Can I Convert a Canon HI-8 Analog Camera To A USB Macintosh Webcam?

Question

Hi Folks. I have an old Canon HI-8 analog video camera and want to see if it would be possible to use it as a webcam for a Macintosh laptop. If it is possible, what additional equipment would be needed? Thanks

Answer 1

You need an NTSC frame grabber. This converts each frame into a digital picture. Commonly these go through the "TWAIN" driver set, but this isn't always the case. I am not sure what a mac requires.

Check out DAZZLE.COM. I had a converter for windows 98SE, and they have really updated their stuff since then. If you buy a dazzle.com unit, it will convert the NTSC data into a USB data stream which the software on the computer can have "online" for the driver and it can be used as a webcam feed.

I just checked for mac. See the 3rd link. The cool thing about webcamming with an NTSC camera (like a camcorder) is the remote control and zoom features, with excellent quality. You can zoom in and out without touching the camera and the image clarity is way better than these little pinhole cams.

The last link is more in a decent price range, including an audio converter in the $220 range.

Answer 2

i have a macbook and it has a iSight camera built in, so i just use that...