Hi8 to FCP

Hey guys,
Just had a client hand me a load of Hi8 tapes, and I've only worked with miniDV. My first thought was to get his camera, but he doesn't have it anymore. Does anyone have any ideas. I have access to a capture card, but I still don't have any way to play the tape. I really need to get this worked out.
Thanks,
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2.0 GHz, 400Gb Hard Drive, 2Gb Ram, 250Gb External

I don't think you have any choice other than locate something that plays Hi8. You can run the S-video and audio through a conversion box or capture card or your DV deck if it supports it. If you have a dv deck I would dub the Hi8 to DV so you have timecode.
Or you could take the tapes to a dub house and have them dub the tapes over to minidv.

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Any ideas how to import the Hi8 tapes into FCP-X?

The trial is exactly the same as the paid version.
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Editing Hi8 on FCP 6 looks bad

I edit mini DV from the Panasonic DVX 100B as my main
format in FCP and the quality and finished product look very good.
Recently I wanted to put together a memorial tape
for a family member that recently passed.
I had Hi-8 footage from 3 chip cameras and Hi-8 consumer
camera footage to work with.
Played back directly to a monitor all the footage looks good
especially the 3 chip stuff.
I used the Sony GV-D200 player with mini DV to firewire
to input the footage to FCP and it all of it looks really bad (like 3rd generation VHS)
Since it looks so bad on the timeline I didn't even want to find
out what it would look like going thrpough Compressor and then
DVD Studio Pro.
Is it the Deck? No TBC ?
My Sony pro deck EVO 9850 with TBC is forever down as you
can't get parts any more.
I thought the Mini DV to firewire would be sufficient.
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I had real good results editing the consumer stuff
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I was looking forward to editing all my years of Hi8 home
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Thanks.
Kevin

Sorry have been away.
It is a player recorder so you just drop
the tape in the tape transport.
Thanks,
Kevin
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Capturing Hi8 A/V through Digital8 Camcorder - FCP preset question

After putting this off for years (so long that I forgot what to do) I am finally getting around to loading the old family library of Hi8 video footage shot in the 80's and 90's with a Canon A1 through a Sony DCR-TRV320 to do the analog to video conversion enroute to the Mac through FCP 6. After trial and error I have fumbled my way through the appropriate camcorder settings (Analog Video Out conversion to Digital Video Out, Audio bit rate changed from 12 bit to 16 bit) to eliminate the audio sampling rate mismatch error I was getting in FCP after Capture Now imports.
My latest test loaded OK with no errors. I am still left wondering if I should change the audio frequency preset in FCP. I can't find authoritative info on what audio frequency the original Hi8 material was recorded in. Changing the bit rate from 12 to 16 on the Sony camcorder fixed the FCP mismatch error I was getting, but I wonder if I am screwing with the sound by leaving the FCP preset at 48 kHz. If the Hi8 material was recorded at a lower frequency, will the audio be OK if FCP is importing it at 48 kHz? It sounds OK but I haven't done a headphone test. Just wondering if I have to create a special preset at a lower frequency or just leave it alone, now that I solved the bit rate problem.
Thanks!

Thank you all for the expert advice. I just found the manual for the Sony camcorder used for the analog to digital conversion and it lists two modes for its PCM system 1) 12 bits/32 kHz, 2) 16 bits/48 kHz. If I understand you correctly, it doesn't matter how the audio was laid down by the Canon A1 analog, since the Sony is converting it to 16/48 (or 12/32 which was my problem earlier, before toggling the Sony menu setting). Is that right?

Hi8 capture into FCP problem...

FCP is not recognizing the camcorder I have connected to the computer in order capture Hi8 tapes. I believe that this setup should work, but perhaps someone knows more about it.
I have a digital 8mm camcorder that plays hi8 tapes and has a firewire connection. It is the smallest one, the 4pin, so I bought a 4pin to 9pin adapter to put it through the firewire 800 port on my MacPro.
I set the Capture Preset to DV NTSC Basic, and I clicked non-controllable device in the Capture window. Actually, once it saw it and captured an audio file with nothing on it I have tried all those old tricks like shutting down the computer and starting up again with the camera on. I've tried two different ports; the back and front.
I guess the problem could be the adaptor; but I want to check all the settings/presets against those that people have used successfully. If anyone has experience with this, please tell me how you did it!
Thanks!

