Hi8 Camera Thread

S

Seethlaw

Member
Does anyone have any experience with hi8 cameras?

I have a bunch of old tapes from my dads old camera and want to digitize them in the best quality as possible.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best method for this?

Is there also a way to make the 4x3 footage into 16x9 without ruining it's quality?
 
You have 2 choices on the transfer:
1. Have it done professionally for the best quality (no flicker, best resolution).
2. Do it yourself by projecting it yourself and literally shooting it with your digital video camera (varying the speed of the projector to negate the flicker as best you can).
You have three choices when deciding to create a 16x9 transfer out of 4x3 source material:
1. Add pillars to the sides (black columns on both sides).
2. Push into your original image (cropping off the top and bottom).
3. Stretch the image to fill the 16x9 area (sounds weird, but depending on your source material, this sometimes works - I did it once, but there were no people in the footage).
 
Cyclone, The OP is talking about Hi8 video tapes and not Super8 film.

Seethlaw, If you want to digitize them easily in the best quality, I'd track down a Digital-8 format camera. These came out right after Hi8 and used the same kind of Hi8 tapes to record a digital signal. Most of these cameras could also read analog Hi8 tapes which allows you to then capture Hi8 digitally over a Firewire cable. Easy.
If you can't get your hands on a Digital-8 camera, then your next best solution is to use a Hi8 camera plugged into a BlackMagic Intensity card or similar card that can ingest an analog signal.
As far as making 4:3 into 16:9, you're really only going to be able to crop it to get the wide aspect. That means that your 720x480 video will now be 720x360. If you then want to mix it with HD you're going to need to scale it up and you already threw out 1/4 of your resolution. Not ideal, but with a good scaler it won't look horrible. It won't necessarily look good, but it might be passable depending on what you need it for and what your expectations are.
 
Thank you, Andrius, for your pleasant correction. Many times people just say, "Hey idiot! You didn't read the question correctly!!" Your correction is much appreciated.
Best regards,
Scott C.
 
Yeah, I don't see the point in getting aggressive about stuff like that. Just to prove a point? Nah. Anyhow, you did have good advice if the OP was talking Super8. Also, glad you didn't interpret it the wrong way...tone can be hard to get across on teh internets.

BTW, you know there's a fortune buried under that W, right?
 
The age and condition of those Hi8 tapes comes into question, at best after you find a suitable playback unit, by spooling the tapes, fast fwd and rwd,
they should play ok.

Unfortunately, if they're old enough and been stored badly, ie: no cases, in an open cupboard in high variable humidity, then they'll jam on first playing.

Hopefully dad wrote a date on each one, so play the newest one first and test it. If it stalls, don't keep trying, the mag oxide is shedding off the tape
and building up on the heads, you'll be tearing the tape to bits.

There is a heat baking process to harden the tape oxide for a one time playing, but it needs careful study and operation to get it to work right.

Back in the day, we used to do this with old 24 track 2" music masters. It worked with us cursing professional companies that manufactured an unstable product
for the billion dollar music industry.

I'd try and find an outfit who can do this, they might do the transfers too. Do a Google search for 'Baking magnetic tapes' (in your area)
and go along and watch it. Family video tape archives are very valuable, imo it's about the best use for your camera. Good luck.

Cheers.
 
Andrius,
$350,000 to be exact. I actually went looking for the Big W...and found it in Palos Verdes. 3 of the 4 palm trees were still alive when I snapped a picture (of course, my avatar is a frame grab from the movie, so I get all 4 trees in that picture). All of the trees are gone now, but the owner says she plans on replanting all 4. Trivia: That's why you will always find 2 crossing palm trees (forming an "X") in front of most In-n-Out Burgers. It is the owner's favorite film.
 
I can tell you how I used to do this. I had a S-Video to firewire capture card from Canopus, the ADVC-1394. It would take S-Video and convert it to look like a firewire camera. I also had a Sony Hi8 stand-alone VCR, may have been a EV-C40.

I'd use Sony Vegas's capture utility to capture the tape as a DV AVI video. I don't think I have the capture card anymore but the VCR is in the garage somewhere. If I had to do this now I'd buy a USB S-Video adapter and play the tapes using either a Hi8 camera (can be gotten really cheaply these days) or a Hi8 VCR (not sure how available they are these days). eBay could help I'd think. The higher end version of the Canopus is still around (http://www.amazon.com/Canopus-77010150100-ADVC110-Converter) if you have a firewire port.

Local Goodwill and/or Value Village type places often have old video equipment like this if you don't want to go the eBay route.

Quality isn't great, but for home movies it's not that bad.

I seem to remember a friend of mine getting some local company to convert his 8mm tapes to DVD for him in the last five years or so. Might want to check and see if someone local can do it. The equipment still exists for the most part.
 
I have used lots of Hi8 and Digital 8 tapes. They can be transferred to an editing computer using the Sony GV D800 deck
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-GVD800-Video-Walkman/dp/B00006JQQ7

via 1394 firewire or by using a Digital 8 camcorder and connecting it to your computer via firewire.

BTW a D-8 device can also play a Hi8 (and regular 8mm) recorded tape. It's backwards compatible. I own two GV D800s and they work great. Hi8 was good for around 400 lines resolution and makes nice looking DVDs. Much better than VHS.
 
The only way I know to convert 4X3 to 16X9 without stretching is to chop it down so it's wide. It can be up-ressed to fill the frame but you will lose part of the image. I've always just left my Hi8/D8/8mm footage alone unless I specifically was mixing it with other 16X9 footage and then had to change it.
 
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