Sony EV-S9000E (PAL) Hi8 deck - worse as we remember?

[Marvolo]

As some of you know from my previous threads, I've been working on restoring my Video8 tapes for some time now and trying to squeeze out the very last bit of quality. My old threads dealt with the question of "DV vs. lossless". This thread, however, is about the question of which player will be the decisive factor in getting everything possible out of the tapes. Since the player is the very first link in the digitization chain, the choice of player plays a not insignificant role in the final quality.

I was recently able to buy a Sony EV-S9000E at auction, used, but probably in good condition and according to the sticker on the case, the device was only serviced by a Sony-certified service center in 2021. The device was manufactured between 1994 and 1998 and was probably considered the absolute non-plus-ultra in terms of Video8/Hi8 playback at the time.

However, my own initial tests were much more sobering. I have the impression that the tapes come out much blurrier or washed out compared to my D8 camcorder (TRV 730E), even when I set the sharpness and color controls to maximum in the menu and leave "edit-mode" on:

https://imgsli.com/MjQ0OTUz
Left hand side: Digital8 camcorder TRV 730E | right hand side: Sony S9000E

The S9000 also seems to overexpose the image slightly - clearly visible in structures such as the sky or clouds, where hardly any details and contours are recognizable in the clouds on the S9000, but are still quite visible on the D8 camcorder:

https://imgsli.com/MjQ0OTU0
Left hand side: D8 TRV 730E | right hand side: Sony S9000E

All in all, the S9000E currently produces a overall picture that I would not be satisfied with and that is hardly on-par with a much more cheaper and less sophisticated D8 camcorder... Sometimes, the player would also produce a purple band across the upper part of the picture, but not consistently, only in some "scenes". It would come and go changing with scenes after hard cuts:


[Attachment 77489 - Click to enlarge]

Below I have uploaded 3 comparisons for evaluation.

The recording chain of all 3 clips is as follows:

• Clip 1: Sony EV-S9000E > S-Video-out > S-Video-in D8 TRV 730E > DV/FireWire-out

• Clip 2: D8 TRV 730E > DV/FireWire-out

• Clip 3: Transfer Service Capture (hardware used is unkown, presumably a D8 camcorder) > DV/FireWire-out