One of the most common questions I get is: “How do I play and transfer my old 8mm or Hi8 video tapes to VHS or DVD if I don’t have the camcorder any more?”.

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not as simple as just buying an adapter to enable your 8mm or Hi8 tapes to play in a standard VCR, as there is no such thing as an 8mm/VHS adapter. For specific details on this, and also how to play back and transfer your 8mm/Hi8 tapes to VHS or DVD, if you still have your camcorder, check out reference the article Where Is The 8mm/VHS Adapter?.

However, if you find yourself in the situation where you have a collection of 8mm and Hi8 tapes and no way to play them back or transfer them because your camcorder is no longer operational or you no longer have one, there are several options available to you:

1. Borrow a Hi8 or 8mm camcorder from a friend or relative for temporary use (Free – if you have access to one).

2. Take your tapes to a video duplicator in your area and have them transferred to DVD professionally (can be expensive – depending on how may tapes are involved).

3. Buy an inexpensive HI8 (or a Digital8 camcorder that has ability to also playback analog Hi8 and 8mm) camcorder to play your tapes back. (The best long-term and least expensive option if you have a lot of tapes — and if you can’t borrow a camcorder).

4. Buy a Digital8/Hi8 portable VCR from Sony.

If you only have a small number of tapes- I would consider options 1 or 2 as they would be the most practical and cost effective. If you have a large number of tapes, then consider options 3 or 4 – with option 3 being the most cost effective.

Lastly, at this point, I would transfer them to DVD and not VHS. However, you could do both, if needed. If you have them transferred to DVD by a service – have them do one — and then test it to make sure it plays on your DVD player – then have the remaining ones done in the same fashion.

More HD Camcorder Reviews:  http://camcordervideoshare.com/category/camcorders/

Source from: http://hometheater.about.com/od/camcorders/qt/8mmhi8quicktip.htm

A New Breed of Digital Camera

Samsung NX10

The biggest news out of PMA was Sony’s announcement of a “DSLR Lite,” a new compact camera with interchangeable lenses and a large APS-C sized CMOS sensor. This type of camera will have a traditional DSLR’s fast response times, solid photo quality, and range of lens flexibility, plus it’ll take AVCHD videos. Since it doesn’t have a mirror assembly, it will be much smaller, lighter and easier to carry around, however. Similar in theory to the Micro Four Thirds cameras from Panasonic and Olympus as well as Samsung’s new NX10—which also uses an APS-C CMOS imaging device – expect this category to be white hot in 2010. Sony gave few additional specifics other than that the new camera would arrive this calendar year. A big blow-out at the Photokina trade show in Germany this September seems likely. Stay tuned…

Less Equals More

Canon EOS Rebel T2i

Good news for those sick of increasingly ridiculous marketing hype: Manufacturers have stopped cramming point-and-shoots with even more megapixels. You won’t find any compact digicams with more than 14 megapixels here shortly, which is more than enough for most shooters. DSLRs with their heftier prices and larger sensors peak at 24.6MP, but no new models were otherwise introduced at the two shows. Granted, industry and DSLR giant Canon wasn’t at PMA, but did introduce the Rebel T2i (due March) before the show. It’s an $899 18MP DSLR that shoots 3.7 fps and captures HD video. But mostly, expect more DSLRs later this year–especially around Photokina.

You won’t want to edit with Native Canon EOS 7D MOV files, most CPU’s bottleneck when scrubbing through these files on a timeline. It’s very CPU intensive and not really meant for editing. Do you have access to HD Video Converter? If so that’ll help you to convert your files to another friendlier format.

Solution for editing H.264/MOV footages shot by Canon EOS 7D,550D camera

Megapixel Counts Come Down

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5

As we’ve pointed out in many of our reviews, more megapixels are not necessarily a good thing for digital cameras, since smaller pixels are prone to digital noise, especially in low light. Camera makers are introducing models with “only” 10MP sensors, but the color is better and speed (frames per second) is dramatically enhanced. Canon and Sony started this trend in 2009. This year we’re seeing similar introductions from Fujifilm, Samsung, Nikon along with new models from Sony such as the DSC-TX5. Remember, more megapixels don’t necessarily mean a better camera.

Prices Continue To Drop

Nikon Coolpix L22

You’ll have no problem finding a solid aim-and-forget camera for under $150 in 2010. In fact, the bulk of the cameras purchased cost below $199, even though we tend to like those costing more. A good example of 2010’s affordable pricing is the Nikon Coolpix L22, a 12.2MP model with a 3.6x zoom and 3-inch LCD screen for a sweet $129.

HD Video Is Everywhere

Sony Cyber-shot HX5V

More cameras than ever feature high-definition video recording capability at one level or another. Lower-end high-def (720p) is now fairly common, but this year will see the introduction of many that can record at top-end HD resolution (1920 x 1080). Sony’s new 10MP DSC-TX7 ($399) and HX5V ($349) are the first cameras that record true AVCHD video, something once only found in $500-plus camcorders.

Social Networking Becomes King

Kodak Easyshare M575

Facebook and YouTube didn’t have exhibits at CES or PMA, but their presence was felt in a big way. Digital imaging manufacturers of all types (cameras, camcorders, printers, etc.) announced new ways for people to quickly upload their stills and videos to these ridiculously popular sites. A good example is Kodak’s new share button found on its latest digicams. You just mark the files in the camera you like and once you connect it to a computer, they’re uploaded to Facebook, YouTube or the Kodak Gallery, the company’s photo sharing site.

