How to Convert Camcorder Tapes to Digital

Do you want to digitize camcorder tapes at home, but don’t want to buy a converter? This guide will walk you through how to transfer your camcorder tapes to a DVD using equipment you probably own already.

Process for Converting Camcorder to Digital

One of the easiest and “least-involved” methods to transfer your camcorder tapes to DVD is to hook the camcorder up to a DVR or other recording device with a DVD recorder. This means that all you need to do is play and record your camcorder tape to the DVR, then burn a video DVD when the recording is finished. With this method, it is also possible to combine several smaller-length tapes onto one DVD, but the combined total run-time must around or below the two hour mark. For the example below, I’ll be using a Sony Hi-8 camcorder.

1. Place the video tape you’d like to transfer into the camcorder. Fully rewind the video cassette using the rewind button. If you’re not sure it’s fully unwound, you can pop the cassette out and make sure all of the tape is on the left side.
2. Next, connect the red and white RCA cables into the red and white RCA outputs on your camcorder. If using S Video, connect your S Video cable. If not, connect your yellow RCA cable to the yellow output on your camcorder. Plug your camcorder into the wall.
3. Insert your cables into the INPUT of your DVR. Make sure to put them into the INPUT, rather than the OUTPUT. If you have different numbered inputs (1, 2, 3, etc), make note of the one you used.
4. Once it’s all hooked up, turn the DVR on and set it on the same input as the step previous. You should now see your camcorder interface on the TV screen.
5. Test out the video and audio by pressing play on the camcorder, turning the volume up on the TV and making sure everything is playing as it should. Check for volume, playback speed, and picture quality. If any of these are poor, try different inputs. If the problem persists, try a different camcorder. If the problem still persists, it’s on the tape itself, so the transfer will be suboptimal.
6. Now you are ready to transfer the video to the DVR itself. Press play on the camcorder and then immediately after pressing play, hit record on the DVR and now your video will begin to be transferred to the DVR’s hard drive. This process all happens in real time, so you’ll need to wait until the tape or video has reached the end before attempting to burn to a disc.
7. From here, if your DVR supports burning video to DVDs you can burn your discs straight from the DVD copy interface menu (Consult your DVR manual for instructions on this step).

If you want more power over your production such as editing abilities, it’s best to transfer your camcorder tapes to hard drive. This will allow you to insert your video clips into software video editing suites to add additional effects and splice scenes together with ease. To transfer your video to hard drive, there are a number of methods you could employ. For best results, we recommend using a video capture card or device that allows you to capture directly to your computer’s hard drive.