Hi-8 Question (buying a camcorder)

[Necro165]

I'm tempted to buy a Sony camcorder that I've seen for £150.

Here's the description:

Sony CCDTRV228 Camcorder
Video Hi-8 recording.
20x optical zoom.
990x digital zoom.
2.5in colour LCD screen.

The thing is, I read on the FAQ page that Hi-8 can't be transferred on to a VHS tape so if not, what format CAN I use to view what I record?

Any help would be appreciated.

[Kevo]

Hi8 can be transferred to VHS via the composite av lead from camera to vcr.

But why bother with Hi8, even at £150 it's just not worth it. It's old tech.

You're better off with a cheap mini dv camcorder. The quality of both master and copied recordings will be MUCH better and if you use firewire and a PC then your copies will be near identical to the original.

[Necro165]

Thanks for the response.

I appreciate your comment about the quality etc but I only expect to use the camcorder very rarely and I like the Sony brand, so I'd rather pay £150 for an "old" model Sony camcorder than the same amount for a budget brand new model...

jessops are doing a sale ontheir old new stock cameras, a few sonys in there, i saw a sony trv255 (digital 8 with DV-IN) go for £149.97

if youre on a budget then it might be worth a look

[SystemBlack]

Roy, you seem a knowledgeable guy.
When I record on my XL1s onto miniDV and play it back to my pc, everything is hunky-dory and the quality as you would expect is very good .
I would like you to adsvise me on the following.
I am thinking of getting another camcorder to use as a playback device rather than wear my video heads away on the XL1s but am not sure if a lesser camcorder would tranfer the data at the same quality as the Canon. I would have thought that the digital signal, once on the tape, would not be affected unless I got a really cheap machine and I can't afford a DV Deck for that purpose. Also, what cleaning method do you use on your XM2, again I have a fear of cleaning as I destroyed my EX1Hi heads by using a TDK head cleaner.

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

Yup, once on tape it's just data, the important end is the origination, decks are more robust, camcorder mechs are much of a muchness.

I've never had to clean the heads on my XM2, I only ever use brand new tapes, used for origination once, played back only on the camera they were recorded on, stored in the cassette box.

On my older D8 cam (in five years I;ve had to clean the heads twice) I used a sony tape, played once for 10 seconds, not rewound after, no pros.

On the 570 I use alchol spirit onthe heads applied with an extended cotton bud. Being full size theres more spece to poke around.

Only clean your cam when it tells you or if drop out (mosiac ) is getting fairly frequent. Use the dry tapes twice at most (in five second bursts) if you aren't confident doing a liquid clean on the heads yourself look in yellow pages for a camera repair shop. Liquid is far better as there is no additional wear on the heads.

Most DV tapes have some mild cleaning tape on their leader spool. So regular use should keep things hunky dorey

[SystemBlack]

Thanks very much.