Hi8 and 8 Capturing
 

I apologize if this is the wrong forum, but it's tape..:)

Anyways, I have a couple Hi8 and 8 tapes and need to capture them in. So what's the most cost efficient way to achieve this for someone who doesn't have a Hi8/8 deck or camcorder? Also will a Hi8 player/recorder/camera play standard 8 as well?


Thanks in advance

Patrick

If you don't have a workable Hi8/8 deck to play the tape through a dv camera or such, than I would think that probably the easiest way for you would be to invest in a Sony Digital 8 camcorder that is backward compatible. This is what I use to playback older analogue 8 tapes and it works great. Keep in mind however, that not all digital 8 camcorders are backward compatible. I have a Sony TRV480 and it plays hi8 with no problem. I understand that the model under it does not. My model cost me around $380 from Walmart about a year ago ( I think ), but I'm sure prices vary vendor to vendor and model to model. ( I also think that the form factor on this camera is really sucky - but it's features are pretty good, and I pretty much just use it to convert the analogue tapes)

Also, I understand that if the analogue tape was recorded in LP mode, than the camcorder may not be able to play it back properly. I haven't experienced this because I have been lucky to have only worked with tapes in SP mode so far.

So if you get a digital 8 camcorder that plays back the hi8 tapes properly, it should work just like a minidv cam. Just plug the camcorder into your NLE via firewire and import just like usual and your analogue signal will be converted 'on the fly'.

Just my recommendation. Good luck.
-Jon

If you just have a couple of Hi-8 tapes and no playback equipment, the best and most economical way to get them played, is to take them to a commercial duplicating company and have them copied to a format you can play. Unless you want to have a Hi-8 or Digital8 camcorder to use, there's no reason to pay for even the cheapest model, for this limited purpose. Actually, the cheapest way to do this is to have a friend with the right playback equipment.

Duh...I feel stupid.....I hadn't even thought of that. It makes perfect sense. Mr. McDonald is correct, I don't think you should consider such an investment if all you need to do is convert a couple of tapes. Finding someone with such a camcorder would definately be the cheapest. You can even send them to me and I will do it for you for a very reasonable fee. (sorry, not meant as a plug -but just lettin' you know it would be at a very considerable savings over buying a cam you would hardly ever need otherwise.)
-Jon