S-video to Mac for under $50?

Factual Questions
1

I have about ten old Hi8 tapes that I want to transfer to digital. But the only equipment I have is aSamsung camera that only has an S-video output.

I have a bunch of s-video to RCA converter doohickies, but that doesn’t help because the RCA doesn’t go tot he Mac either.
I looked for a PCI capture card…HAHAHAHAHHA… right. Hundreds to big thousands of dollars.

Since Hi8 were ubiquitous not that long ago, I know that someone has figure out how to do this without breaking the bank.

Any ideas?

2

I haven’t used it, but it looks like this:

or a similar usb device would do what you are asking for…

3

These are 30.00 to 50.00 on ebay. They have an s-video input.

ATI TV Wonder HD 650 Combo PCI Express

Tech specs

4

S-video to hdmi for $60.

5

I bought one of these converters from eBay. I bought it to use with one of those “entertainment” projectors that only have RCA cables. I connected my MacBook Pro to the converter using the mini display port to VGA adapter. Worked fine, although the projector quality sucked and I returned the projector.

6

I haven’t looked at any of the links yet, but I wanted to clarify: this isn’t about displaying anything, it’s about capturing the video - converting it to digital. Display is a snap.

7

Um, am I missing something? If you can display something on your screen, you can record it.

8

Well, take a look. From the link in the first response in this thread:

9

Yeah, he can’t display it without one of the capture cards listed above.

10

What Machine / OS?

11

The software that comes with the ATI cards I referenced allows you to record and save incoming S-video and tuner feeds. That’s kind of the whole point of these cards. If you wanted to just view the video you might as well use a full size TV’s S-video input.

Look at where it says “video capture and convert” about halfway down the feature set list in the link I provided. I think actually have two of these ATI 650 PCI’s hanging around (somewhere) that I pulled from some home theatre PCs I was playing with last month. I really didn’t realize all they could do till I saw the feature set I linked to. I think I’ll plug one in and play with it.

Another link just for the card.

12

I’m going to try something super cheap I found on ebay. I just hadn’t plugged in the right query until you guys gave me your input. Thanks!

13

Unless this device explicitly supports OS X, you are wasting your money.

I have a PCI video capture card (an xclaim VR 128) - you can have it for a song if it will work for you.

So, once again - what Machine / OS do you have.

14

Per beowulff’s note the card and software I referenced is XP/Vista/Win 7 only.

15

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD, $79.95 in the Apple store:

(If that link doesn’t work, it’s under Mac Accessories / Video Devices).

Supports s-video, comes with hardware and software, runs on a Mac. Check the systems requirements and reviews, I’ve never used it.

16

Thanks but that’s $30 more than the cutoff listed in the TITLE, and that was higher than I really wanted to go to begin with.

17

It’s just under your cutoff at Amazon.

Here’s a less expensive device.
http://www.meritline.com/mygica-igrabber-usb-2point0-video-capture-for-mac---p-38254.aspx?source=fghdac

18

The above unit at Meritline is $20.99 with the following coupon code, but that deal may end sometime this morning.

MLC201189022342NL1

19

That’s the Windows version, and the product appears to have terrible reviews, both on Amazon and on the Apple web site.

ETA: Here’s the Mac version. Cheaper than at the Apple Store, but over the $50 threshold.

Reading the reviews, I’d also be skeptical–lots of complaints about Mac compatibility, although it appears one person did get it running on Snow Leopard.

20

My bad. The Mac version is $65.28 on Amazon.

All of these devices get pretty crappy reviews and they take a lot of playing around with and experimenting with different software to get it right. There are four reviewers that apparently had success with it on Macs.