8mm or Hi8mm tape in Digital8 camera

[Innershield]

I have a Hi8 and just got a Digital 8 and it says that it can record on 8 OR Hi8 tape. Since it is recording digitally, does it matter which kind of tape I use? Why not just go with the cheaper 8mm.

[Leehro]

I have a Digital8 also.

Yes it should record on standard 8mm tape. I've heard that the compatibility with other camcorders might not be that great if you record on standard 8mm tape. Like if you recorded something and sent it to me, I might have difficulty playing the tape. But if it does record and playback fine on 8mm, you will get the SAME quality as you would on hi8. Just maybe not the best compatibility or reliability

It might be worthwhile to buy an 8mm tape or 2 and test them out.

And at any rate, hi8 tapes are still a lot cheaper than miniDV.

I don't know that they would say you can RECORD onto 8mm tapes. You should be able to play 8mm/hi8/d8 back just fine, but i've never heard sony say that it will record onto 8mm tapes. It should still work somewhat though.

Dan

[Innershield]

The Sony website says that it will RECORD onto regular 8mm. I have the TRV-130 and it says that it will NOT playback analog recordings but all of the models above that will. I wonder why it cant playback analog. Maybe it will but they did something very very minor to it to force it to not play analog so that you will want to step up to the next model to spend more money.

[prototypikal]

i have a sony D8 cam and when i record with a regular 8mm tape and try to capture the video on my comp i seem to run into problems. probably because if you don't use high8 tapes then you are recording analog instead of digital. so i guess it all depends on what you plan on doing with your footage, if your using the footage on your computer i would suggest hi8 tapes through firewire.

my2centz
-protoduktionz

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[Leehro]

Digital8 camcorders do *NOT* record analog. The problems you are experiencing are because of the quality/density of the tape, and the amount of data you're trying to put onto it.

[prototypikal]

oh ok well thanks for the info. never really use my D8 no more cause i got a trv30, miniDV has alot better quality!!!

[Leehro]

minDV and D8 use the exact same DV Video format. Your miniDV camcorder might have better optics and CCD than your particular Digital8, producing a better image, but you can copy a DV onto a D8 and back with NO QUALITY LOSS.

So it depends on the quality of the components. Once the video is digital, it doesn't matter what kind of tape it's on.