Problem with old 8mm camcorder

[neilf1234]

I have an old Hitachi 8mm Camcorder (VME635LA) which I bought in 1997. I have about 12 tapes with my precious baby videos on them. When I try to play them on the camcorder I get a horizontal white line on the top edge and sporatic sound. Otherwise the picture looks OK.

If I take a new tape and record a video I can play it back with no problem. All of my old tapes have the aforementioned problem. I am hoping it is a problem with my camcorder and not my old tapes.

I tried cleaning the camcorder head and drive mechanisms with alcohol and a qtip to no avail. It almost seems as if it is a tracking problem but the camcorder does not have a tracking control.

Any ideas?

Thanx
Neil

[didikai]

I'd try your tapes in someone elses camcorder. See if the problem is still there.

[thecoalman]

How big is the line? A few pixels and its just overscan:



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Can you see this when you hook the cam directly to the TV? This is the first place to start and the reason I'm asking this question has nothing to do with overscan.

[neilf1234]

How big is the line? A few pixels and its just overscan:



---------------------------


Can you see this when you hook the cam directly to the TV? This is the first place to start and the reason I'm asking this question has nothing to do with overscan.

I'll try that. Thanx

[ranchhand]

Just as a side thought, I assume your camcorder is analog (please correct me if I am wrong!) and if so, I suggest creating mpeg2 files out of those tapes and burning to DVD. IMHO, analog is going the route of the dinosaur, and soon you will have nothing to play those tapes on if your camcorder breaks. Even if digital, it is still a good idea to capture & convert for archiving. Tapes are notorious for breaking, and I am not sure if a broken cassette can be repaired.

[handyguy]

Also try to adjust tracking on your camera. Did you clean its heads?

[neilf1234]

Also try to adjust tracking on your camera. Did you clean its heads?

My camcorder is an analog video 8 camcorder. I did clean the heads (qtip and alcohol). It does not appear to have a tracking control.
Thanx

[handyguy]

Every one should have a tracking of some sort,just depends on what button to push during playback.

[Richard_G]

Every one should have a tracking of some sort,just depends on what button to push during playback.

On a camcorder? I've never seen a tracking control on any camcorder.

[handyguy]

I have, far as I know all of my analog ones have it. It would make no sense to not have one.

Some vcrs use channel up/down buttons to adjust tracking.

[thecoalman]

I've seen them on VHS camcorders, don't remeber ever seeing one a hi-8 .

[turk690]

The 8mm/Hi8mm analogue format was designed NOT to have ANY external tracking control from day one. The tracking is COMPLETELY automatic. With the 8mm tape width, there IS NO space to spare for a control track & linear audio tracks, unlike VHS. Tracking is performed by a tone recorded in the helical tracks themselves; when the correct level of these tones are detected from both the odd & even heads as track adjustment is progressing, then the deck deems tracking spot on.
Since ALL signals (control, video, audio) are recorded & played back with the helical heads, problems that arise with 8mm are somewhat different from, say, VHS. For example, if the audio subcarriers don't have sufficient levels, audio can drop in & out during playback. By comparison, a VHS hi-fi deck that can't reliably detect the hi-fi audio tracks will simply revert to the hissy linear audio track.
My experience with 8mm has shown that the fully automatic tracking system is not foolproof. As the deck ages, tracking slowly drifts such that tapes which were recorded years back now play with problems on the same deck. One can only clean the heads so much. Proof that it's not the deck as a whole that is at fault is that one can record & play back new tapes successfully. IMHO, if only the tracking system of the 8mm had a wider tolerance then tapes recorded across a span of a decade will ALL play properly spot on.
If the old tapes are very important, a solution would be to rent an 8mm deck to play them back on & see how it copes. Alternatively, a D8 camcorder like TRV460 can be used to play them back (assuming they were recorded when the original 8mm camcorder was new) and DV AVI taken out of the 1394 port.

[neilf1234]

The 8mm/Hi8mm analogue format was designed NOT to have ANY external tracking control from day one. The tracking is COMPLETELY automatic. With the 8mm tape width, there IS NO space to spare for a control track & linear audio tracks, unlike VHS. Tracking is performed by a tone recorded in the helical tracks themselves; when the correct level of these tones are detected from both the odd & even heads as track adjustment is progressing, then the deck deems tracking spot on.
Since ALL signals (control, video, audio) are recorded & played back with the helical heads, problems that arise with 8mm are somewhat different from, say, VHS. For example, if the audio subcarriers don't have sufficient levels, audio can drop in & out during playback. By comparison, a VHS hi-fi deck that can't reliably detect the hi-fi audio tracks will simply revert to the hissy linear audio track.
My experience with 8mm has shown that the fully automatic tracking system is not foolproof. As the deck ages, tracking slowly drifts such that tapes which were recorded years back now play with problems on the same deck. One can only clean the heads so much. Proof that it's not the deck as a whole that is at fault is that one can record & play back new tapes successfully. IMHO, if only the tracking system of the 8mm had a wider tolerance then tapes recorded across a span of a decade will ALL play properly spot on.
If the old tapes are very important, a solution would be to rent an 8mm deck to play them back on & see how it copes. Alternatively, a D8 camcorder like TRV460 can be used to play them back (assuming they were recorded when the original 8mm camcorder was new) and DV AVI taken out of the 1394 port.

Thanx for the advice. Lots of very interesting info.
Where would you look to rent an 8mm deck? Also can digital 8 tapes be played back on a Hi8 camcorder. I may be able to find one of them.

I am considering trying to find a used 8mm camcorder on ebay. Just hope I don't get a lemon.

Does anyone know of a reputable place to send my tapes and get them converted to DVD at a reasonable price. If I do that can I then edit them on my computer? My local camera shop will convert them for about $45 for each 2 hour tape. Since I have about 15 tapes, it seems a bit pricey.
thanx
Neil

[gll99]

In case it's rubbing on the cartridge, did you try to FF right to the end and then rewinding back to the beginning to realign the tape?

[thecoalman]

Also can digital 8 tapes be played back on a Hi8 camcorder.

No you need a digital camcorder. Some Digital-8 camcorders will play and convert hi-8, I'll assume the same would apply to 8mm .

[edDV]

In general Hi8 decks will also play Video 8.

Digital8 decks will also play Video 8 and Hi8.

Video 8 decks will not play Hi8 or Digital8.