Can you transfer 8mm casettes to DVD?

[RobertRobot]

Hey, I got a Sony Hi8 camcorder that uses 8mm cassette tapes. I've had it for over 10 years and have several cassettes of home movies. The camcorder's on its last legs, but still works even though there's some very slight audio and visual distortion when playing the cassettes.

Is there any way to transfer the cassettes onto DVD or at least onto a computer before they or the camcorder deteriorate further? I really don't want to buy a new camcorder of the same make, as they are over 200$ on amazon.

 

[corkyg]

Some of these videos may help to understand what is needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXvZ1No5azc

https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answe...8mm-or-hi8™-camcorder-to-a-computer-running-a

 

[lk2500]

I did this years ago, so I'm not sure if I'll remember this correctly.

Do you have access to a Mini DV camcorder?

I don't remember if I recorded the 8mm tapes to Mini DV tapes (using the cameras as VCR's basically) directly or if I used the passthrough on the Mini DV camcorder to record the videos directly from the 8mm camera to the computer via firewire (assuming you have firewire on your computer). There is free capture software available.

I think I used a combo of the 2. My 8mm camera did not work, so I had to borrow a friends to use for the transfer. Maybe you could track one down to borrow?

Once you have the raw video on your computer you can edit and burn to DVD (obviously).

I haven't messed much with newer camcorders as far as transferring stuff so I don't know if they have recording/passthrough capabilities.