cyclespeed Loc: Calgary, Alberta Canada

Our 8 mm camera no longer replays our tapes clearly. Tape is tape and it will be the next thing to go so soon we won't be able to go down the 1970's - 80's memory lane even when you can borrow a friend's camera. So this was the impetus to find how to transfer 8 mm tape.

My questions include: How do you do it using a Mac computer?
What is the best medium to which the move should be made? i.e. an external hard drive or a DVD? I'm told jump drives are too slow for these large files.
Thanks for your reply.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Typically, most use something with RCA inputs and a USB output.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JVQVR3Q?tag=amz-mkt-chr-us-20&ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-org00-win10-other-nomod-us000-pcomp-feature-scomp-wm-5&ref=aa_scomp

jrm21

The "best" way is digital transfer to a DV file. How/if you can do that depends on your camera and computer.

If your tapes are "digital 8" and your camera has a firewire output (also called iLink or IEEEE1394) your are halfway there. You then need a way to connect that to your computer.

Older Macs had firewire ports. If you have one, all you need is a cable. This will be either FW400 or FW800 on the computer side. One of these cables likely came with the camera.

If your Mac is newer, you likely have a Thunderbolt 2 or Thunderbolt 3 port. There is a FW->TB2 adaptor you can use. If you have TB3, you also need a TB2->TB3 adaptor.

It sounds complicated, but it isn't. It's a one-time setup of the proper cable and you are set. Both adaptors and the cable would cost under $100 - and you might not need all three items.

Once connected, you can use Quicktime Player or iMovie (both came free with you Mac) to import the video. In Movie, simply drop a tape in the camera and go the "import" section. If you are using QTPlayer, select "New Movie Recording" hit the play button on your camera and then the record button in QT.

You will need to record/save the imported files on your HD. The files will be big. Once on the HD, you can separately burn them to a DVD or other media.

Some warnings:
Tape imports happen on a 1:1 timescale. A 1 hour tape takes 1 hours to import. Actually longer since timecode breaks and other issues may cause an import to stop at some point. You need to babysit the process.

Files imported in this way take up a lot of space. If I remember correctly, it's about 13GB/hour of tape. Consider some sort of offline storage (burn to disc, additional hard drive, etc.). You can certainly copy the files to a thumb drive. I wouldn't suggest one for long-term storage and speed of them makes it unsuitable for editing.

Files like this are not usually meant for editing. (Although the QT player method of import will allow you to save the file in compressed version, more suitable for playback). On the other hand, a DV file is going to give you the highest quality possible since it digitally copies the files from the tape.


If your 8mm is not digital8, ignore the above. :) Analog tape formats require a different connection method.

Edited to add: If your tapes are not digital8, you can still go the digital route. Pick up a used digital8 camcorder (available very cheap). These can play the standard 8 tapes and will give you the Firewire connection.

cyclespeed Loc: Calgary, Alberta Canada

Thanks very much. Ours are analog and I borrowed a Super 8 mm camcorder for playback purposes. Both cameras are rca jacked.
Can you tell me should I get it to a DVD FORMAT? 1 tape up to 2 hours = 1 DVD I WAS TOLD

jrm21

You cannot take a tape and go direct to DVD. (There may be a specialized deck that does that, but I'm not sure).

You need to import the data to your computer first. Then you need DVD authorizing software, a DVD burner, and discs. Apple used to have DVD Studio, but that's no more. Toast will do the job for you.

If you want to go the DVD route (as in playable in a DVD player), you might want to edit the video first and add some simple titles. (iMovie can do that easily).

With RCA out on the camera, you will need hardware to convert that to a signal the Mac can read and import. I don't know of anything specific that would work. Note that for about the cost of that hardware, you can probably get a used Digital8 camcorder that can read your analog tapes. IMO, the digital/firewire input is a better route.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

DVDs are going the way of tapes. Why? Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Roku and more. Take a trip to BestBuy and count the number of DVD players they have! Some of the current video editing software is dropping disc burning tools. Current TVs all have USB ports for memory sticks.

Make the DVDs if you want, but while you're at it, make MP4 video files. MP4 video files (with the h.264 codec inside) are the jpeg of digital video.

jrm21

Sad, but true (I much prefer owning a disc instead of hoping that some online service will still have the rights to what I want to watch when I want to watch it).

Retails stores limit their selection of discs for many reasons. Declining sales being one. At the same time, every major movie is still released on disc (DVD, Blu-Ray, and/or 4k). They also keep re-releasing older movies in the newer disc formats. The Lord of the Rings trilogy - now 20 years old - will be coming out in 4k later this year.

Authoring a disc (making it playable in a consumer device) is not worth the trouble for most. I completely agree that saving the file to a compressed, computer readable format makes more sense. You can burn it to disc (as a backup), store it on a HD, take it with you on a thumb drive. You can also load it onto your iPad to watch while on a plane.

If you want to get real fancy, you can rip all your commercial discs to HD and add your own home movie files. Drop them all on a NAS, fire up PLEX and have hundreds of movies "on demand" on any TV, computer, or mobile device.

File based video is definitely convenient. However, discs are going to be around for a while, as will playback devices.

misterzee Loc: N'Georgia Mountains

For knocking things out quickly, I used to have a DVD recorder with analog, component, and FireWire inputs. It was quick to make a dvd from anything I had connected including VHS, 3/4”, 8mm. It’s kinda backwards, but later, one can “rip” the DVD to an mp4 in your computer.

jrm21

The only downside to that method is loss of quality. The creation of a DVD file compresses the video and data is lost. That's one generation.

Rip it back into your computer to edit/whatever... when you output again to a compressed format you are losing more data (second generation). And so on. It's like taking a RAW photo and creating a JPEG. Then editing the JPEG and saving it. Then editing that JPEG and saving it. Each time, you lose information.

This might not be a concern to some. Storage space is so inexpensive today. Optical storage (such as 100GB m-disc) might be a little more work, but provides inexpensive options for long term storage of the original data.

I'm a data hoarder. :)

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

I'm looking at a similar problem. I dug out about 3,000 ft of super 8mm film (from 60's) that I want to convert to digital. my old projector basically disintegrated when I took it out to screen the tapes. I have 50ft, 200ft and 400ft reels. I concluded my options are to send them out to a lab for digitizing to MP4 at a cost of about $650 or buy a film digitizing machine for about $300-$400 and do it myself (maybe 80 hrs. work). I'm currently checking a local photo club that advertises they have film editing equipment. Once I get into MP4 format I can easily edit it and add sound, titles etc. on my pc. All 3000 ft will fit on a thumb drive then I can leave it as a legacy for my heirs.

jrm21

Seems like sending it out is a no-brainer.

If you borrowed the machine for free, you are valuing your time at just over $8/hour. (80 hours to save $650)
If you bought the machine for $300, you are valuing your time at $4.38/hour. (80 hours to save $350)

Either way, make sure that film is handled carefully (the one big advantage of doing it yourself). Old film can be very fragile.

misterzee Loc: N'Georgia Mountains

Most of us don’t have a system that can manage true uncompressed video. It gets compressed on the way in with pretty much any digitizer, even in professional video shops.

A dvd is encoded using mpeg 2, usually about 6 mbs or better. That is bandwidth beyond what a vhs or an 8mm can lay down. A handy little utility called mpeg-stream clip will transcode to a QuickTime or mp4 for hard drive storage. Just one-way to get your legacy video into the digital world...