Digital Hi-8 compatibility between camcorders

[dontravis]

I need help understanding compatiblity and quality between different megapixel rated digital 8 camcorders.

My Sony DCR-TRV730 1 megapixel camcorder recently died (estimated repair bill of over $500), and I have a number of Digital Hi-8 tapes recorded that I have yet to transfer to PC for editing, etc.. Haven't yet taken the editing plunge yet, but that's coming!

I'm considering a cheap-as-possible purchase of another Digital 8 camcorder primarily just to have something to transfer with, and Ebay has several Sony TRV 280's in the high $100's.

My question is whether my 1 megapixal recorded tapes (if that's what they are) will lose quality when being read by the 290K pixel 280, and if what is on a tape will transfer with the original quality written regardless of CCD or megapixel rating. I haven't found any 1 megapixel digital 8 camcorders anywhere.

If megapixel rating is just the CCD imager rating and what ends up on tape is all about the same quality regardless of the imager, then I would guess all the hype about megapixel CCD ratings is just that - hype?

I really want to buy a new high end mini-DV camcorder, but need a solution for my older tapes.

A rental is a possibility versus buying assuming the compatibility issue is not an issue, and a rental store still has one available when I'm ready to transfer (not yet).

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

[edDV]

The DCR-TRV730 is a Digital8 (DV format) camcorder that uses Hi8 tape media but the signal recorded is essentially identical to what gets recorded to MiniDV.

"Megapixel" specs usually apply to still picture resolution (to flash RAM only) and have little to do with video recording. The recorder half of the camcorder uses 720x480i DV format, with PCM audio in either 16bit/48KHz 2Channel or 12bit/32KHz 4Channel modes that are common to all DV format camcorders (Digital8, MiniDV, DVCAM, DVCPro, etc.).

To play the tape you need a functioning Digital8 camcorder (recorder half) and nothing else. You can dub to the PC or to a MiniDV camcorder over IEEE-1394 with no loss. A rental Digital8 camcorder will work fine if you have enough HDD space (~13.5GB/hr.) for all your tapes.

The camera section determines the quality of your recorded video. Digital8 camcorders ($200-800) tend to have low to medium consumer quality single CCD camera sections. Low end MiniDV camcorders have similar specs but other models are available with higher grade optics, better or more CCDs and better processing. The DV format extends up through the Prosumer ($2K-4K) models all the way up through DVCPro Broadcast ($10K-40K) topping out with special Panasonic DVCProHD Cine Varicam models (~$80k).