First, I would like to start of by saying I am somewhat of a novice, when it comes to video editing/encoding. I have a SonyHi8 CCD-TRV68 NTSC handycam. I have been fooling around with this for awhile(6 - 8 months). I want to digitize my home video collection. Looking for the best way to do this. I have read many post on this forum(and others), where people have asked for help, but their seems to be none available. Hold on now, I'm not trying to shit on anyone. Don't get the wrong idea here. Just, I have spent a long time reading all kind of stuff, not useless stuff, I have learned alot. Just not what I wanted to learned. Just wondering if anyone really knows how to digitize Hi8 analog video, without loss of quality and having audio in-sync.
Hardware
1. Camcorder - Sony Hi8 CCD-TRV68 NTSC handycam with S Video and A/V Out.
Have made a couple of attemps to digitize video using Windows Movie Maker and Virtual VCR. Here's what happened.
For video quality purposes, let say 10/10 is HD quality video. 7.5/10 is DVD quality, 5/10 is VCR quality, etc.
Windows Movie Maker(WMM) makes making videos fairly simple. The video quality was OK, but should be alot better. When I hook up my camera to my LG 42 inch plasma, the picture quality is excellent(DVD Quality, 7/10). Amazing picture. When I digitize(on PC), using WMM, the quality on my Sharp 19 inch LCD was not great(less than VCR Quality, 3/10) I don't expect to get 10/10 video when I digitize my analog video, but I should be able to get the same(7/10) as when I hooked my camera up to my plasma.
So I fooled around with WMM some more and did get the video a little better5/10, but the audio was out of sync. So I did a bit more reading online and someone recommended Virtual VCR. So after fooling around with WMM for 2 or 3 months, I gave up and downloaded Virtual VCR.
Virtual VCR has a fairly simple user interface. Making video is pretty easy. Video quality after digitizing seem alot better(perhaps 6/10). Needs a little improving, but will do. Only problem is I can't seem to capture any sound. Have tried everything, just can't seem to get it to work. Any help will be appreciated.
Also any recommendation on what software, hardware, codec downloads, etc. to enhance the quality of my digitize video would be greatly appreciated.
I captured some Hi8 using Virtualvcr myself.
I don't remember having to do anything special to get audio.
Plugged the audio from the camera into the sound card, made sure
that "record" was enabled in the soundcard mixer software,
and that the level was turned up.
I bought the Sony DCR-TRV460 8mm/HI8mm camcorder when my old HI8 died so I could copy 8mm in both formats to my computer to burn DVDs. The reason I picked this model is it has AV/DV convert built-in to the camcorder. You must also use a firewire to connect the camcorder to the computer. Next you need a application which will allow you to capture to your hard drive. I have used both Pinnacle Studio 10, and winDV. WinDV is a free program and works well to capture video and audio in sync. The result on your hard drive will be AVI files.
