Note that aside from Dave's comment about NTFS, nothing else you mentioned makes any difference in the slightest whatsoever, and NTFS vs. FAT only affects the maximum file size you can capture. It doesn't affect quality at all.

Capturing DV from tape is a bit-for-bit data transfer. What you end up with in the .avi file is exactly the same data that was on the tape. You can't get a better quality capture, or a worse one, no matter what your settings are.

Hello Joe,
I would also add that you should probably come up with an alternative method of backing up the files. Putting them on an external hard drive is a good start ... but don't depend on the files to remain completely uncorrupted for any length of time, even if you never use the hard drive.
If you plan on retiring the Hi8 camera, don't sell or get rid of it... keep it safe along with the original Hi8 tapes... in a dark, cool, dry place; not the attic or garage... (grin)

Check "bit rot"

Look for archival quality DVDs and put the .avi files there ... safeguard them similar to the camera and tapes...

So, 1: you have the files on your active hard drive on the computer for immediate use when desired; 2: you have them in their original form with a device you can use to re-capture them as a last resort; 3: you have them on an external hard drive for backup storage in .avi format (which you should probably create a hash for and compare to a new hash every 3 - 6 years); and 4: you have them in DVD form in .avi format (which you should migrate to newer media at about the 8 - 10 year point - either from the hard drive hash or the old DVD files after verification).

HASH 101:
A cryptographic hash function is a procedure that takes a block of data and returns a fixed-size bit string, the (cryptographic) hash value, any accidental or intentional change to the data will change the hash value.
If you create a hash today and compare it to the hash you create in five years, you can easily determine if any of the data has changed without opening each individual file. If the hash value is the same, nothing has changed ... if the hash is different, something has changed and the fun begins - identifying the file that has changed.
It is a security measure, no doubt; but it also provides a method for determining if any corruption has occurred over the length of time between hash creations.

The level of your protection is a major factor in the length of time you need to keep the files, and the measures you take to safeguard those files.

Good luck. . .
Oh... one final comment in the event it hasn't been raised by anyone else... don't compress anything ... keep your .avi files in their complete form .. compressing introduces another avenue for corruption in addition to the fact that the corruption of a compressed file may have catastrophic results on any individual file once it is uncompressed ... to the point that it may not be recognizable or viewable by any program...

Until that time... Earl J.

In the process of doing the same thing. Hardest part is baby sitting the camera during the capture process. It doesn't stop capturing until it runs out of tape. Guess it cant tell when the video runs out. (No timecode?)

Any suggestions on improving the capture process? Are there better utilities for this?

Thanks for the input. Bigcreek asked about the capture stopping when the actual video was done instead of also capturing any blank tape at the end. Is there a setting in the capture to do this?

Once I capture clips and put each capture session/tape in a separate folder do I need to pull all those clips onto the timeline and render to mpg to watch it as a video? For example, in the past, any tapes that I wanted to copy and watch I copied from Digital8 tape to VHS. I don't want to do that to archive because VHS is not a good option. Now I'm going to be capturing with Vegas and putting clips in folders according to date. I think I will only be able to watch each individual clip at a time unless I put it into a Vegas project. Is this correct? This is going to be very time consuming. I don't plan on editing every tape that I capture, but I do need to capture to archive them digitally and also have the video more readily available for when I do want to edit. What I need to know is what the next step is after capturing if I just want to watch the video without editing as I did when I simply transferred from D8 to VHS.

Earl_J mentioned archive quality DVDs. In doing some research it seems as though any recordable dvd, including so called archive quality, are not going to last that many years. If there are some better ones available please let me know. Also, as I mentioned, I have about 100 or so tapes. That's a lot of 4.7GB DVDs and it would be cumbersome in that capturing from one Digital8 tape would span over at least 3 dvds. I thought the digital age was to make life simpler, but it only gets more complicated.
Thanks for your suggestions.