows Moviemaker may be able to turn DVDs.</p>

<p>I have been burning all sorts of CDs and DVDs on my laptop (which has Windows 8). I think I will just try connecting the camcorder to my PC using the USB cable and see what happens. Maybe it will recognise the video signal and open up an app for copying.</p>

<p>I use Adobe Premiere Elements 12. You capture capture old digital tapes and you can edit and create movies with menus etc for burning on DVD's to play on HDTV. You can add music, narratives, combine stills with the movies, etc. Add special effects like B/W. I trasnferred old panasonic digitl camera tapes (don't recall the type) as well as VHS tapes through Firewire. If you're capturing covnerted old movie film, it has auto color correction which works great.</p>

<p>You can buy Premiere 12 alone or combined with Adobe Photoshot Elements 12. Check Google-they're fairly inexpensive. You can also download a trial version from Adobe. Note there's a learning curve if you really want outstanding DVD's at the end. But it will be worth it. Good luck.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try the software route first and see how it goes.</p>

<p>Follow-up report: I sprung for the Roxio VHS to DVD 3 Plus software, which includes a USB video capture cable (that has both S-video and composite jacks). The software works like a charm. Very easy to use. Will be well worth the $40 considering the cost of paying an outside service to transfer my 8mm tapes to DVD, and I can also use it to transfer VHS to DVD. Now all I need is the time to get it all done.</p>

<p>Windows 8 does not support USB video streaming, so I have to use the capture cable. I tried plugging the USB cable in directly from my camcorder but the Roxio software would not detect any video or audio signal. (In fact, Windows 8 will not detect any streaming video via USB.)</p>