I have an old Sony Handycam Hi8 camcorder and I was wondering how to get a new Mac to import the video...?

Question

It has a USB port, but when I connect the cord the computer doesn't read it and nothing pops up. The tapes are those big hi8 tapes. Does anyone have one? Does anyone know what I can do to upload them to the computer so I can turn them into DVDs? Thanks

Answer 1

You need the cable that came with your camcorder that has the 3 RCA plugs (yellow, red, and white).  You will also need Video Capture for Mac USB2 Video Capture Hardware http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WR4...

Answer 2

Hi8 is analog. Typically, the USB port is for streaming or trnsferring stills from a memory card - if that camcorder has one.

Because Hi8 is analog, the only way - of which I am aware - to transfer video is by using the AV cables that came with the camcorder (maybe even S-Video rather than the yellow-composite... you still need the audio from the AV cable) is to use an analog/digital bridge like those from Canopus

http://canopus.com/products/videoconvers...

iMovieHD will not recognize video coming in the USB port, anyway...

Connect the camcorder to the A/D bridge, connect the A/D bridge to the Mac with a firewire cable. Press play on the camcorder - click "Import" in iMovie...

Once in your Mac - in iMovieHD - you can edit - then create an iDVD project from within iMovieHD.

Answer 3

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 Hi8 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.

**Please Note There is no 8mm or Hi 8 to VHS Adapter that currently exsists. This type of VHS Adapter only exsists with VHS-C tape**