I have a family vacation to Disney coming up and I have a Sharp VL-AH151U Hi8 recorder. I would like to make a DVD when I get back. First off, I am pretty computer literate but I'm not sure how to go about this. My camcorder has no S-Video port, only a place for A/V and the power source. For playback, you have to hook it up to the TV, there is no VHS tape to put the smaller tape into. Any suggestions on how I can go about getting the video to my computer for editing? thanks in advance.

You will need a capture card to convert the analogue hi8 signal to digital. Many tv cards can do it but resluts are poor. Decent capture cards are around but aint that cheap and doing it all is a bit teccy.

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Do I just need something like the Pinnacle studio package? How does the camcorder then connect to the PC. I know it's via the capture card, but does the camcorder have to have S-Video or USB? All mine has are the A/V ports. Thanks for the help.

Hi8 camcorders don't have USB as they are analogue cameras and not digital. Are you sure it doesn't have an S-Video port it being a Hi8 model? On the off chance that it doesn't your only options are to buy a card with composite input and transfer it that way. But check again for the S-Video port and go through the instruction manual just in case you missed it. It would be a shame to lose the quality of a high band recording if you only have composite video out.

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No there is definately no S-Video on it. It was a Christmas gift a couple years ago so I didn't have much say in what I got. I'll just have to work with what I've got. Thanks.