No, but I can use Google.
Don't use DV NTSC Basic. Use regular DV NTSC, unless your audio is 32k, in which you'll have to make a 32k DV NTSC preset. There might be a problem with the FW800 connector. Quite a few people are reporting problems with these cables. Definitely use the rear FireWire port. Do you have any other devices connected?

Evaluating used Betacam SP or Hi8 decks as feeder for FCP

I'm just setting up a FCP suite at home. I have a fair number of BetaSP and Hi8 tapes that I'd like to digitize so I've been looking on eBay for used decks. Can anyone give me a guideline for how many hours is too many for a drum or heads - or what it would cost to replace them if I had to?
Thanks much!
Rick Brenner
Scarsdale, NY

I'm just setting up a FCP suite at home. I have a fair number of BetaSP and Hi8 tapes that I'd like to digitize so I've been looking on eBay for used decks. Can anyone give me a guideline for how many hours is too many for a drum or heads - or what it would cost to replace them if I had to?
Thanks much!
Rick Brenner
Scarsdale, NY

Is is possible to repair Hi8 tapes in FCP ?

Hi, I've got a couple of old Hi8 tapes from which I need to capture.
Bits of them speed up of their own accord, including the audio.
What is this, how did it happen and is is possible to repair?
Thanks,
Mark

this sounds as though there was a big problem on the camera that shot the footage. motors went wonky ? does not matter now of course.
try and get the footage into your machine as clean as poss (as studio x mentioned a TBC can help here) then play around with time remap on your clip to try and get it right...It will be a bit suck it and see but you should get it sorted
best regards
andy

Hi8 Cam doesn't play my tape thru canopus...

Hello all,
Yes, yet another question from Benny P. My project I am working on now required me to get the Canopus ADVC product. The project I am doing is being done at different locations. It's a high school video that was shot by one of the parents, who obviousily wasn't up to date with technolog. It was shot in Angalog video (WHY?!?!?!?). So I buy this Canopus ADVC-110 and have previous tapes that play thru the camera I'm using. I'm using a Sony, and the tapes I'm trying to capture from were shot from a different camera.
I did this same video last year, when I hadn't been relocated, and I used the parent's camera who shot the games with. This camera is a rare (or atleast I've never seen anything like it before) Analog camera. It has a FireWire port and I used it last year to capture from using the FireWire iLink port it supports in FCP.
I get the tapes this year, playing them on a different camera from which they were shot in. I insert them into my capture camera and I get a fuzzy screen with black and white grains. Tried playing the tape thoroughly and there is not video. I am positive the video was recorded and was played back previously (at least that's what I was told).
So I'm going crazy right now. I feel like the converter I bought was a waste and is not useful. So, I'm wondering if there's anything else I could do to capture without the camera.
I was thinking buy a VHS tape that you can insert the analog tape in and you can play it with a VCR. Is there anyway I could use this to capture?
This is really confusing. This is first project I've had so much trouble with, (WHICH IS CLEARLY CAUSED BY TRYING TO EDIT ANALOG FOOTAGE!), as I usually edit in SD and HD footage.
If you could pass on any advice or ideas for me that would be amazing right now. Lost post I know.
Thanks so much,
-benny

Benny,
As Studio X has already alluded to, there are three video formats that use 8mm tape; 8mm (aka Video8), Hi8 (aka High Band 8mm), and Digital8 (DV25 format - the same format as used with DV/DVCam/DVCPro)). 8mm and Hi8 are analog video formats, while Digital8 is, naturally, a digital video format. A Digital8 camcorder can record a Digital8 signal to Hi8 tape. The tape itself is neither analog or digital - its a metal particle (or metal evaporated) tape formulation. It's the type of signal that was recorded to tape that determines if the recording is digital or analog.
Since the camcorder does have a Firewire (aka iLink, IEEE1394) connection, it is obviously a Digital8 camcorder. Digital8 camcorders can playback Digital8, Hi8 and regular 8mm video. They can record a Digital8 signal to Hi8 tape.
There is NO known 8mm-to-VHS adapter. Perhaps you're thinking of the VHS-C-to-VHS adapters which are/were available just about everywhere.
-DH

Hi8 transfer

How to transfer Hi8 video tapes to a MacBook pro --- a S video cable is available. Hopefully possible without purchasing a $220 piece of equipment. TIA.

