Hi8 Capture

[Odolwa]

Any ideas on how to capture Hi8 tapes? I have an old Sony Hi8 camcorder, but all it does is monaural. Anyone know how to capture in higher quality, like S-Video? I can't find an S-Video Hi8 camcorder that isn't a lemon.

[spmbx]

I've used a digitization company that specializes in this sort of thing in the past. Well worth it if you only have a few items to digitize. The quality i got it back in was miles above anything i could have produced myself and it wasn't extremely expensive.

[Odolwa]

I've used a digitization company that specializes in this sort of thing in the past. Well worth it if you only have a few items to digitize. The quality i got it back in was miles above anything i could have produced myself and it wasn't extremely expensive.

They're private home videos, I don't want anyone else seeing them.

[energizerfellow‌]

Any ideas on how to capture Hi8 tapes? I have an old Sony Hi8 camcorder, but all it does is monaural. Anyone know how to capture in higher quality, like S-Video? I can't find an S-Video Hi8 camcorder that isn't a lemon.

This thread over at DigitalFAQ is worth going through thoroughly:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/10257-video8-hi8-digital8.html

That said, however, you'll want to find the instruction manual PDF for the specific model you're looking at, which Sony seems good at posting online.

There's Hi8 models with S-video + TBC, but for stereo audio you'll need either a standalone VCR or earlier camcorder. Other than the monaural-only CCD-TRV67, it appears that all pre-2000 Sony Hi8 camcorders have stereo audio? Near as I can tell, 1999's Sony CCD-TRV87 is the last Hi8 FM stereo model made, at least for NTSC.

Playback on Digital8 is an option, but I'm pretty sure no Digital8 deck/camera had a 100% analog signal path. Just be aware the IEEE 1394, aka Firewire, digital output on Digital8 will be a very lossy 4:1:1 (NTSC) or 4:2:0 (PAL) chroma subsampling due to the DV codec itself. Firewire is the way to go for real Digital8 tapes, but for analog tape capture you'll likely be better off with the 4:2:2 of S-video.

[Odolwa]

Any ideas on how to capture Hi8 tapes? I have an old Sony Hi8 camcorder, but all it does is monaural. Anyone know how to capture in higher quality, like S-Video? I can't find an S-Video Hi8 camcorder that isn't a lemon.

This thread over at DigitalFAQ is worth going through thoroughly:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/10257-video8-hi8-digital8.html

That said, however, you'll want to find the instruction manual PDF for the specific model you're looking at, which Sony seems good at posting online.

There's Hi8 models with S-video + TBC, but for stereo audio you'll need either a standalone VCR or earlier camcorder. Other than the monaural-only CCD-TRV67, it appears that all pre-2000 Sony Hi8 camcorders have stereo audio? Near as I can tell, 1999's Sony CCD-TRV87 is the last Hi8 FM stereo model made, at least for NTSC.

Playback on Digital8 is an option, but I'm pretty sure no Digital8 deck/camera had a 100% analog signal path. Just be aware the IEEE 1394, aka Firewire, digital output on Digital8 will be a very lossy 4:1:1 (NTSC) or 4:2:0 (PAL) chroma subsampling due to the DV codec itself. Firewire is the way to go for real Digital8 tapes, but for analog tape capture you'll likely be better off with the 4:2:2 of S-video.

I just wanted to thank you for your help. I was able to get the Sony CCD-TRV87 camera. I'm very happy with the S-Video port and the Stereo audio as well. I'm using the Retrotink5X on Triple Buffer Mode with OBS Studio to capture old family video footage. I think this is a fantastic camera for people wanting to transfer Hi8 tapes, either onto their computer or onto a VHS or Super VHS tape through a VCR, and don't want to take their private home video tapes to a center that would transfer the Hi8 tapes for them.