8mm camera --> PC

[KrayZeeZ]

Hi, I have an 8mm digital camera (~6 yrs old) that has some footage I would like to get on the PC. The only output from the camera is what appears to look like a headphone jack (3.5mm i guess) and has a cable that plugs into it, with the other ends being standard Red/Yellow A/V cable. The quality is already kind of shabby, so I'd like to not loose any more, but I also don't want to spend a lot of money doing this.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations to go about doing this?

So far I've found USB and PCI devices like Newegg.com - DIAMOND One Touch Video Capture USB 2.0 VC500 USB 2.0 Interface - TV Tuners & Video Devices
Newegg.com - SABRENT TV Tuner / Video Capture / MPEG Recording PCI Card with Remote Control TV-PCIRC PCI Interface - TV Tuners & Video Devices
Dazzle DVD Recorder, USB 2.0, S-Video, Composite (RCA), Audio Inputs, wSoftware (Refurbished) 8216-00000-31 at TigerDirect.com

Even though the PCI device is cheaper, would it be noticeably better in quality? Also, one down side to the PCI device is that the audio in is the headphone jack style. Any help or insight into this would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[fantomfreq]

If the camera is digital, it should be easier than that. If the camera says Super 8 or Hi-8 on it, then it is unfortunately not digital. However, if it says something to the effect of MiniDV then you're in luck. Digital camcorder recordings can generally be transferred into a video editing program using a simple Firewire cable.

[KrayZeeZ]

its Hi-8, so yeah non-digital

[Áedán]

The Sabrent card appears to be based on one of NXP's SAA713x chips, which have a fairly good reputation. How good the rest of the card is hard to know.

The Dazzle appears to be based on a combination of SAA7113 and SAA7115. No idea how well they work together, although Philips/NXP usually does pretty well.

No idea about the diamond.

[booman]

I bet the diamond One Touch would do the trick. Since you have the Video RCA on the camera you should be able to plug in and record with their program on the PC.

Interface: USB 2.0
Video Standards: NTSC/PAL
Push Button: Pres to start/stop video capturing
Video capturing formats: MPEG 4/2/1 formats
Video Inputs: Composite RCA or S-Video
Still image capturing: JPG or BMP formats
NTSC Video Capture:720x480 @30FPS
PAL Video Capture: 720x576 @25FPS
Burn support files to DVD/VCD
Video editing with Ulead Video Studio

I would stick with the BMP format and the NTSC 30 fps. You'll get a smaller screen but more fluid motion. I've never used Ulead but before you purchase the Diamond One touch see if you can download a trial versio nof Ulead and see how it works.
Let us know what you figured out.

[Áedán]

BMP is only for still image capture, rather than video capture. Some users on the net have commented that other vendors software (such as ulead) didn't work with the Diamond, but I've no idea how competent those users are.

[booman]

oh, duh, I was reading it but not really reading it. Your right Aedan, thanks.
Here are some reviews for the Diamond on amazon
Diamon One Touch

[KrayZeeZ]

I ended up going with the Dazzle. Works like a charm for me doing exactly what I wanted. Quality looks as good as the source and it came with some excellent software package.

Thanks for all the help.

[booman]

No problem. We are here for any questions you have
What format did you end up using for your videos? AVI?
What program are you using too?