californiagreen
Member
I've spent the last six hours reading up on converters, frame rates, formats, compression et. al. but have not been able to answer one simple question;
What converters don't lose any video quality?
I'm converting hi-8 analog from a Sony TVR65, and I don't want to do it twice.
Please, please, please, someone make a suggestion. This has to be one of the most common projects on the planet.
Thanks!!!
-Sherman
Johnboy
Member
Canopus/Grass Valley ADVC 110 or 300
Coreece
Member
The converters recommended by johnboy are by far the best converters, but if you were to use a digital 8 camcorder as the converter, it will cost less and produce the same quality if not better. I doubt you'll be able to find a digital 8 camcorder in a retail store, but perhaps a friend has one you can borrow, or you could just pick one up on ebay or a pawn shop for around $50-$100. Many Sony Digital 8's can play back Hi8, but some cannot. Just check the specs and it will tell you.
I like this method because if you use the canopus converter, you have to send the signal through A/V cables to the converter and than from the converter to the computer via a firewire IEEE 1394 cable. When the signal passes through the A/V cables there will be a slight loss in quality. If you use the Digital 8, the signal travels directly to the computer from the camera via firewire without having to use the additional llossy A/V cables. In addition, the canopus converter costs around $200 and can't be used for anything else. The Digital 8 camcorder is cheaper and now you have an extra camera for whatever.
Best Regards,
Corey
