Locating A Sony Hi 8 Video Playback

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MikeeW
Posted
Posted

can any member advise me of where I can locate a Sony Hi 8 playback device? I have a collection of Sony Hi 8 videos and want to convert them from tape to digital. The tapes are showing signs of mold.

The shops selling Sony products tell me they are not available (after they stop laughing at my question). I am certain I am not going to the right places to ask. I will typically do mall shopping and it makes sense they will not want to carry older products.

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Call me bubba
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Treasure Hunt time,,,

have you thought of looking at the UKAY UKAY stores near you. when i was near cubao.Ali mall a few years ago, (markina shoe expo near ali mall has some old items )several of these stores had items , that would make a person in need of old electronics (or parts) SMILE :no:

.consider a long walk around some stores that may not seen a white face since the 1990"s,

I assure you you will find things that you have not seen in years,,

about the mold issue? try to but the tapes in the dehumifier crystals box.

maybe other FM has answers to this,

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Thomas
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(I'm NOT good at such, but perhaps an idea - if you haven't thought of it, which you probably have :)

Don't you have any old playback equipment?

Concerning music I have seen somewhere a connection between an old common record player and a computer. (Perhaps need software in the computer too.) This can convert analog music to digital for rather litle money.

I suppose it's possible to do similar with videos.)

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MikeeW
Posted
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Thanks for the suggestions. Hi 8 is a unique size, smaller than VHS. Sony made a playback device specifically for the purpose of viewing the tapes.

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brock
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Cant you connect your camera to the pc, Then play and copy them ?

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i am bob
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The difficulty is in find a Hi8 or Digital8 playback unit.... Or even a camera in those formats that can be connected to a DVD burner of any format... Hmmm...

Have you tried to find any old photographers that did news stories as well? Often they would carry a Hi8 cam so they could sell their videos to the TV stations. Also some photographers that would film weddings used these cams. Or even a small video production company. There are lots of 1, 2 or 3 man operations out there who make a living from doing videos for the commercial market. Odds are they could transfer these tapes for you at a low cost...

Or, probably your best choice - as Mr Pittman wrote above - check out all the old stores for an old cam that would allow for transfer. There really aren't that many players out there - Sony made most of them but they didn't sell. Hitachi was licensed to make them also but only made a few models before deciding it wasn't a viable market to pursue. Hmmmm.... Maybe an antique video store? There were tons of movies put on Hi8 tape before the market puked on Sony so maybe somebody might still have some tapes and a player you could rent? Or you may even get lucky at one of those places that advertise changing VHS tapes to CD and DVD...

Note - Video8 equipment will not work! Even if the Hi8 tapes were all analog production, there is still an issue with Video8 reading a Hi8... Too much data for it to assimilate....

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luke
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Amazon.com seems to have HI8 camcorders on sale and also conversion software package.

http://www.amazon.co...ords=hi8 player

Edited by luke
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MikeeW
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Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I will seek harder as suggested.

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Jollygoodfellow
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Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I will seek harder as suggested.

Maybe place a free ad in Sulit or somewhere like that in the wanted section.

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