Capturing analog video recorded onto 8mm Data Tapes (Data8)

[infjmm03]

Hi there,

Long time lurker, first time poster... as they say. I'm capturing some tapes for a client. He used some 8mm data tapes (Data8) used for data storage for recording analog video with his Hi8 camcorder. I'm using a regular Hi8 camcorder to play the tapes and they're playing fine, except for one or two that exhibit some tracking issues, most likely due to a misalignment in the original camcorder tape transport. But other than that, they are playing fine without issues. I'm not using any of my high end 8mm camcorders or my S9000E fearing that the tape formulation used with these tapes could be too rough on the video heads... Is the tape formulation the same to that used with the regular MP Hi8 tapes...? I don't want to put excessive wear on the video heads if possible.

Thank you in advance.

Jose

[dellsam34]

The first generation Data8 used metal tape formulation pretty close to Hi8 tapes but much more polished, if that's what you have then you should be fine, later generations used pretty thin tape and it could give you problems with your mechanism.

[infjmm03]

The first generation Data8 used metal tape formulation pretty close to Hi8 tapes but much more polished, if that's what you have then you should be fine, later generations used pretty thin tape and it could give you problems with your mechanism.

Thank you for your help. Unfortunately I have no idea what generation these are. The tapes have been stored using some regular 8mm tape cases and the info on the tape itself doesn't tell you much. I've been searching the net for this topic but there's no much info about it. Apparently these data tapes sell for $1 a tape (NOS) as opposed to the regular Hi8 tapes which are much much pricier and there's a "market" apparently for these tapes in the 8mm video recording world. But I'm not sure about the long term effects these tapes may have on the heads. Much like using a Betacam SP tape on a Betamax machine. You're fine using Betacam tapes with your Betamax player but a Betacam SP tape will kill your heads in a blink of an eye.