How To Play 8mm Tapes Without A Camera

Since the primeval moving film created by Eadward Muybridge in 1878, motion-picture show technology has been rapidly evolved, leaving piles of outdated technology in its wake. From the Kinetoscope to the 2-reel projector to the Super 8 to the iPhone, the tools proceed changing but the images are everlasting. Hither's a brief history of 8mm/Hi8 tapes and some tips on converting them to more current formats.

Where did 8mm video come from?
The 8mm movie format was introduced past the Eastman Kodak company during the Not bad Low and released to the marketplace in 1932 to create a home flick format that was less expensive than 16mm. Super 8mm film cameras were first manufactured in 1965 by Kodak for their newly introduced amateur picture format, which replaced the original Standard 8mm moving-picture show format.

If you've seen Spielberg's sleeper hit Super eight , you'll recognize the 1970'southward camera obsessed over by the teenage protagonist. Super 8 was the cheapest picture show effectually and worked on cameras that started for nether $thirty. Many families purchased Super viii cameras to certificate birthdays, holidays and vacations. The camera was so lightweight that kids could use it too.

Manufacturing of Kodak's Super 8 continued until the rise in popularity of video cameras in the mid 1970s. In 1985 Sony introduced Video8 which was an analogue video tape cassette format using 8mm tape, designed for employ in 8mm camcorders.

The iii formats of 8mm video
Most popular in the late 80's and 90's only now making a improvement in nostalgic TV shows and films, 8mm video came in iii formats.

Kickoff is the original Video8 analog tape cassette format designed primarily for use in camcorders such as the Sony Handycam line. The resolution of Video8 is the same as VHS , but in terms of audio quality, Video8 comfortably outperformed non-HiFi VHS or Betamax.

In 1989, Hi8 was introduced as a better-quality version of Video8 using a combination of higher-form tape and improved recording mechanisms to increase bandwidth.

A digital version, Digital8 was introduced in 1999 by Sony. Digital8 remained a consumer format and rose in popularity for domicile video. Nigh Digital8 camcorders can play back analogue Video8 and Hi8 tapes. The concluding Digital8 camcorder, the Sony DCR-TRV285, was discontinued in 2007.

5 methods for converting 8mm tapes
Whether you are using the camcorder to create retro-analog films or accept a pile of tapes ready to be rescued, these are the top solutions for transferring 8mm tapes to digital:

one. Mail service-in transfer services
Yous can employ a mail-in videotape transfer service such equally iMemories, Legacybox or Costco but this means yous have to relinquish the ONLY copy of your irreplaceable holding. You too take to cede your privacy and pay fees (upward to $xx per record). And you lot'll need to exist patient. Nearly post-in or drop off services take upward to three weeks until you lot'll get admission to the digital files and even longer to get dorsum your original materials.

2. Re-create from your camcorder to VHS or DVD
Another method is to re-create to VHS or DVD from you lot 8mm camcorder, then transfer from VHS or DVD to a digital file that you can store on your computer. This requires multiple devices, wires and connections that will leave y'all tangled and frustrated. At that place are converting machines you can purchase such equally the MovieMaker-PRO which can cost up to $400 and won't capture sound from some formats.

iii. Purchase an encoding device
Smaller devices like ClearClick, Elgato, Vidbox, Digitnow, Diamond, Roxio tin can convert 8mm. These are less expensive (from $36 - $119) but require that you have an 8mm video format camcorder to play the tapes dorsum. You may non be satisfied with the quality of the transfer as lower quality encoding chips are used.

4. Re-record on a surface
Of course, y'all can always projection the video onto a pristine surface and re-record a lifetime of recordings with your iphone or ipad. But who has time or space for this endeavor?

five. Utilise Mac Software such as LifeFlix
LifeFlix is easy to utilise and offers high-quality compression and HD conversion options. The founders spent over 20 years in the video technology industry and developed LifeFlix because iMovie no longer suNpported their camcorders. With this software, you lot simply attach your sometime camcorder to your Mac with a FireWire cable. It needs to exist a Digital8 camcorder which has a FireWire port and tin also play Hi8 and Video8 tapes. (If you've lost the device you can get a used Digital8 camcorder on eBay for about $50).

Then once you lot launch LifeFlix, the tape starts to run and the capture begins. LifeFlix tin can discover when the tape starts and stops so it creates new scenes that you can label individually, trim or combine. There is one caveat that sometimes with old 8mm tapes this scene detection does not work. Information technology'due south a mystery nosotros're trying to figure out! After importing your old tapes you lot can do some editing and fifty-fifty now share it in iMessages, AirDrop and email.

If you are a Mac user and have an 8mm video camcorder, you can catechumen as many tapes as yous like for $79.99. It'south the simplest converter that offers high quality transfer and editing options.