My 11 year old Sony 8mm finally died. I was looking at camcorders at a Circuit City but the sales guys didn't know that much about the differences. I want to spend less than $500 and was thinking about a digital 8. I want to be able to easily copy files onto my pc. Any suggestions?

 

It cost a bit more than $500, but we love our Canon ZR70MC. There are models with fewer bells and whistles that would probably fit your needs. http://www.canondv.com/ As far as pricing, I swear by B&H Photo, http://www.bhphoto.com for the best pricing and fastest shipping on anything with a lens...

 

I have a Sony DCR-TVR140, but that's pretty much been discontinued. Its a Digital8.

Mainly anything that has MINI DV is the way to go these days.

 

What is MINI DV as opposed to Digital8? Will I be able to play my old 8mm on a MINI DV?

 

We have a Canon also. Love it! It is a very small mini DV camera (model Elura 40MC). More $ than you want to spend, but it is smaller than a 35 mm camera, with all the bells.

 

MINI DV use Memory sticks. Digital8 uses 8mm/Hi8 cassets.

No you will not.


Here's the breakdown.(Sony's)
Hi8 - uses 8mm tapes but is not digital. You cannot transfer to your computer. Cheap in cost. $250ish

Digital8 - uses 8mm tapes but is digital. $500ish

MiniDV - uses memory sticks. Can transfer to computer. $700

DVD - uses DVD's. Digital. $1000

MICROMV - uses MICROMV cassets (70% smaller than 8mm). Digital. $1200


Most of those are base prices.

The 8mm tapes I'm talking about can be bought a wally world in set's of three. My Digital8 camcorder is not backwards compadable (analog/digital). Mine is only digital. There are lot's of Digital8's that are backwards compatiable. Pretty much though, if you have a lot of 8mm's then go with the Digital8 if you wish to do computer editing, and put it on a VCD or DVD. Hi8 if you wish to use your current setup whatever it may be. MiniDV, way of the future, but you wont be able to convert your current 8mm.

 

Crutchfield sales told me the Mini DV uses a new smaller tape and if the camcorder has the option to take stills then it also uses a memory stick. It looks like I will be getting this camera http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...=0&cc=01&avf=N
If I don't get an 8mm I have 10 years worth of tapes I won't be able to watch.

 

I bought a Sony TRV-240 last year and love it! It records on a Digital8 and you can play old 8mm tapes if you have an older analog camcorder. This was one of the key features because I will be turning all of my old movies into DVD movies. Check out this thread for info. on software to copy movies off your camera, edit them down and output them to DVD or back onto a digital tape. https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=127237

The TRV-240 also has a 25x optical zoom, which is one of the highest I could find. It does not have a separate memory card for digital pictures but that's what I use my digital camera for.

My mom just bought the Canon ZR70 and it uses the MiniDV tapes and it much smaller than my Sony. Seemed to be a good camcorder, too.

Just make sure that you get the following no matter what kind of camera you get:

1. Highest possible optical zoom
2. Connections...USB, S-Video and i.link(same as IEEE 1394, firewire) for capturing at the higest possible resolution.

I would not worry about all of the editing features, titles, screen transitions, etc. built into the camera if you are going to edit them on your PC.

 

They might?? I don't personally own a MINI DV, but that's what I gathred from Sony's site. I'm probably wrong though.