PAL Video8 help in USA

[alptraum]

hi, I'm stuck

I'm originally from Germany and have some old personal family Video8 tapes in PAL format. I've been living in the US for quite a while now but don't have a PAL camcorder. Now I'm wanting to "rescue" the old footage and transfer to PC before the technology completey disappears and the memories are lost.

Well, it's pretty darn hard finding a PAL camcorder in the US, much less in Wyoming. I've searched the forum here and google, and I've been looking around Ebay's German site for a Sony "E" (PAL) model. But for one, I'm pretty confused with all the Video8, Digital8, Hi8, Digital8D (?) etc. Honestly, I can even't say for sure what format was used to record the tapes... the cassettes themselves say "Video8"... so I'm assuming they were all recorded standard analog Video8. If it helps, this was all some 12-16 years ago.

Now, I know there are various camcorders capable of playing more (if not all) the above formats, but when digging up some Sony manuals online I was surprised to read:
"when using standard 8mm tape, be sure to play back the tape on your camcorder. Mosaic noise may appear when you play back standard 8mm tape on other camcorders, including same models."

Can anyone offer any tips or suggestions? I'm really lost.

If anyone in the US/Canada happens to have a PAL unit for rent or sale, please let me know! I would also be more than willing to purchase an old PAL camcorder from Ebay in Europe, but obviously want to be sure I end up with a model capable of playing my tapes.

thanks, any help much appreciated!

ps, I really want to avoid any conversion services due to the personal content.

(apologies if posted in wrong forum)

[alptraum]

here's a screenshot from one of the manuals I was looking at:

[SingSing]

Try : http://www.110220volts.com/pal_camcorder_.htm

Or Ebay or Amazon.