[Andy Liebman]

Hi Phil,

I just went through this exercise myself — converting Video8, Hi8, VHS, SVHS, and DV25 tapes to QuickTime files. I won’t take credit for this idea. It was Wilson Chao’s (if you know who he is).

After trying many different capture devices and having difficulty with video image stability — including trying some very expensive Thunderbolt and USB analog capture devices — I went on Ebay and purchased a Digital8 camcorder that was capable of playing back Video8 and Hi8 analog tapes as well. As Digital 8 used the DV25 CODEC, when you use the camcorder to capture non-Digital8 tapes over Firewire they get converted to DV25. A key feature of these camcorders is that they include a Faroudja TBC that will stabilize all your old tapes! Also, if you loop SVideo or composite signals through the camcorder (say, from old VHS or SVHS tapes), you get both TBC stabilization plus DV25 encoding.

At first, I didn’t like the idea of converting everything to DV25, but honestly I ended up with flawless captures and no hassle.

I did my captures with Adobe Premiere Pro running on macOS 10.14.x (Mojave). Apparently, Adobe ended DV25 firewire support in macOS 10.15 (Catalina), although HDV support is still there. Windows would probably be easier given the firewire issues on macOS. I also tested capturing with FCPX as well as with the QuickTime application and both worked as well. There are pros and cons to each (including whether you have them)!

Please note that NOT ALL Digital8 camcorders can play back non-Digital8 formats. Below is a list of those that do, and do not. Also, I’m not sure whether every model that plays analog tapes includes the TBC as well as the loop-through capabilities for external decks. The model I used was the DCR-TRV350.

Hope this helps!

— Andy Liebman

The models of Sony Digital8 camcorder that are capable of both digital and analog playback include these models: Additionally, all models released by Hitachi offer analog playback.

DCR-TR720 (1999, PAL)DCR-TR7000 (1999, NTSC)DCR-TRV103 (1998, NTSC)DCR-TRV107 (1998, Latin America)DCR-TRV110 (1998, NTSC)DCR-TRV120 (2000, NTSC)DCR-TRV203 (1999, NTSC Canada)DCR-TRV210 (1999, NTSC)DCR-TRV220 (2000, Asia Pacific)DCR-TRV230 (2001, NTSC)DCR-TRV238E (2002, PAL)DCR-TRV239E (2002, PAL)DCR-TRV240 (2002, NTSC)DCR-TRV310 (1999, NTSC)DCR-TRV315 (1999, NTSC)DCR-TRV320 (2000, NTSC)DCR-TRV330 (2001, NTSC)DCR-TRV340 (2002, NTSC)DCR-TRV345E (2003, PAL)DCR-TRV350 (2003, NTSC)DCR-TRV351 (2003, NTSC Latin America)DCR-TRV355E (2003, PAL)DCR-TRV356E (2003, PAL Export/China)DCR-TRV410E (1999, PAL)DCR-TRV420E (2000, PAL)DCR-TRV460 (2004, NTSC)DCR-TRV460E (2004, PAL)DCR-TRV461E (2004, PAL Export)DCR-TRV480 (2005, NTSC)DCR-TRV480E (2005, PAL)DCR-TRV510 (1999, NTSC)DCR-TRV520 (2000, NTSC)DCR-TRV525 (2000, NTSC)DCR-TRV530 (2001, NTSC)DCR-TRV620E (2000, PAL)DCR-TRV720 (2000, NTSC)DCR-TRV730 (2001, NTSC)DCR-TRV740 (2002, NTSC)DCR-TRV820 (2000, NTSC)DCR-TRV828 (2001, NTSC Latin America)DCR-TRV830 (2001, NTSC)DCR-TRV840 (2002, NTSC)

The models of Digital8 camcorders released by Sony that are not capable of analog Video8/Hi8 playback (usually the lower-end models) include the following:

DCR-TRV130 (2001, NTSC)DCR-TRV140 (2002, NTSC)DCR-TRV145 (2003, PAL)DCR-TRV147 (2003, PAL)DCR-TRV150 (2003, NTSC)DCR-TRV245 (2003, PAL)DCR-TRV250 (2003, NTSC)DCR-TRV255E (2004, PAL)DCR-TRV260 (2004, NTSC)DCR-TRV265 (2004, NTSC Export)DCR-TRV265E (2004, PAL)DCR-TRV270E (2005, PAL)DCR-TRV280 (2005-2007, NTSC)DCR-TRV285E (2005-2007, PAL)DCR-TRV360 (2004, NTSC)DCR-TRV361 (2004, NTSC Export)DCR-TRV380 (2005, NTSC Export)