Best Digital8 camcorder for capturing 8mm / Hi8 NTSC?

[Colmino]

I've done plenty of research, but since Digital8 (and of course the preceeding technologies) are basically dead in the marketplace for new hardware, it's difficult to find nitty gritty details that I'm probably going to want to have. These forums have always been loaded with knowledgable folks.

So far, here's what I know: A Digital8 camcorder firewiring DV video to the PC is probably the highest quality - certainly the easiest and cheapest - method for archiving most 8mm and Hi8 tapes digitally. Some of the models which can accomplish this include: TRV120, TRV340, TRV460, TRV480, TRV720.

Here are the things I don't know. Feel free to chime in on any question.

1) Exactly which Digital8 camcorders can play both 8mm and Hi8 tapes and firewire the content with no fuss?
2) Do any of the camcorders from question #1 perform this specific task better than others? There are two processes which come into play: The A/D conversion of the audio and video, and the DV encoding. Both of these processes could exhibit some variability of quality between different camcorder models. There would seem to be a good possibility of this, since the various Digital8 models were introduced over a span of several years. But the fact is that I have no clue whether or not any such variabilities exist, nor any solid idea of which camcorders could be expected to perform better. (Ex.: The x20 camcorders seem to be regarded as a "sweet spot" in the history of Digital8, but the TRV460 is a much more recent model than the TRV120.)
3) Are there any Digital8 camcorders which are able to play back analog tapes recorded in LP mode? If not, what might be a solution to this lack?
4) Anything I might want to know about optimizing the capture process? (Ex.: One thread I followed seemed to be suggesting that DNR in a Digital8 camcorder did absolutely nothing, while the TBC fixed some aspects and degraded others. These results may be dependent on the camcorder model, or they may be universal, or perhaps completely mistaken. Furthermore, it may or may not even be possible to enable or disable these functions, depending on the model - the information is just too scarce.)

Thanks in advance. I'll try to remember some of the other questions I had.

[schematic2]

I like the TRV-350. The TBC and DNR work well for analog 8. The sad thing is that camcorders are can be fussy on what they will play back. You have a 50/50 chance it will play a tape from other sources. 8mm VCRs aren't as fussy.

[ZAPPER]

I have the TRV 330

I know it wasn't on your list

I have only checked one time to see if it would play a Hi 8 tape from another guys old cam and it did, and it output to a TV. I did not test it through a firewire to see if it converted to DV, but I would assume that it will. I have never had my hands on a Hi 8 SP tape to test and the 50/50 seems to be what everyone is guessing. DNR and TBC are about the same odds I am guessing because I have never had anything to really compare it with.


Here is what I can tell you about the 330

It has done everything that I wanted except make me money

Fairly fair at low light as low light cams of the times went
Night shot, looks like "shot" But you can get a bigger IR light I hear.
Does pass thru.
Fair on the optical zoom 25x
700 on digital zoom
Sucks on wide even with a cheap x 0.6 adapter (on a side note, zoom is not all that you would think it is. Most of our lives are spent close to people and people are usually the most important subject of our videos, getting the close shots is hard to do in close quarters without a wide. Even though to put you subject at ease you are supposed to move the camera away from them, you cant always do this in the real world of four walls)
Smooth zooming
Painfully slow loading and tape transport (if money were no object I would opt for like a fire storm hard drive that records in Cam native DV)
LANC and one of every port needed and a hot shoe on top and a 1/4 20 mount on the bottom


Not a sales pitch, just bragging on my one and only baby, even if daddy looks like Frankenstein