8mm to VCD Conversion Newbie

[gwleong]

Would like suggestions for converting Hi-8 and Digital-8 to VCD format. I know DVD is the preferred method, but I just want the cheapest route to converting to VCD.

I have a P4, 1.5GHz, 256MB RAM, HP-8000i CDRW Burner, 20GB HDD, etc.

What software is the best/cheapest, and what hardware is needed? My video card is an Abit nVidia GeForce3 Ti200. (no tv in)

Please advise or point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance!!

Gary

[Frodo Skywalker]

Hey,

DO you have a fire wire card, so you can dump your video into your pc?

[gwleong]

No. No firewire card. But I was told I could somehow utilize my USB ports??

Any advice on this?

[Frodo Skywalker]

To be honest, Ive never heard that (which doesnt mean much). You might want to make a post like" USB or FIREWIRE" to see if anyone knows. I know for my D8 cam, theres no mention of usb, but it's always possible. I'm sure you'll have to buy a special wire for that though.
-FS

[phil2440]

I've tried to capture Hi-8 via a Dazzle DVC-80 connected to USB without success. Suffered from lot's of dropped frames when trying to capture at full screen.

[Frodo Skywalker]

hmm. Like I said, I'm not really familiar with USB coonections for video, but my firewire seems to work great. It goes in with realtime capture, then I use an Editor like ULEAD or PINNACLE and just select the output mode.

[thePest]

Hello "gwleong"

As an expert for another site. Here is a way you can do this.

You need t o purchase a TV card. Be it DV souce from Pinnacle or just a plain card with a RCA input. You should or will need to get a DV cord converter to RCA.

I use Studio Pinnacle's TV card which was about $50. US. It captures in AVI or converts to Mpeg1.

Problem: If you make your files long. The lower price cards will have an audio sync problem. But if you are just converting short files say under 15min. I have had no problem.

You will need to allow a large HD space to capture. I would suggest in AVI standard. Then you can pick what conversion you may want to pick.

As for converting? TMPGEnc will solve most of the conversions as a GREAT encoder!!!