Digitizing Old Video Formats

[JamesCaruso]

This is not technically “equipment” related, but it has to do with photography so I figured this was the most relevant place to put it.

I have been chasing since 1996, so I have old video in some pretty obsolete formats including VHS-C and Sony Hi-8 / Digital Hi-8. Have any of you gone through the process of converting to digital, and if so how? I was thinking of using the Legacy Box mail service (www.legacybox.com), does anyone have experience with them? Are there any similar services you recommend more highly? It scares me to risk putting all those treasured memories in the mail... Is a local camera pro shop a viable alternative? It’s scary to entrust anyone with these precious memories, but I certainly don’t have the time or equipment to do it myself, so it’s unavoidable to use some outside help, but if I can avoid mailing it takes at least that one risk out of the equation... Also, did you move everything to DVD or just to digital computer files? Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Search for RCA to USB capture devices, this way you can do everything yourself with a VCR or even direct from the camera. Those devices are probably less than a hundred bucks. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Multimedia-VC500-Video-Capture/dp/B001FAE8MA

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I have a Pinnacle MovieBox USB which does what Dan was talking about. It's pretty old now, but still works for those (rare) occasions when I still need to work with something off a Hi8 or VHS tape.

Ironically, DV is harder for me to ingest since laptops stopped having built-in Firewire ports around 10 years ago. There's one on the MovieBox itself, but for some reason it stopped working with my capture software on my current desktop computer. The analog RCA/S-video inputs work fine, but that kind of defeats one of the main selling points of early digital video (no generational loss with transfer).

Cripes, I still remember when 4:3 Hi8 or DV video was high quality, and generation loss was a concern for videographers/editors. At 33, I'm a geezer.