Can Digital 8 camcorders automatically convert analog to digital?

Question

for instance, on the Sony CCD-TRV138 Hi8 HANDYCAM Camcorder I'm looking at on Ebay, can I play my old analog Hi8 videocassettes in this unit? also, do cameras like this have a DV port that I can automatically connect it to my PC with firewire? if this saves a step like using a digital camcorder as an analog-to-digital passthrough, I'm definitely buying a Digital 8!

Answer 1

In most cases Digital8 cameras can pass through analog Hi8 tapes over FireWire, effectively converting them to digital on the fly. I'd recommend downloading the manual for that particular camera from Sony and verifying it supports this before buying the camcorder.

Answer 2

If you buy the TRV138, you'll be able to playback Hi8 tapes, but it does not have a Firewire/iLink connection.

Look for a Sony Digital8 camcorder instead.  The model numbers end in zero; Hi8 model numbers end in 8. I think that the last model Digital8 (TRV 280?) didn't play Hi8 and didn't have pass-thru.

You can use Hi8 tapes to record footage in:

- a Hi8 camcorder

- a Digital8 camcorders

You can playback footage recorded in Hi8 on:

- a Hi8 camcorder

- a Digital8 camcorder

You cannot playback footage recorded in Digital8 on:

- a Hi8 camcorder

Answer 3

If you want digital 8, do not buy Hi8.

Hi8 is yet another plain old analog format, not digital in any way and does not have firewire ilink ports.