I have some old home videos on 8mm and want to transfer them to my iMac, how do i do this and what do i need? My camera has a video out so i can watch them on my tv, is there something i can use to record them to my iMac from my camera?
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I want to transfer my 8mm tape to my iMac
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I used to have a Digital8 deck that played back 8mm and Hi8 as well as Digital8, and connected via firewire. If you had that deck, you'd just plug it in via firewire and capture away.
I don't know how many of those films you have... but if you buy a really cheap video recording device, the result will look okay, not more. If you spend more money but are only digitalizing 30 minutes of film, you will probably be better off just sending the footage in.
There are tons of service providers on the web that will receive your material and send you back a DVD or similar with said footage. And while they are pretty expensive for huge amounts, they usually deliver great quality (since every single image is scanned properly and they are not played back with weird frame rates and stuff...)
So, you might look some service up that just does it for you. I only know one in Germany, so I can't really give any good recommendations.
There are tons of service providers on the web that will receive your material and send you back a DVD or similar with said footage. And while they are pretty expensive for huge amounts, they usually deliver great quality (since every single image is scanned properly and they are not played back with weird frame rates and stuff...)
So, you might look some service up that just does it for you. I only know one in Germany, so I can't really give any good recommendations.
I'd rather go with something like that. Not sure though if it works with "modern" iMovie and FCP X. It does with iMovie HD and FCP Classic
I just ordered this:
http://www.meritline.com/mygica-igr...?hq_e=el&hq_m=2419621&hq_l=30&hq_v=32101350ef
It was only 22.00 hope it works.
http://www.meritline.com/mygica-igr...?hq_e=el&hq_m=2419621&hq_l=30&hq_v=32101350ef
It was only 22.00 hope it works.
I really hope this works out for you. At least $22 is not that problematic... at least you will definitely be able to transfer and VHS video you still have...
However, remember what I said: Your 8mm film is probably recorded at either 16 or 24 progressive frames per second and at a comparably high resolution (because it's film). Your TV player (whichever it is) will convert this to an analogue signal with 50 interlaced half-frames per second at a resolution of 720x576 (that's for Europe, but the US only differs slightly). This analogue signal will then be transferred through an analogue cable and digitalized by a cheap device.
If you find that what you get looks way worse than the original material, all of this is probably the reason. Then try to bring it to a professional store that will transfer it for you simply by scanning each single frame.
Be careful though: In Germany, the price was sometimes markes as "8 euros/m" which could either mean 8 euros per minute or per meter of film, depending on how exact the company is with their units. And that makes a huge price difference...
However, remember what I said: Your 8mm film is probably recorded at either 16 or 24 progressive frames per second and at a comparably high resolution (because it's film). Your TV player (whichever it is) will convert this to an analogue signal with 50 interlaced half-frames per second at a resolution of 720x576 (that's for Europe, but the US only differs slightly). This analogue signal will then be transferred through an analogue cable and digitalized by a cheap device.
If you find that what you get looks way worse than the original material, all of this is probably the reason. Then try to bring it to a professional store that will transfer it for you simply by scanning each single frame.
Be careful though: In Germany, the price was sometimes markes as "8 euros/m" which could either mean 8 euros per minute or per meter of film, depending on how exact the company is with their units. And that makes a huge price difference...