Hi Gurunot,
If this is for non broadcast purposes DV resolution should suffice,you can either transfer straight to a
dv tape using a camera as a recorder (duration allowing) and then import with imovie, FCP or QT Pro,
or "Roxio", I believe, makes an inexpensive device they sell for making a quick DVD which will allow
you to save as DV, as I recall the device is about 70 dollars and is a small connector which plugs
into an available USB ? port, maybe firewire, it has S-Video and 2 RCA inputs for the sound.
Hope this helps.
J>H<L

Suggestions for removing video noise from converted Hi8 footage

I am about to start capturing Hi8 material into FCP 6 through a Sony D8 camcorder that does the analog to digital conversion. Even after cleaning the tape heads, I notice a very few lines of noise at the very bottom of the frames - like a dirty head. From the camcorder side everything looks normal - no noise. From the FCP side in VTR mode you can see the noise. I am not sure if this is an artifact from the analog to digital transfer or if the tape head is still dirty.
Question: assuming I cannot eliminate the noise on transfer/input, is there an easy way to apply a universal filter or horizontal "clip" function to imported video to remove the bottom few lines of video? I guess I could always overlay a black canvas covering only a few lines on the bottom, but maybe there is a more elegant solution?
Thanks in advance for any counsel!

What you are seeing are timing errors that are an artifact of analog recording and generally are outside the viewable area of a CRT TV (i.e. in the overscan zone). If you are setting these up for digital presentation - web or computer play only, these items may be seen.
You have a couple of options to deal with the tearing ..
• Recapture the material using a Hi8 deck and a separate analog/DV converter with a full frame Time Base Corrector between the tape machine and the analog/DV converter. This will clean up the timing errors but is an expensive proposition.
• Crop the image. This will leave a very slight letterbox effect and may not be noticeable unless you mix the material with non-cropped material.
• Slightly enlarge the material so that the tearing falls outside of the 720x480 area. Expanding images much beyond 110% softens/pixelates the images noticeably and my not be acceptable.
• Live with it.
Good luck.
x

Capturing from HI8 through HV20 - does it work without timecode?

I am capturing material from a Hi8 camera. I have connected it with my Mac through the Canon HV20.
I can see the material in the Log and capture window in my FCP 6.0.2, but when I choos capture now.
FcP wants to locate the timecode, which does not exist.
My question is. Is there a way I can capture my analog material, without first having to record it on DV tapes.
Cheers
/David

if original timecode is not important to you then you can bypass the device control altogether and hence the error with it :
in the *Log and Capture* window click on the *Capture Settings* tab at upper right and change the *Device Control* setting to *Non-Controllable Device*
press play on the Hi8 deck and then hit *Capture Now* in FCP

No Audio to FCP from digital 8 camera?

I've set up my new Imac with FCP and want to log and capture from my Digital 8
camcorder by way of firewire. The video is runnning in the capture window I have full camera control from my mouse but no audio. I think my audio settings are correct. Any help?
Thanks,
Kosmc4
1st post.

Bingo! Audio Video and camera control. Thanks a ton(This hasn't been any fun yet). Is going through the camera better than going through the canopus?? It's my personal camera that I use to dump Hi8 home movies onto my emac at home. If it's better I'll sell work the camera and take the canopus back. Just bought this iMac for work & this is step 1 in transitioning from the analog to digital world. I have an Immix NLE system, professional Betacam, Hi-8 & VHS decks and will need to continue to get this footage into this new iMac. I'm going to buy a DVX100b to handle the new dv footage.
Also(sorry) when I'm done loading this Hi8 narration I have to switch to a rented the AG30 to dump mini DV footage for the narration. FCP6 doesnt recognize the AG30 can you believe that? FCP5 did. Do you have an answerfor that? I create educational training programs that are sold around the world. Does quality suffer going through the canopus?
No more I promise.
Kosmc4

Why can't I get any audio sound on my Hi8 video capture in iMovie?

