hi8 conversion tape

[Emily Rumsey]

Hello. I have a client who wants to watch their old hi8 videotapes without transferring them to digital, and without using the camera as a deck.

Are those old "VHS conversion" things still around? The ones where you pop the master into the top of a VHS tape.

This stuff is so archaic it's hard to track down!

Emily

[DJ Kinney]

They are around, but maybe only at garage sales :-)

May I ask: 1) Why can't it be converted to digital? And 2) Why not take the Hi8, convert to a digital file, then analog out to a VHS VCR?

My workflow with a GL2 would be: hi8 deck to DV. Then DV back out to a VCR's composite inputs.

And that's it.

DeeJ

P.S. Customers are not always right. They are often stubborn and ignorant. Venting. Sorry.

[Jonathan Jones]

It's not likely that you're going to find one of those "VHS conversion" things that will work with your Hi8 tape. What you are referring to is a VHS adaptor for VHS-C cassettes. This adaptor allows you to pop a VHS-C tape into a full-sized 'adaptor' cassette to view the VHS-C cassette in a regular video recorder. In some ways, th VHS-C resembles the Hi8 tapes, but it's dimensions are a little different. The VHS-C tapes are much thicker as they basically use the same width of tape as is found in full-sized VHS tapes. Hi8 tapes are much thinner and cannot be played in a VHS machine with or without an adaptor. If you find a method for doing this, that would be a new one on me.

A good bet for you would probably be to purchase a digital8 camcorder. I bought a Sony DCR-TRV480 specifically for that reason because I find myself with frequent need to convert older 8mm and Hi8 tapes for folks. The story is always the same....the client explains to me that they have an older 8mm analoge cassette video recorder that they bought about 12 years ago and that they cannot view their old tapes on it anymore because it doesn't work. They usually just dump the old camcorder with me as well because they can't do anything with it anymore....I now have three of them just sitting on my floor and the problem with all of them is the same thing...a light in the viewfinder, but no imaging at all - either wavy lines, static or plain white, but no image.

It is important to get a digital8 deck that is backwards compatible. Not all of them are..that is to say that not all models will play the older format analogue tapes. My 480 does, but the model below it did not, and since I pretty much only use it for converting, it made since to purchase the 480. I think I purchased it at Wal-Mart last spring for around $400.

This is also where I purchased 2 versions of the VHS-C cassette adaptor because I convert a bunch of those also using an s-video equipped VHS deck. One adaptor is the motor driven tape loader, and the other is the manual load - I found that some tapes play better in one than the other and vice versa for some reason. (This is just an FYI in case you find yourself with the need to do such conversions)

Hope this helps.
-Jon

[DJ Kinney]

Hey Jonathan,

I want to say that I distinctly remember a smaller form VHS adapter cassette. This was for 8mm tapes and had a head in it. Don't ask me how it worked, but it did. And it did exist.

Either way, your story was comprehensive, and you're right, a backwards compatible deck is necessary. I didn't even think about the fact that Emily would need to figure out how to OUT the stuff to the DV conversion.

HEALDSBURG... I was just there for a few weeks. You know a guy named Ari? I had a damn good time at Barndiva. Of course, I got drinks on the house, so the fun was amplified.

DJ

[Jonathan Jones]

Sorry DJ, I don't know Ari, but the turnaround in Healdburg has been extreme in the last decade, and there are alot of people that I don't know here anymore...unfortunately. I'm glad you had a good time here, I think it is an absolutely beautiful spot. Personally, I don't get out to the eateries too much as they tend to be more for tourist visiting and are somewhat outpriced for regular visits by the locals such as myself. If I get a chance to get out for a spell, I sometimes sit with a few friends in the square (if it is a good day) and drink coffee from the Flying Goat which despite being right in the center of the town square melee, it still seems to be one of the local 'secrets' as I tend to see so many faces I know file in and out of there to grab their java fix.

I hope your visit here was while the leaves were beginning to turn - it does wonders for the beauty of the vineyards.

Cheers.
-Jon