Jeanette D. Moses is a New York based filmmaker and photographer known for capturing the intimacy of New York City’s creative communities. She loves shooting music, tinkering with new technology, all things analog, and learning about archaic photographic processes. She’s been photographing the music scene in New York City since 2012 and began writing about photography shortly after. In addition to Tom’s Guide, her stories have been published on Pop Photo, DP Review, Digital Photo Pro and The Phoblographer. In 2021 she was selected as one of Dr. Martens Filmmakers of the Year to direct a film about New York City’s DIY music scene. Once you transfer videos to a PC, make sure to include those videos with your routine hard drive backups.
Difficulties in Watching MiniDV Tapes
Both of these accept tapes in formats including VHS, S-VHS, Betamax, VHS-C, Hi-8, MiniDV and more. The best way to convert 8mm tapes to DVD is by playing them back from your Video8 orHi-8 camcorder with a video capture device connected to a computer. Sending your MiniDV tapes to a digitization service will take the burden of editing off your shoulders.
Many people have copied their videos to VHS and DVD to watch on TV or pass out to family and friends. However, with the demise of VCRs and DVD recorders, the most practical way to preserve videos is to upload old camcorder videos to a PC. No brand new 8mm tape players are available in the market.
Compatible with both PC and Mac, the Elgato video capture device predictably plugs into the computer’s USB port and connects to your VCR or camcorder’s audio and video cables. It also supports S-video for slightly better image quality, but the S-video cable isn’t included. Like the others, the Elgato package includes software that lets you save video from VHS to DVD or your hard drive.
VIDBOX Video Conversion Suite
Something to note here is that AV has a single pin, while RCA has three separate pins colored yellow, red, and white. Can be complex for those who are not tech-savvy, leading to frustration and delays in the process.
The box includes a USB capture device that connects to your PC’s USB port and has inputs for the VCR or camcorder’s analog output cables. The only way to watch MiniDV tapes on your television is to hook up a camcorder to your TV using the audio/video cables that were bundled with your camcorder. You could also hook up the camcorder in a similar fashion to your computer and use a video capture program to record the video stream onto your computer’s hard drive. MiniDV tapes are a great format to record onto, but what about when you want to watch MiniDV tapes on your TV or computer? Mini DV tapes require a player or a camcorder that is compatible to record or play MiniDV cassette tapes. USB video capture device comes with a CD containing the device driver and sometimes a basic video editing program to help you transfer video from a camcorder to your computer using USB. In 1983 Sony released a consumer camcorder, called Betamovie, that used a small Betamax cassette tape and gave consumers instant access to their recordings—no processing fees required.
8mm video cassette players cost more than 8mm camcorders. You can conveniently sit back and watch your dozens of ‘priceless memories’ tapes with your family. Digital files last forever and don’t degrade with every single play or rewind. You’ll also need to acquire an analog video-capture dongle. These have a USB connector on one end and audio and video inputs on the other, and they start around $13. Check the manufacturer’s specifications to make sure the dongle is compatible with your computer. Some, such as the Elgato Video Capture, also come with recording and editing software.
Read more about digitize mini dv tapes here.
Camcorders That Use a Hard Drive or Memory Cards
Some VCRs allow access to the AV inputs by changing the channel selection up or down until you reach AV, line, or video in. Copying your camcorder tapes to a more current format preserves your footage more reliably and allows you to edit it. Let’s discover how at-home MiniDV-to-digital transfer can be done and then compare it with a digitization service. But always consider the safety of your stuff if you want to contract the job to a conversion center. On this, you may wish to consider not trusting your family secret or recorded business insight to a stranger.