A popular video format in the '80s and '90s was 8 mm, which has since been replaced by digital video. Hi8 and Digital8 were the 8 mm tape formats. For people who still have 8 mm tapes with footage they want to keep, converting the tapes to DVDs is the best option.
Instructions
1. Connect your 8 mm tape player, which can be your 8 mm tape camcorder, to your TV tuner card. The tuner card will work as a video-capturing device when connected to certain devices, such as the 8 mm tape player. Use standard A/V cables or an S-Video cable, whichever your tape player supports, to connect the player to the card.
2. Run the video-capturing software that came with your TV tuner card. This software will save footage from your 8 mm tapes onto your hard drive. You can also use editing software, such as Avid and Adobe Premiere, to capture the footage.
3. Insert the 8 mm tape into the 8 mm tape player, and find the spot in the tape where you want to begin the capturing process.
4. Select either "Options" or "Settings" in the video-capturing software and make sure that the output format, which could also be labeled "capture format," is MPEG-2 because it is best for burning to DVD.
5. Select "Capture" on the video-capturing software and select "Play" on the 8 mm tape player. When it is finished, the footage from the 8 mm tapes will be on the computer's hard drive.
6. Open your DVD-burning software, such as Roxio and Nero, and choose "Make a DVD."
7. Select "Add Files" and choose the videos just captured from the 8 mm tapes. Then, click "Open" or "OK," whichever option is offered by the software.
8. Insert a blank DVD into the DVD drive and press "Burn." Once finished, the 8 mm tapes will be successfully transferred to DVD.
Tags: tape player, tuner card, video-capturing software, your tape, your tuner card, footage from