Viewing 8mm Video

[thompsonnc]

My parents recorded lots of home video with an 8mm camcorder. Now it's broken and they have lots of tapes that we can't watch since we used the camera to play the tapes back.

Is there any way to play these tapes back without buying another camera?

[wwjd]

I think you have five choices;

1. Get your 8mm camcorder repaired. This may not be the most cost effective but should insure good playback.
2. Purchase a 8mm VCR - This is not a VHS VCR, it is 8mm and will be fairly rare and expensive compared to options 1 and 3. I have a Sony 8mm VCR that I purchased about 7 years ago for $400. Check Ebay!
3. Purchase an 8mm camcorder. Fortunately there are some still around. I bet Ebay has some pretty cheap. The trick is to find something that will play your 8mm tapes well.
4. Find someone who can tranfer the 8mm tapes to some other media.
5. Forget you have these tapes.

[edDV]

I think you have five choices;

1. Get your 8mm camcorder repaired. This may not be the most cost effective but should insure good playback.
2. Purchase a 8mm VCR - This is not a VHS VCR, it is 8mm and will be fairly rare and expensive compared to options 1 and 3. I have a Sony 8mm VCR that I purchased about 7 years ago for $400. Check Ebay!
3. Purchase an 8mm camcorder. Fortunately there are some still around. I bet Ebay has some pretty cheap. The trick is to find something that will play your 8mm tapes well.
4. Find someone who can tranfer the 8mm tapes to some other media.
5. Forget you have these tapes.

6. Buy, borrow or rent a Sony Digital8 camcorder. This has to be one of the models that play 8mm/Hi8 analog tapes. The camcorder will play the 8mm tape and simultaneously convert the signal to DV format (in hardware) and output the DV stream over IEEE-1394 (aka firewire, i-link) to a computer for file storage, editing and DVD authoring.

7. Have the tapes professionally duplicated to DVD.

[wwjd]

edDV:

Did not know that Sony made such a thing but sure enough they do! A great option because it gets you DV capability!

[INFRATOM]

I had the same problem, looked at all the angles finally bought a camcorder , On the positive side the model I bought I can use the feed through to get something out of VCR to capture to computer. Nothing worth repairing if run out of warranty. Buying a new digital one was cheaper than repair and get back to Hi8 again. There were used to be Hi8 VCR but can't find them anymore. There are some small Sony walkman type VCR's but are very expensive.

[thompsonnc]

I really appreciate your help!!! You've helped steer me in the right direction.