Possible to do analog to digital pass through recording with my Optura Pi?

[Hulk]

I would like to put some of my old hi 8 footage into DV format using my Optura Pi camera. Is there a way to do this without actually recording the footage onto a DV tape?

If there is I haven't been able to figure it out. It would be nice to just use the Pi as a digitizer box of sorts so I can go from the analog camera directly to the computer via firewire.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Mark

[wkulecz]

My Sony TRV120 D8 does analog-in to DV pass-thru without a tape. My Canon ZR10 doesn't.

Depends on the camcorder. Best way to get DV from Hi8 tapes IMHO is a Sony D8 camcorder. See if you can borrow one if you don't have enough Hi8 material to justify a D8 camcorder.

I got mine as a closeout for ~$450, compared to ~$300 for converter boxes like DVMC-DA2. For the extra money I was happy to have a second camcorder.

Unfortunatley Sony removed the pass-thru feature on the current bottom of the line (TRV-130) so you'd need to find the older model or get a TRV-230.

I often use my TRV120 to capture programmed SVHS recordings to DV where I edit out the comercials and output back to tape.

--wally.

[Patrick]

Mark, although it may seem like a nuisance to have to re-record your Hi8 tapes onto MiniDV, there is the huge advantage of retaining device control. When using pass-through analog to digital capture, you don't have any device control of the playback unit from your computer. If you like to batch capture, or if you like to capture in Preview Quality mode (as with Studio DV), this would be impossible if using pass-through capturing. However, it sounds like you unfortunately don't have a choice anyway with the Canon camcorder you own.

[Snake-Eyes]

What Patrick said.

The Sony miniDV camcorders are good at pass-through, but the limitation Pat lists is there unless you dub from the other source to the DV tape, then capture that. It all depends on how long my source material is. If it's an hour long, I recommend dubbing, since you can capture preview quality (drive space), then rely on the camcorder control to get exactly the cuts you want for the final quality render. On the other hand, I've captured 15 minute home videos from VHS to DV format at full quality using the pass through just fine. It saved me the time lost in the dubbing process (someone tell me when they figure out how to do high speed dubbing between VHS and miniDV on consumer priced devices, heh).