Sony TRV480E - advice welcomed.

[SoundBox]

Hi,

Some words of wisdom needed here please. I was looking into treating myself to a new camcorder and the Sony digital 8 models look just about right – especially the DCR-TRV480E as it is backwards compatible with 8mm and Hi-8 tapes, of which I have many.

Now looking through these forums I can see no mention of a review or any user comments. If anyone has one of these machines or even knows if they are any good or not, I would be most interested to hear. I have seen them on Amazon for what looks a good price : http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...071063-7021405
Shows them. Is this a good place to buy, or is there a specialist that would better warrant my cash (and offer a good price as well)?

Lastly, would this model make my 8mm tapes look any better if I copy them digitally to DVD via the I-link socket as opposed to the S-VHS socket on my old Hi-8 machine?

All comments welcome!

Ian, UK

if your dvd player has both then the DV connection shall certainly give you a better quality of video transfer (component based digital rather than y/c analogue) however you may be able to control the audio level input if you use the analogue connections which may be preferable in some cases.
Using the digital8 camcorder will introduce a processing stage called time base correction which helps to keep (and in some cases can improve) the quality of the source footage.

Is your hi-8 camera dead?, because in actual fact the best way to archive the footage would be on an digital 8 tape, as the compression and resolution are of a better standard than on DVD video.

Digital 8 camcorders are very good consumer machines, the video and audio is of no less quality than regular dv (in theory), the downsides are the increased size and weight and the lack of white ballance control (other than 'auto')

[SoundBox]

Thank you Roy.

Yes, my DVD player has I-link - I wanted to make the most of it on my transfers.

Thanks also for the archiving tip. My Hi-8 has not died, it is just that when making films in the future it would be nice to get the best quality available at a price I can afford (Mini-DV is nice but I cut my teeth on a hefty late 80's cam so anything smaller than this feels light to me) .

I will make the back-up copies of my Hi-8 to Digital-8 as you recommend (as well as DVD for everyday viewing).

Oh - just to let you know, that Comet Sony Digital-8 camcorder I asked about in a previous post was a very old model with no inputs, manual focus or Hi-8 compatability. No good to me at all - thanks for the pointers on that post as well.

Regards,

Ian

[spinaltap]

Here's a full review on the TRV480E - http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content...der-Review.htm

I'm in the same boat as you, having a working Sony Hi8 camcorder (with library of Hi8 tapes) but not knowing whether to get the Sony-DCR-TRV480 or a MiniDV with pass-through capabilities or to use a Canopus ADVC-110 analogue to digital converter - for transfer to Final Cut Express HD (Macintosh).

[SoundBox]

Spinaltap,

Thanks for that review.

My old Hi-8 machine sounds almost the same (feature wise) as the current Digital-8 range and as I feel happy with it's performance I have gone for the 480 and will give it a go. I get the feeling that the reviewers were being a bit harsh...

Thanks again,

Ian