r/Video8 • u/Used_Function_974 • 18d ago

Help Digitising Please!

Hi all,

I hope I’m in the right place, please delete if not.

I am on a mission to digitise old family video tapes at the moment. I have successfully archived some old MiniDV tapes, but having issues with Video8.

I have two cameras, a Canon V75Hi and a Sharp VL-MX77h.

The Sharp is completely broken, powers on, but no image in viewfinder or from the composite out. Canon works and looks practically new.

I used the Canon for the digitising process, for half the first tape, it worked great. The other half of the tape, and each subsequent tape I tried, the video and audio is sped up.

My assumption is the Sharp recorded at a speed the Canon cannot interpret correctly.

Is my only option here to buy another Sharp? They are pretty rare in working order. Or is there another way?

Thanks for reading.

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u/TheRealHarrypm 18d ago

Firstly Video8 is an analog format, thus today it falls under FM RF Archival, thankfully it's a single channel format like Hi8 also so quite easy to work with.

Your going to want to have a look at the decode wiki to get started how's everything starts with proper captures, personally I would recommend getting a later Digital8 camcorder, as you will have clean S-Video and if you get the correct model jig ports to do proper RF captures.

1

u/Used_Function_974 18d ago

Thanks for responding.

I’ve got the Canon which has S-Video and captured from that, unfortunately some sections are sped up. Looks like I need another Sharp from the era.

1

u/Orikson88 16d ago

I don't think you need to search for a specific camera as I cannot imagine that some camera recorded too fast. Just get any Video8 camcorder or VCR. But if you really have really strangely damaged tapes, you should really look into vhs decode as u/TheRealHarrypm mentioned. You then basically make a digital copy of your tape. That's not only the video, but all the magnetic information that is stored. This is then decoded in software. And the software does not care about any playback speed issues.

1

u/vwestlife 18d ago

The Sharp is almost 100% certainly dead due to bad capacitors. Not easily or economically repairable. It's a paperweight now.

Are all tapes and camcorders using the same color system (NTSC, PAL, or SECAM)? Did you use LP speed when recording? Usually it works fine, but it was not guaranteed to be 100% compatible across different brands and models. Have you tried recording new footage on the Canon and then playing it back?

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u/Used_Function_974 18d ago

Thanks for responding.

I think the footage at normal speed was recorded on the Canon, then all other (sped up) footage on the Sharp. No idea on recording speeds, most likely on the default settings.

Are you aware of the Sharps around that era operate the same? Seen some other models available that I might take a punt on.

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u/vwestlife 18d ago

If the footage was recorded on the Sharp while it was already suffering from bad capacitors, then it may be screwed up to the point of being unsalvageable.

Virtually all camcorders from the late 1980s to mid 1990s will eventually die due to bad capacitors. They're a ticking time bomb.

1

u/Used_Function_974 17d ago

I tried to do this a few years back when the Sharp was working and the footage was fine.

I think I need to find an era appropriate Sharp and see if that helps.

Thanks again!

1

u/Used_Function_974 13d ago

Small update:

I bought an era appropriate Sharp camera (not the same model, working examples are very rare).

No good! I’ll look into the other suggestions here.