How to transfer video from an 8mm or Hi8 camcorder to a Macintosh computer.
The following items are necessary to transfer video to an Apple® Macintosh® computer from an 8mm or Hi8™ camcorder:
- The computer must have compatible video capture software installed, such as iMovie®.
- The computer must have a FireWire® serial bus (IEEE 1394) connection.
- An analog-to-digital converter must be used to connect the camera to the FireWire serial bus connection on the computer.
IMPORTANT: Information about using iMovie software with an analog-to-digital converter is available on the Apple website at https://support.apple.com/kb/ta26606.
- Connect an Audio/Video (A/V) cable to the A/V output jack of the camcorder.
NOTES:
- Use standard A/V cables [FIG. 1] for the connection if your camcorder has standard A/V output jacks [FIG. 2].
- Use an A/V cable with a mini connection [FIG. 3] on one end if your camcorder has a mini A/V output jack [FIG. 4].
- Connect the other end of the A/V cable to the A/V input jack on the analog-to-digital converter.
- Connect a FireWire cable to the output on the analog-to-digital converter.
- Connect the other end of the FireWire cable to the FireWire serial bus connection on the computer.
- Turn on the camcorder to the VCR , VTR or PLAYBACK mode.
- Turn on the analog-to-digital converter.
IMPORTANT: If the converter has more than one A/V input, make sure the input to which the camcorder is connected is selected on the converter. In addition, make sure the converter is set to convert an analog signal to DV.
- Cue the video in the camcorder to the beginning of the video footage to be transferred.
- Turn on the computer.
- Start the video capture software.
- Begin playing the video in the camcorder.
- Begin importing the video with the video capture software.
NOTE: More information and troubleshooting for importing video with iMovie is available on the Apple website at https://www.apple.com/support/imovie/import/.