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8 Replies Last post: Mar 9, 2004 9:24 AM by RichL

phillyag

3 posts since
Nov 4, 2003

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Feb 26, 2004 6:29 AM

Hi8 to DVD

I'm a Mac newbie (switcher, by the way) and I would like to transfer Hi8 videos of my children to DVD. I have a Sony video camera with a firewire port and a 17" iMac, 1.25GHz, 512Mb RAM. Could someone point me in the right direction? Helpful articles that I could read?

Also, how would I transfer music from my wife's cassette tape collection to CD?

Yeah, I know..... we're a little late to the digital revolution....

Thanks for your help!

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Southern_Gent

223 posts since
Nov 5, 2001

1. Feb 26, 2004 10:18 AM

in response to: phillyag

Re: Hi8 to DVD

I'm assuming you have a Superdrive on your computer. You need to connect your camera via the Firewire connection to your Mac. Then import the video into a program like iMovie and do any edits there. Once you are finished editing, export the movie out to iDVD. Then burn your DVD.

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ftaok

1,069 posts since
Jun 21, 2001

2. Feb 26, 2004 11:12 AM

in response to: Southern_Gent

Re: Hi8 to DVD

He has a Hi8 camcorder. It probably doesn't have a Firewire connection. If it doesn't, you'll need a DV bridge or a digital camcorder with pass through capbilities.

For a DV bridge, people seem to like the Formac DV and the Canopus ADC100.

Most miniDV camcorders have AV pass through. Only the bottom of the line ones don't.

Also, you could take it to a shop that converts Hi8 tapes to DVD.

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phillyag

3 posts since
Nov 4, 2003

3. Feb 26, 2004 1:39 PM

in response to: Southern_Gent

Re: Hi8 to DVD

Yes, I do have a superdrive. Also, the camera is a digital 8 with an IEEE 1394 interface (is that firewire?) .

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swhitset

170 posts since
Jan 20, 2003

4. Feb 26, 2004 1:50 PM

in response to: phillyag

Re: Hi8 to DVD

Yes it is Firewire... as you already stated it had in your original post

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VidPro

312 posts since
Dec 20, 2002

5. Feb 26, 2004 2:33 PM

in response to: phillyag

Re: Hi8 to DVD

In reply to:<hr />
I'm a Mac newbie (switcher, by the way) and I would like to transfer Hi8 videos of my children to DVD. I have a Sony video camera with a firewire port and a 17" iMac, 1.25GHz, 512Mb RAM. Could someone point me in the right direction? Helpful articles that I could read?

<hr />

Unless it is a very low-end Digital8 camera, it should just play the analog tapes and digitize them through the FireWire cable diretly into iMovie, so just plug the camera in, (both to power and the FireWire cable), turn it to VCR mode, then open iMovie, click on the camera icon to go into import mode, and click on the play button. You should see the video in iMovie as well.

Any time there is video you want to keep, click on the Import button, and then click Import again to stop importing. The tape will still run if you did hit Play first. If you didn't, the camera will start and stop with the Import button. Anytime you are not importing video, you can use the search buttons to speed forward or back to get the next segment you want.

There are good tutorials for both iMovie and iDVD, so I won't try to duplicate them here.

In reply to:<hr />
Also, how would I transfer music from my wife's cassette tape collection to CD?

<hr />

You need to download a program such as Audiocorder from
http://www.blackcatsystems.com/osx.html which will allow you to import audio through the audio/microphone input on your iMac.

You may have the proper cable with whatever connection you need for the audiocassette recorder and the stereo mini plug for the computer, or you may have to buy one from Radio Shack.

Here is the URL for their instuctions on how easy it is to burn CD from the imported audio, and the best part is that you can download the software and try it free, and if you like it, YOU decide how much you want to pay for it! How wild is that?

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/audioBurnCD.html

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VidPro

312 posts since
Dec 20, 2002

6. Feb 26, 2004 2:37 PM

in response to: phillyag

Re: Hi8 to DVD

In reply to:<hr />
Also, how would I transfer music from my wife's cassette tape collection to CD?

<hr />

I forgot to mention you may need to play with the audio out level from the cassette player as well as the recording level in Audiocorder.

That is actually the hardest part to keep the audio level as high as possible without distorting the sound.

The rest is as easy as pie.

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owlshead

108 posts since
Nov 6, 2003

7. Mar 8, 2004 9:40 AM

in response to: phillyag

Re: Hi8 to DVD

Just a couple of footnotes to what has already been said. Digital 8 is backwards compatable with Regular 8 and Hi8, so those old tapes should play nicely.

On recording the cassettes, for a while Apple was bundling the app "Sound Studio" on Macs to record. It's excellent. Check to see if you have it. If not, you can check it out at www.felttip.com.

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RichL

2,433 posts since
Oct 7, 2001

8. Mar 9, 2004 9:24 AM

in response to: phillyag

Re: Hi8 to DVD

I have a Sony Digital 8.
Plugs right into a firewire port.
Launch iMovie and control the video stream into the camera by using the buttons in iMovie.
it's faily intuitive.
There is a little button on the left of iMovie of a little camera and a pair of sissors. Click it to move it over to the camera and if your camera is hooked up you should see a msg like "camera connected".
Use the buttons to pull in the video. Switch that little button over to the scizzors to edit.

Welcome to the MAC..you're gonna love it!!

RichL

RichL Columnist/Reviewer for MYMAC.Com

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