Sony D8 dead, what should I do now?

[fberger]

My Sony Digital8 camcorder died today, don't know what happened but it won't play D8 tapes nor record to them anymore. To repair it would cost $200 (flat rate)!
I looked around and as Brian said in a previous thread, Sony seems to be discontinuing D8. They only have 2 models left this year in NTSC land, the TRV250 and 350. Both are very low end camcorders, so naturally I am looking at other formats. Problem is, I have tons of D8 tapes which I won't be able to read anymore if I switch to miniDV or any other format.
So there's the dilemna: spend $400 on a new crappy D8 and perpetuate the D8 nonsense, or switch to miniDV and lose 4 years of baby memories (3 kids...)? I guess Sony must know there are millions of people in this situation, hostages of the format they created.
Do you know if there's a cheap D8 player I could use to transfer my library to DVD?

Fred

[Dr Mordrid]

1. find a service agency and get those tapes put on DVD. No sense buying D8 hardware now....

2. upgrade to a DV cam...preferably one with an analog input.

Dr. Mordrid

[fberger]

Doc,

Thanks, although option #1 is on the expensive side: I have more than 50 tapes to convert. Even though I've been creating VCDs and then DVDs out of them for the past 3 years, I want to be able to access the rest that was not used yet. I was thinking DVD is probably the only "universal" media, but I just can't justify the price of an agency to transfer 50 tapes to DVD. For that price I could buy a TRV250 and convert them myself
What is a DV cam? Is it Digital8 compatible? Or would that require starting from scratch on a new type of media?
I see Hitachi has a DVD-RAM camcorder, it's probably a format that will last longer than D8. Might be a good option if I can solve the problem of reading the old D8 tapes somehow.

Fred

[Dr Mordrid]

DV = miniDV

If you go with a DVD-RAM camcorder then something like Panasonics SW-9571 DVD-R/RW/RAM burner is a perfect match. It too would support the caddie-less disks used in the Hitachi.

Dr. Mordrid

[Peter B]

DV Cam use Mini DV tapes not D8, I am not sure of the exact details, but is basiccally DV format with some extra time code info that syncs the audio, or something like that. In a Sony DV Cam I have used it was just a switch option for recording type between DV Cam and DV.

I would suggest you look for a second hand D8 camera, or for stores with some old models in stock, which they are clearing cheap. Although Sony's latest line up does not have fully featured D8 models, they did until recently, so many retailers should have some and relatively new models should be available second hand.
Although the cameras may be disappearing the tapes will remain for years to come so if you pick up a cheap good D8 now, you can upgrade to DV in a few years and keep your D8 machine for your archives.

[fberger]

OK, my wife hit the camcorder real hard and bingo! it works again, temporarily...

So now that I can read those tapes again, I will:

1. Archive them as fast as I can to DVD.
2. Keep the Sony D8 safe at home and not move it anymore.
3. Buy a new camcorder using a new format that hopefully will remain a standard for a long time.
4. Try to archive the new movies we make with the new standard to DVD as soon as they are done.

From the two previous posts, it looks like mini-DV and DVD-RAM are the best choices. Am I correct?

I need to do my homework now and decide on a new camcorder. I've had 3 from Sony since the 8mm format came out years ago and am hesitant to choose a Sony again. Is mini-DV an industry standard? If the brand I choose decides to drop the mini-DV format, are those tapes readable by another mini-DV based camcorder brand?

Thank you, your advice is much appreciated!

Fred

[Brian Ellis]

Fred

If you buy a mini-DV with digital I/O, you can copy your D8 tapes directly to Mini-DV with no loss, while the D8 works. If you buy 50 tapes, they are cheap in bulk. I would go for Mini-DV, as DVD-RAM, I believe, has a compression which makes editing more difficult, quality-wise, and it is not a multi-enterprise standard. In theory, all mini-DV tapes are playable in all cameras (I've swapped round several with no problems). However, I suppose it is conceivable that there may be tracking problems if you record on a machine with an extreme limit in one direction and play back on another at the opposite limit of tolerance, although I've never encountered it, either on Mini-DV or DVCAM.

[Flying dutchman]

I second that.

[fberger]

Brian,

Thanks for the info on mini-DV compatibility and also the suggestion to copy all my D8 library to miniDV tapes, great advice!

I am now looking for good DV camcorders review sites, all suggestions welcome of course!

Thanks again,

Fred

[paulw]

Try Here. It's NTSC based which I asume you are.. . Not much good if your in PAL land..

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/index.php?