My equipment as of now stands as Sony DCR-TRV320 Digital Recording Camera. I also have a regular average Sony VCR to record with hooked up to my TV.

My goal is to record Television events at the highest possible quality on 8mm video tapes in the digital format in hopes of saving the tapes for the next few years, until I learn more about making DVDS etc and more information.......

My setup to record TV onto a digital8 tape is....I hook my Audio/Video cables from my digital camera into the VCR Out RCA jacks so I can record from my VCR into my digital camera. Basically I use my VCR so I can record from the Television into the digital camera.

Now my questions include
1) Is my method of recording from TV-->VCR out-->8mm Digital Tape IN worse than recording directly onto a VHS tape from the same VCR and Television? Which would you guess yields better quality consdering I record in SP MODE on my Digital8 8mm tape and I record on a VHS tape in SP mode as well?

2) Since TV cable is generally 720x480, shouldnt the digital recording be better than recording onto the standard VHS tape which yields LESS QUALITY than my digital camera (which is 640x480 resolution right)? I am not sure what resolution VHS cassette is but isn't it less than 640x480

3) Is my attempt to record on a 8mm Digital8 tape really digital or basically the same quality as a direct SP MODE VHS tape?

Considering I like to record NBA games and certain television shows, and I want to save them at high quality, isn't this the best way to record and archive until I learn more about making DVDS or have the money to archive on several LARGE external hard drives?

If it is, then is my setup (TV to Digital8 through analog cables) clearly better than recording from TV to VHS in SP Mode? Or would you say the difference is theoretically non-exsistent?

I am not conerned with using CAPTURE CARDS into my computer, I would rather record onto my Digital8 camera the most EFFECTIVE way possible so that it clearly becomes a better recording source than VHS...Can anyone help me understand if this is possbile based on my equipment and tell me how I can maximize my quality of recordings?

thanks