HOW TO CONVERT CAMCORDER TAPES

Author
Discussion

geek84

Original Poster:

587 posts

93 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Hi Folks

I have some HI 8 camcorder tapes which I would like to put on another storage medium.

Can you kindly suggest anything?

Thanks in advance

geek84

Original Poster:

587 posts

93 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Hi

I'm not very IT literate.

How do I do that?

Thanks

Mont Blanc

1,355 posts

50 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
EmailAddress said:
geek84 said:
Hi

I'm not very IT literate.

How do I do that?

Thanks
Some sort of cable to connect the Camcorder to your computer...

Random Amazon LINK

Then QuickTime or some recording software should see you right.
Just be very careful about those cheap Amazon/ebay converters. They can ruin the quality.

Have a watch of this and see what some look like compared to a higher quality option.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NuquTDhjGY

Depending on how many tapes you have, I would be tempted to send them to a professional digital conversion service for about £6 per tape. They will likely be using some kind of professional Sony system for the transfer like this:

https://www.ghsmedia.co.uk/product/hi8/


Edited by Mont Blanc on Wednesday 1st May 13:46

Road2Ruin

5,448 posts

223 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
It would be quicker, cheaper and far far easier to take them to your local camera shop and let them do it.

thebraketester

14,674 posts

145 months

Wednesday 1st May
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
It would be quicker, cheaper and far far easier to take them to your local camera shop and let them do it.
Would be my vote too.

biggiles

1,827 posts

232 months

Friday 3rd May
quotequote all
I've used this chap for scanning photo negatives, very good service. They also seem to plenty of camcorder tapes: https://mrscan.co.uk/digital-video-film-scanning-s...

Lucas Ayde

3,717 posts

175 months

Friday 3rd May
quotequote all
geek84 said:
Hi Folks

I have some HI 8 camcorder tapes which I would like to put on another storage medium.

Can you kindly suggest anything?

Thanks in advance
If you can get access to a Digital8 camcorder (almost as old as Hi8 and probably even rarer now) then it should auto-digitise the tapes on playback, with the output going over firewire.

Sporky

7,142 posts

71 months

Friday 3rd May
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
It would be quicker, cheaper and far far easier to take them to your local camera shop and let them do it.
What if they're, erm, "candid"?

Road2Ruin

5,448 posts

223 months

Friday 3rd May
quotequote all
Sporky said:
Road2Ruin said:
It would be quicker, cheaper and far far easier to take them to your local camera shop and let them do it.
What if they're, erm, "candid"?
Tell him to close his eyes biggrin
Or send them to me and I will do them wink

Mont Blanc

1,355 posts

50 months

Friday 3rd May
quotequote all
Sporky said:
Road2Ruin said:
It would be quicker, cheaper and far far easier to take them to your local camera shop and let them do it.
What if they're, erm, "candid"?
Fairly sure it would just be another day at the office for the people who develop film, print photos, or convert video tapes!

In the mid 1990's, I remember a friends Dad having to take the family VCR to a repair shop because their son (my friend) had ended up getting a full VHS cassette of hardcore smut wrapped round the rollers inside.... the bloke in the repair shop was apparently totally unfazed...

Sporky

7,142 posts

71 months

Friday 3rd May
quotequote all
Mont Blanc said:
In the mid 1990's, I remember a friends Dad having to take the family VCR to a repair shop because their son (my friend) had ended up getting a full VHS cassette of hardcore smut wrapped round the rollers inside.... the bloke in the repair shop was apparently totally unfazed...
Superb!

I wonder whether it was the dad or the son who was more embarrassed...