Does this Sony Handycam exist?

[philipus]

Hello everyone

I have just digitised our family's Super VHS-C and VHS-C tapes using our old JVC GR-SX51 (with TBC) and it worked wonderfully using my Mac Pro and an Infinity Pro (non-4K) card.

Now I'd like to do the same with old Video8, Hi8 and VHS tapes, but the problem is that both our old Sony camcorder and our VCR have given up the ghost. And so I'm looking for a Sony Handycam with TBC and a VCR.

It then struck me that I might be able to run a VCR's signal through the camcorder and get the benefit of TBC. Was that functionality ever offered on Sony's CCD-TR/TRV models or was only found on Digital8 (DCR) models?

I am asking because I'm a bit interested in also using the camcorder for analogue video (as bizarre as that possibly sounds in 2024, but I hope it's OK to geek out a bit in this forum).

I've also read on this board that some higher end Sony camcorders used an unusual audio format, 32htz 8bit pcm. Do you know which models had that?

In an ideal world I'd get a Hi8 capable camcorder, with TBC and pass through, plus stereo recording (without unusual audio format) and the necessary outputs to connect to my Infinity pro (Component, S-Video or Composite outs). If it also has night shot that would be cool of course

I know, Christmas is far off but that's the wishlist.

Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions
Philip

[Alwyn]

Only D8 for passthrough.

Passthrough only works because you input video using the analogue ports and output it via Firewire, so you can't "in and out" analogue video.

Have a look at my page here. There's a link to the wiki which lists the appropriate D8 camcorders for your task.

Nothing wrong at all with passing through VHS to DV, especially if you are in PAL land with the better colour system.

[philipus]

Thank you very much Alwyn, and my apologies that it took a while to write back. I now know what to look for. It seems a D8 with TBC and capability to play Video8 and Hi8 will do the trick nicely. I might still look for an analogue Hi8 cam just for fun.

cheers
Philip

Only D8 for passthrough.

Passthrough only works because you input video using the analogue ports and output it via Firewire, so you can't "in and out" analogue video.

Have a look at my page here. There's a link to the wiki which lists the appropriate D8 camcorders for your task.

Nothing wrong at all with passing through VHS to DV, especially if you are in PAL land with the better colour system.

[Alwyn]

Cheers Philip.

[aramkolt]

I have been reading about using a camcorder as a passthrough TBC and it was kind of news to me that the passthrough TBCs are really just a function of the DV conversion chip that then gets converted back to analog after. That being the case, the chroma subsampling gets reduced to 4:1:1 for NTSC, which is unfortunate.

So my understanding is that if you are trying preserve more of the chroma subsampling and avoid any potential pixelation caused by the lower bitrate of DV, you wouldn't want to use a Digital8 camera at all for an analog tape that was originally recorded in Hi8 or Video8?

Many delivery formats use 4:2:0 (so PAL DV is more consistent with that), but if you plan to do any upscaling or deinterlacing prior, I think it would be beneficial to have the 4:2:2 at least right up until the final delivery format encode if I'm understanding things correctly?

Now if you were doing a DVD encode from 4:2:0 PAL DV, that seems like an ok workflow as DVD is also 4:2:0 and usually at a lower bitrate than the captured DV.