Super Zoom Options Keep Expanding

Fujifilm FinePix HS10

Last year, Olympus introduced the 14MP CCD SP-800UZ, the first 30x mega-zoom digicam with a range of 28-840mm; it even grabs 720p video. Fujifilm just topped this effort with the new FinePix HS10 ($499, due April). It has a wider-angle 30x lens (24-720mm), captures Full HD movies, and even grabs 10 fps thanks to its BSI 10MP CMOS chip. Beyond these models, there’s no shortage of potent zoom cameras ranging from 7x-10x with slim form factors to DSLR-like cameras with 15x, 20x and 24x zooms. Every manufacturer has them. Have fun finding your pick.

Flash Memory Takes Over

HP V1020H1

Between the two shows, we’ve seen practically every new breed of camcorder out three—including fully featured models as well as Flip-type pocket cams. No shocks here: Flash memory rules as tape- and DVD-based camcorders have gone the way of the CD. Although there are still HDD models, their number is shrinking as card- and imbedded Flash-based editions take over. The good news here being that the costs on Full HD AVCHD camcorders have dropped below $499 SRP. Although sub-$199 Flips remain wildly popular, we’ll take a real camcorder with a true optical zoom and a quality lens anytime. The big news out of PMA was HP re-entering the business with low-priced ($199) camcorders and digicams.

Rugged Gear Reigns

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2

Whether it’s the endless winter or the coming approach of summer prompting the uptick, almost every camera manufacturer now has a “rugged” digicam in its product lineup. Here you have a choice of simply waterproof options to others that can be dropped, frozen and submerged. Olympus popularized these digicams with its TOUGH series, but now there’s strong competition from Canon, Pentax, Fujifilm, Panasonic and Sony. Panasonic’s just-announced Lumix DMC-TS2 ($399) can go 10 feet underwater, be dropped from 6.6 feet, and handle cold to 14 degrees F, plus the 14MP digicam takes AVCHD Lite videos.

What is AVCHD Lite ?How to edit AVCHD Lite footage on MAC/Windows?

How to convert Lumix AVCHD Lite to MPEG-4 MP4 and H.264 MP4 formats?

July 14, 2010 Canon unveiled a new dual memory HD camcorder, the Vixia HF M32 . The design closely follows that of the M31 but doubles the built-in flash to 64GB and upgrades the card slot to support SDXC. With a lower bitrate, Canon believes the camera could hold a full day of video in built-in memory alone and another day again with a 64GB SDXC card. The HF M32 will be available in September 2010.

The HF M32 is now the top mid-range HD camcorder from Canon. However, other than the increase in built-in flash memory to 64GB, and the ability to record using SDXC memory cards, the Canon HF M32 appears to be exactly like its predecessor. The HF M32 has the same 1/4-inch CMOS sensor with a total pixel count of 3.89 megapixels, and its lens has a 15x optical zoom, just like the previous HF M series camcorders from Canon.

After the video session, owners can produce standard definition versions of videos without losing the HD original and can share video over Wi-Fi if they have fast Eye-Fi cards.

Shipments of the HF M32 start in September, when Canon will ship it for $1,000.

Solution for editing H.264/MOV footages shot by Canon EOS 7D,550D camera

How to convert Canon EOS 550D video to FCP friendly format?

How to edit your tivo shows and burn them to DVD

The 4th generation TiVo Premiere XL now records up to 150 hours of HD programming, which frees users from the issue of insufficient storage memory. However, you may still wanna copy TiVo to hard drive for enjoying the shows more freely on PC, editing your own tivo shows, or burning favorite TiVo series to DVDs. The freeware TiVo Desktop lets you copy shows from TiVo box to your PC. I use Pavtube for coverting TiVo videos for my iPhone 4.  It works very well and I haven’t really had any problems.  Conversion speed seems fine and the videos look good [More...]

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The results are finally in and EOSHD.com has found settings that give you the best possible quality from your GH1. There will also be improvements and updates still to come. Please read on! http://www.eoshd.com/content/250-50Mbit-1080p-MJPEG-on-the-Panasonic-GH1

How to convert 1080p AVCHD MTS to 720p iPhone 4

If you have an AVCHD camcorder, you probably have some AVCHD MTS files stored on your PC. To import these 1080p MTS footages to iPhone/iPhone 4  for convenient playback or easy sharing, you need to convert these MTS files to 720p MPEG4  iPhone friendly format first. For a hassle-free experience and high quality video output, I recommend Pavtube iPhone Video Converter, which provides optimized presets for your iPhone 4  so you don’t need to worry about the settings for your iPhone 4 . I do love the program and it is working very well. I have a DVD of my [More...]

How to convert,edit,merge,deinterlace MTS footages and capture the snapshot images in one tool

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Digital camera buyers who love  to record  video often ask if there is an advantage of using a camcorder instead of a digital camera to make movies. The answer is complicated. It depends on who you most: the video shot or shoot stills. Memory and video recording Many camcorders come with built-in hard drives, or the use of mini-DVD, etc. These amount to large data recording easier, that films of high quality drinking faster memory. For example, my Canon S2 made great movies at 640 × 480 with stereo sound (VGA equivalent), but 8 minutes take up to 1GB of [More...]

Panasonic announces Digital Camera DMC-FX75/FX70

Panasonic has announced a new digital camera for its Lumix series called the DMC-FX75. The new camera has a 14.1MP resolution. The lens is an image stabilized Leica DC Vario-Summicron 5x optical zoom unit. The lens has a 24mm to 120mm equivalent range. Aperture settings from the camera are from F/2.2 to f/5.9. The cam also has a macro mode that lets the camera focus on items as close as 3cm from the lens. The ISO range for the camera is 80 to 1600 and it has shutter speed of 1/2000 to 60 seconds. The cam is packed with automatic [More...]

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