Sony Gv-s50 8mm Hi8 Video Walkman

[Aaron Rosen]

So has anyone heard about the SONY GV-S50 8MM HI8 VIDEO WALKMAN?

I am looking into a helmet camera or some mini wireless cameras and need something to capture to since I really don't want to use my XL1s.

Any reviews on this would be great.

Thanks -

Aaron

[Steve McDonald]

You might be able to find one on display at a video museum. I haven't heard of anything like this in Hi-8 being made for several years. If you can get one used at a good price, then why not? It would be a lot cheaper than a new DV or Digital8 mini-VCR (Video Walkman).

Steve McDonald

[Charles Papert]

I still see them around from time to time; I used to own one myself. Very nice at the time, but honestly, the Hi-8 format is so inferior to DV (my old Hi-8 tapes all seem to have fallen apart to some degree!) and there are similar units available with DV drives such as the GV-D1000, so...

Steve's right, the Hi-8 model would certainly be a lot cheaper. But the DV version can function as an editing system deck with Firewire as well as a field monitor and backup recorder, etc.

[Steve McDonald]

Well, a few points about Hi-8 here: I started using the format exactly 15 years ago and all of my Sony ME (evaporated metal) tapes are still in top playback shape. In the last 3 years, I've re-mastered most of the better productions I did with Hi-8 camcorders during that period, using the original acquisition tapes, onto Digital8. In the future, I'll copy those masters onto DV, as Digital8 equipment availability fades away, until some better archiving medium comes along. A small number of ME tapes by TDK and ME-equivalent ones by Fuji are
still holding their Hi-8 recordings well for me, too.

Also, with the analog to digital pass-through conversion that most newer DV and Digital8 camcorders and VCRs have, Hi-8 recordings can be easily integrated into digital editing projects, using VCR to VCR or NLE methods. If the camera section used to feed a Hi-8 recorder is highgrade and well-used, the 1st-generation footage on that format can look very good. For example, before the digital video era, some pros shot in Hi-8 with 3-CCD Sony DXC327 or 537 cameras and an EVO9100 back. Others used the EVV300 pro Hi-8 camcorder. Admittedly, Hi-8 is weak in multi-generational editing, although for some reason, Sony produced numerous professional Hi-8 editing decks. Most pros bumped their Hi-8 camera footage up to Beta SP or MII for further re-recording.

With the improved tape transports, processors and time-base correction of Digital8 units, their direct playback of tapes recorded in Hi-8, looks better than when played on the original analog equipment.

Steve McDonald