I have a sony camcorder that uses Hi8 digital tapes and I would like to upload my movies to my PC.?

Question

I have a sony camcorder that uses Hi8 digital tapes and I would like to upload my movies to my PC. Is there an inexpensive way to conver for computer use? Also, is there an easy way to hook my laptop up to me rear projection tv?

Answer 1

your question is somewhat ambiguous. Hi8 is not digital in any sense of the word.  If they are Digital8 then your camcorder has either a USB or firewire for direct connection to the computer. If they are in fact Hi8, then you have two options. one is to buy an upscale Digital8 camcorder that has the capability to playback Hi8 tapes (be careful not all Digital8 cameras can do this).  Or you can send AV from the camcorder to an AV capture card on your computer. They are not particularly expensive and usually come with a compliment of software for editing.

Most laptops have an S-video connector, that will feed your TV set. You may have to toggle the S-video on by using one of the F keys (its F7 on a Thinkpad), see the instructions for your laptop.

Answer 2

You may want to check the Sony support site for your camcorder model. You do need a firewire or iLink cable and a PC with a firewire port. The link to Sony is below..... As far as your PC goes, again I would consult your PC manufacturers support site for the specifics on how to connect to the TV.

Answer 3

If you have a mini dv (cassette) camcorder….

Your dv camcorder needs a firewire connection (ieee 1394) in order to download video, your PC probably did not come with a firewire port, so you will have to buy one and install it, since most computers (except possibly brand new) don't come with a firewire port, your camcorder did not come with a firewire cord so you have to purchase a cord too. Your camcorder did come with a USB cord and that is used for downloading stills from your camcorder.

If you have an analog (VHS) camcorder…

You need an analog converter, either internal card or external such as the dazzle. It's very easy to use and come with good software. You would hook your analog VHS camera to the analog converter, the dazzle and then hook the dazzle to your PC. The dazzle cost around 70.00 , but worth the money if you have a lot of VHS to tapes to convert.