old 8 mm camcorder cassette ??

[MiaSRN62]

Hi,
Not sure where to ask this, but I have dozens of old family videos and trips to WDW that were recorded on a 8 mm camcorder many many years ago. The camcorder broke. Now I am left with all these cassettes and no way to watch them or convert them ?? Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas ? I would love to get them on DVD's somehow if there is even a way ?
thanks

 

[photo_chick]

I take it you no longer have the camera then since you can't watch them? If you do getting them to your computer isn't a difficult process though it is time consuming and from there you can do pretty much the same things that you can with digital video.

You can search for a company in your area, or online, that transfers tapes to dvd. I can't name one off the top of my head but I'm sure someone else on here will probably know a specific one to recommend.

 

[Anewman]

I dont know how many tapes you have or how much they charge to transfer each...

I would buy a Digital 8 camcorder from ebay(or other) and use it to transfer to your computer(firewire required). Just put them all on a external hard drive until you have time to put them on DVD, some devices might be able to play them onto your tv straight from that external hard drive.

Most Digital 8 camcorders will play and transfer Hi8/8mm tapes, a few of the lowest end do not allow it(like the Sony TRV140)

 

[MiaSRN62]

Thanks Danielle and Anewman. And yes, Danielle, the original camcorder broke. I remember years ago they wanted like $200 to fix it and I just ended up getting a new (non 8 mm camcorder). I appreciate the input. I have about 15 of these cassettes.....lots of memories I'd love to retain and preserve.

 

[ssanders79]

They also made 8mm tape decks (like a vhs player), my dad has one. I did a quick online search and they are avaliable on ebay. It would depend on your preference as if you just want to be able to pop them in a hit play this may be a good route.

 

[My2Girls66]

At one time I had an adapter to play 8mm tapes in a regular vcr. It was regular vcr tape size and the 8mm tapes fit into it. Though from there you would need a dvd burner/vcr to transfer them to dvd.

 

[ssanders79]

At one time I had an adapter to play 8mm tapes in a regular vcr. It was regular vcr tape size and the 8mm tapes fit into it. Though from there you would need a dvd burner/vcr to transfer them to dvd.

Unless I'm mistaken the adapter was for VHS-c tapes into a full size VHS tape. 8 mm will not play in a VCR even with an adapter because the physical size of the magnetic tape is 8mm while a vhs tape is about a half inch.

 

[MiaSRN62]

thanks everyone....I will look into these options.

Anyone ever heard of imemories.com ? They are the cheapest video transfer to dvd service I have found. Just not real comfortable sending all my video to a company through the mail.

http://www.imemories.com/

 

[photo_chick]

Unless I'm mistaken the adapter was for VHS-c tapes into a full size VHS tape. 8 mm will not play in a VCR even with an adapter because the physical size of the magnetic tape is 8mm while a vhs tape is about a half inch.

I've not seen one for 8mm tapes either, but I've got one for VHS-C.

 

[photo_chick]

thanks everyone....I will look into these options.

Anyone ever heard of imemories.com ? They are the cheapest video transfer to dvd service I have found. Just not real comfortable sending all my video to a company through the mail.

http://www.imemories.com/

For what it would cost you through them for 15 tapes you could buy the necessary equipment and easily do it yourself.

You need an old camera (not that hard to find if you look around, post on your local freecycle board that you're looking) and something like this..
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html

 

[My2Girls66]

Unless I'm mistaken the adapter was for VHS-c tapes into a full size VHS tape. 8 mm will not play in a VCR even with an adapter because the physical size of the magnetic tape is 8mm while a vhs tape is about a half inch.

Ooops! Yep you are correct! I pulled out an old tape to look at it. My bad

 

[MiaSRN62]

For what it would cost you through them for 15 tapes you could buy the necessary equipment and easily do it yourself.

You need an old camera (not that hard to find if you look around, post on your local freecycle board that you're looking) and something like this..
http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/easy-vhs-to-dvd/standard/overview.html

Thank you photochick. I'll check maybe Best Buy for this ? It says VHS to DVD---does this mean I first need to put all video from 8 mm cassettes on to VHS and then do this step with the adapter to the computer from there ? Sorry for all the questions. I'm gonna have to plan this when I have a couple days off for sure. I appreciate all the input from everyone !

 

[mabas9395]

Are you more interested in saving money or saving time? And what do you consider your "techie" level to be?

The easiest but most expensive option is to send it out to be done. There are probably even places local to you that do it so you don't have to worry about loosing/damaging your tapes in the mail.

The cheaper route is to do it yourself. But that takes some equipment, software and knowledge (all of which can be easily obtained) In my opinion it is also the most flexible. By downloading and creating your own files, you can edit them on your computer. Very nice if you want to cut 30 hours of little league baseball, soccer, school concerts, etc into a nice watchable length DVD. You are also better equipped to handle upgrades in technology. I want to pass down my home movie collection to my kids. They've already forgotten what a VCR is and I doubt they will have DVD players when they have kids. So maintaining the master tapes plus a high quality digital file on my computer makes me feel better about being able to create something that will play on their year 2031 media device (whatever that is).

 

[MiaSRN62]

Are you more interested in saving money or saving time? And what do you consider your "techie" level to be?

The easiest but most expensive option is to send it out to be done. There are probably even places local to you that do it so you don't have to worry about loosing/damaging your tapes in the mail.

The cheaper route is to do it yourself. But that takes some equipment, software and knowledge (all of which can be easily obtained) In my opinion it is also the most flexible. By downloading and creating your own files, you can edit them on your computer. Very nice if you want to cut 30 hours of little league baseball, soccer, school concerts, etc into a nice watchable length DVD. You are also better equipped to handle upgrades in technology. I want to pass down my home movie collection to my kids. They've already forgotten what a VCR is and I doubt they will have DVD players when they have kids. So maintaining the master tapes plus a high quality digital file on my computer makes me feel better about being able to create something that will play on their year 2031 media device (whatever that is).

You raised some very valid/interesting points. I think I would rather have some artistic control over my tapes. I am probably in the moderate range of what I can do on a computer. But I'm willing to learn. So to edit, I could purchase video editing software ? Didn't even think of this. I am getting excited to learn more and see where I can go with this. I guess initially I was a bit nervous about doing it myself (based mainly in lack of where to begin). But getting a better feeling about it now. Thanks for your input mabas9395

 

[photo_chick]

Thank you photochick. I'll check maybe Best Buy for this ? It says VHS to DVD---does this mean I first need to put all video from 8 mm cassettes on to VHS and then do this step with the adapter to the computer from there ? Sorry for all the questions. I'm gonna have to plan this when I have a couple days off for sure. I appreciate all the input from everyone !

No, you don't have to transfer it to VHS first... its just the way it plugs in using RCA jacks or S-video. You plug your camera into the adapter.

 

[MiaSRN62]

No, you don't have to transfer it to VHS first... its just the way it plugs in using RCA jacks or S-video. You plug your camera into the adapter.

Thanks again ! You've been a huge help !