Analog Video (Hi8) to Digital - Hardware or Software?

[non fiction]

Hi All,

I think I know the answer to this before even asking the question, but i'll ask it nonetheless.....

I have a heap (100+hours) of Analog video footage captured on a sony camera. I would like to be able to import this footage into my mac and edit it using iMovie. From my research to date I have learned that various hardware devices can be purchased (not so cheaply) to convert the data from analog to digital. My question is: is there a software alternative?

My camrea has no Firewire/iLinkoutput, only AV. My mac has only digital input. I imagine I need to buy some kind of signal converter (hardware) or probably some kind of video card(hardware?) to support any available software converter...

Anyone out there got a cost effective answer.

Thanks in advance.

Nick :)

[varmit]

You will need to buy a piece of hardware. It will hook into your Mac via Firewire. And the box on the end of the firewire will have connections for RCA, Cable, and I think another set of connections, or that might just be it. There is no alternative because you need to bridge that connection between your Cable and the Mac. Apple store, Third Party hardware, Video devices at the bottom. Looks to be running like 200-300.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/72601/wo/V135jd6D7qQK2vMqgBB1K8rVxgd/1.3.0.5.16.6.1.1.1.3.1.1.0?60,61

[non fiction]

Thanks Varmit

The ADVC100 looks like th go.

Nick

[Cybos]

HI
Does any one know if the ADVC 100 works with iMovie

[Steven1621]

HI
Does any one know if the ADVC 100 works with iMovie

yes. i am about to buy one for myself

[Steven1621]

I have a heap (100+hours) of Analog video footage captured on a sony camera. I would like to be able to import this footage into my mac and edit it using iMovie.



Be advised that converting analog to DV will use a TON of hard drive space, so you might want to pick up another HD

[JFreak]

yep, 13GB per hour, so you will need a 250GB hard drive to be able to actually edit the files, too.

[Horrortaxi]

As stated, you will need a device to get the signal into your computer. If you happened to be thinking about buying a DV camera, you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone as a DV camera will do the same thing.

Also, before you start you have to know what you intend to do with all this footage. If you just imported 100 hours and left it on your computer you'd have 1.3TB of video. You could back it up to 325 DVD-Rs but that's not too practical. So plan how you're going to edit the stuff and what you want your end result to be. That will help you determine if you need to buy anything extra.

I'm actually doing this right now with all my old VHS-C movies. I import 2-3 tapes at a time (whatever covers the event/time adequately) and edit out the crap (which is most of what was shot) and export to .dv for later use. That process has completely filled a 120GB dedicated drive twice. And I don't even store the .dv files on that drive--it's all workspace. I would imagine you'd be in a similar position to me.

An additional drive (at least 120GB), a bridge, and a lot of free time should get you on your way.