Hi8 Capture Issues

[creaper]

Hi everyone,

I am currently in the process of capturing some Hi8 tapes for a friend. They were all recorded on the same Sony Hi8 camera, which is long gone. I am capturing these tapes with a Canon Hi8 Camcorder that I had at my house. Some of the tapes come out beautifully and some are getting some gray horizontal lines across the screen intermittently throughout. The sound during these times is also very off. I have cleaned my heads on my camera and also played with the settings, which hasn't helped. Again, out of the 25 or so tapes, there is only 4 or 5 doing this. Any suggestions would be great.

[JVRaines]

Those tapes may be damaged or degraded and nothing can be done. Or they are badly mistracked, which can only be fixed by changing the tracking on your player — a heavy-duty technical adjustment requiring special tools. Do these tapes squeak or squeal during playback? If so, try chilling them and the camcorder in the refrigerator for several hours and then playing back with everything still in the fridge.

[creaper]

So, there's no fixing these issues?

[JVRaines]

That could be creasing, especially if it moves up and down. Eject the cassette when it shows this, open the door, and take a look at the physical condition of the tape.

[creaper]

There's no real squeaking or squealing when these few tapes are in. There's more clicking and then eventually the camera will tell me to eject them because it is tapping out. The tapes physical shell looks good as well as the tape ribbon itself.

[JVRaines]

Try the cold playback technique. Chill the tapes and camcorder in the refrigerator for eight hours. Then run the power and signal cables past the door seal and play back while still inside.