Cameras & Camcorders

[hillracing80]

I have several things I would like to accomplish and am not sure how to go about it!  I have a laptop running Windows XP, a Canon Vixia HF20 Camcorder (I can get the videos onto computer), several 8mm video tapes and alot of VHS tapes.  I would like to make dvd's of them all.  I can't even get the video from my camcorder onto a dvd now!  Please help me with what exactly what I need to do all of this.  Thanks in advance!!

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

HI hillracing80,
 
You’re going to need to get software that allows you to import your video files into it and then creates chapters. Once the chapters have been created you can then burn your project onto a DVD that can be played in most DVD players, and an example of software that can do this would be Nero 9. There are actually many different software available for purchase, and if you live near a Best Buy® store I would suggest visiting the store and asking the advice of a computer expert in the store.
 
Getting your 8mm video and your VHS tapes uploaded to your computer will be a challenge, and would require you to purchase a number of products before this was possible. I would suggest using a service that puts your videos from these sources onto DVD's for you, and if you want to see the service we provide to do this you can look here. I hope this helps!
 
Thanks for posting,
Allan
Community Connector
Best Buy® Corporate

[hillracing80]

Thanks for the information, I will look into Nero 9.  It will do avchd?  I know alot of people have had a hard time with the new hd camcorders, getting the video to dvd's.  I have seen Roxio's VHS to DVD, would that work.  It seems simple according to the product descriptions, but I want to be sure before I purchase it.  I would like to find a way to do it myself, if I don't have to spend a fortune, as I have a ton of VHS and 8mm video tapes I would like to transfer.  I do still have my Sony handycam for the 8mm and a VCR for the VHS. 

[Allan-BBY Community Connector · Accepted solution]

Hi hillracing80,
 
After doing some more research I found a product we sell called the Pinnacle Studio MovieBox Plus that should be able to recompress your HD video footage to MPEG-2 so you can burn your HD footage onto a DVD in order to be able to play your videos on a DVD player. This product should also allow you to connect a VHS player and your 8mm Sony Handycam to your computer and then convert your analog video footage to a digital format that can then be burn onto a DVD. This product has DV, S-video, and composite inputs and then outputs to your computer via a USB port. This means that any analog device that outputs using one of these types of connections (i.e. record player, cassette player) can be connected to your computer in order to upload and convert its signal to a digital copy in order to be edited and copied to a DVD, Blu-ray disc, or CD.
 
This product comes with Pinnacle Studio Plus software which allows the user to edit and burn your video and audio projects. This software sells for $79.99 by itself and this product retails for $99.99. This should work perfectly for your needs.
 
I hope this helps,
Allan
Community Connector
Best Buy® Corporate

[hillracing80]

Thanks A Million for the advice, going to Best Buy this weekend!

[Entropy]

BTW, if you find a package that has issues with AVCHD directly (many still do), the latest version of HandBrake does quite a good job at transcoding AVCHD files to other formats.  It can't output MPEG-2 directly (but can output a format that's easier to import into another package), so a solution that can do direct AVCHD to MPEG-2 is preferable.

I do recall also seeing that mencoder was capable of transcoding AVCHD to DVD-compliant MPEG-2, but it's a rather difficult to use commandline program.

HandBrake and mencoder are both free open-source software packages.

[hillracing80]

Where would I find HandBrake?

[Entropy]

I think it's handbrake.fr, not sure.

Google is your friend.

[mnmpdr23]

I recently bought a canon hf20.   I have tried everything I can think of and I can get the videos to upload to my computer but they are extremely distorted and jump and skip.   I am using the software the camera came with.  What sould I do to get my videos to save and play correctly on my computer?   Thank you.