Hi
I have just captured some video clips from my Hi8 Camcorder and exported it to iMovie on my Apple Mac. Unfortunately there is no audio sound on the captured video. Can any one help? I am using Roxio Video Capture USB to capture the video from my camcorder.
Nazimoja

>I am using Roxio Video Capture USB
That's the problem. The Roxio device captures in a highly compressed, multiplexed (muxed) format that isn't intended for editing. Muxed files won't playback audio without the proper software installed on your system. You could try using MPEG Streamclip to convert the captured files to an editable format, but that means you'll be taking a double hit on quality.
The proper way to capture analog footage for editing is to use a qualified "DV Device" (DV camcorder, converter or VTR) to convert the analog signal into a Firewire signal and use iMovie, FCE or FCP to capture and edit. Or, in your case, you could use a Digital8 camcorder for playback directly via Firewire.
FWIW, this is the Final Cut Studio forum. The iMovie forum is located here: https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie?view=discussions
-DH

Hi8 Capture Box Import

I have recently bought a canopus advc 55 to attempt to import all my old hi8 footage into fcpx. Its connected to the computer via fw and the box in turn via RCA.
When I attempt to create a camera archive, every so often it will just record the first 3:33 ish minutes of the tape, continue to show me on screen the rest of the footage but not transfer it. Also sometimes when it gets to the end of the tape FCP would just crash and the archive would not be recognisable as there is no metadata.plist file within.
After waiting 90 minutes for it to record and discovering it hasn't is not only an annoyance but a collosal time waste. For the second issue, I have found copying any old archive plist file seems to placate fcp as the video footage is within the cotainer but FCP just does not recognise it.
Has anyone else had this issue with the advc 55 or any analogue digital converter? I would have thought maybe the converter box is faulty, but it does display a video feed during import without any horrible stuttering or any other interferance; however this has left me rather confused and frustrated. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
I'd like to add that I have succesfully imported my entire mini DV collection over iLink/fw without issues in the most part, although often I get messages when importing from the camera archive that clips are still referrencing media on the tape, are these dropped frames?

Problem is, we're not sure if FCP X is really set up to capture non-timecode tape. It may be FCP X is not reading any FW based timecode coming in (which Hi-8 doesn't have). I'd recommend using Quicktime Player to import it. FCP installs QT Pro, so you should have a "New Movie Recording" option in that File menu. Also be sure to set it to record from your Canopus in the QTPlayer preferences first, too. Then import the resulting QT files into FCP X.
I'm confused as to if you are Importing your footage, or creating an Archive? Don't worry about an Archive until you've captured all the footage first.
Again, no one I've spoken with has any idea how FCP X handles dropped frames when capturing from tape, so again, I recommend folks use QTPro (Player) to capture.
As wonderful as FCP X is right now, it is a version 1.0 of a new application, and is full of annoying bugs.

Transferring Hi8 to DVD

I'm trying to figure out the best way to transfer hi8 to DVD using iMovie for capture. The problem is if I have a Hi8 camcorder, is there a way to connect that to my miniDV camcorder and then firewire from the DVD into the computer? If there was such thing as a camcorder cable with the 1/8" (3.5mm) jack on both sides, then they could easily be connected. Problem is, I'm not sure if something like that exists.
If you have alternative suggestions for how to capture, let me know. The reason I choose iMovie to capture is so it doesn't tie up FCP.

I think you srrived here by mistake (DVD StudioPro Forum!!) but I will try to give some directions.
the best way to transfer hi8 to DVD using iMovie for capture
I think you mean analog Hi8, right?
In you MiniDv camcorder has analog audio&video inputs, you can do it. You must connect the analog video&audio outputs to your MiniDv inputs (the RCA connectors), and connect the firewire port of your MiniDv to your computer. That way you'll use the MiniDv camcorder as a analog/digital converter.
Check in the manual of your MiniDV camcorder and for sure you'll find detailed information about this mode settings.
If you have FCP my suggestion is take your time to learn how to capture (what in fact is so easy and more powerful that in iMovie) and edit there. Once you have learned FCP, you'll never go back to iMovie.

Hi8 to FCP

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