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| Cheap analogue to digital converter? By Andrew. |
| Most of the Sony Digital 8 range of camcorders can have their Digital AND Analogue inputs activated by a 50UKP* digi-8 widget from datavision. This allows conversion to digital of all those old videos onto digital8 tapes or, More importantly, direct to your computer, Without the need for a separate converter. You can then record the finished production back onto digital8 using normal 8mm video tapes (for a relatively cheap back up). The tapes are more robust than DV tapes and much less susceptible to dropouts. They also play on any Digital-8 machine as (most of) the mechanisms have large head drums and the quality is EXACTLY the same as DV (They just store the information in a different way). Drawbacks, Well they are the size (and weight) of a brick and the picture through the lens is not top quality, but hey, as a digital video recorder they produce recordings almost indistinguishable from live TV. UPDATE: January 2007 * Stocks of the Digi-8 widget are now exhausted, But i'm sure Tim will do you a good price on the DV widget which enables the DV-in on Sony DV camcorders, (in addition to functioning as a digi-8 widget). See www.datavision.co.uk for contact information. Camcorders with Analogue inputs and DV input are not as rare these days as i had thought. For example the DV camcorders Sony HC40 Sony HC85 Canon MV960. are all widescreen camcorders from the last 2 years and shouldn't cost more than 100 pounds on ebay. They also have DV in (To enable you to backup your DV camcorder tapes and computer edits). The canon can definitely act as an analogue to digital converter, (You would have to confirm before buying any of the others). More recent models are of course available, But i am not up to date with those that have DV in as well as analogue in. (Brand new target price 200 pounds) If you're still interested in a digital8 machine the following models should work as converters (and also have DV in): From 2002: Sony TRV240, TRV730, TRV828, TRV830 from 2003: Sony TRV355 from 2004: Sony TRV460 from 2005: Sony TRV480 possibly? Bearing in mind their age (and size) you can see why they are selling for under 100 pounds today on ebay. At the time they were the only camcorders with analogue input for less than 1000 pounds, (They were about 500 pounds). Take a look at the following ebay link for Digital8 camcorders listed by distance from Leeds, (To save on postage). eBay.co.uk Digital8 camcorders. Just looked at ebay and unfortunately they seem to be selling for over 100 pounds! I think this is because they can playback old Video8 and Hi8 tapes (something you may not require). |
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