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January 02, 2009 03:27 AM

I need to find a Beta 8mm to VHS converter?

I have about 20 8mm videos that I need to convert to digital.

I would like to do it myself, I just need to find a converter, like this one (for VHS-C):

VHS-C to VHS converter
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3264/3158682310_596c06abe8.jpg


8mm Tape Example:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/3158671078_fbfc2931e7.jpg
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January 02, 2009 06:53 PM
It seems there is a 8mm to VHS-C adapter, but not a plain adapter for VHS (Lack of compatibility has to do with tape size and playback speed incompatibilities.)

If you can play the 8mm tapes via a camera (even a used one found online), you should be able to hook that camera/playback machine up to a VHS recorder (to transfer to VHS) or DVD recorder (stand alone) to transfer to DVDs. That seems to be the cheapest/easiest route.

If you can find an old Sony TRV480 (eBay), you should be able to play the tapes ok, and use that machine to transfer to a VHS recorder or a computer.

One the DealMac forums, some people had the same 8mm tape dilemma.
Here's their discussion on how they resolved it.
- http://forums.dealmac.com/read.php?4,2621542,2621648#2621648
- http://forums.dealmac.com/read.php?4,2594558,2594576#2594576


If you are a Mac user, another way, is to use the video out from the 8m camera (or player) and hook it up to a device like El Gato's EyeTV 250 Plus (HDTV Tuner converter) to get the video into digital format on to a Mac computer. (I think this device is Mac only.)
You can hook up the 250 Plus to ANY device that uses composite (red, white, yellow), including Playstation, Wii, XBox, etc.
EyeTV 250 Plus comes with Roxio 8 Basic disk burning software (Mac) and instructions on how to make these transfers. el Gato support team is very good and can help you with getting set up.
Their setup pages and tutorials are good too.
El Gato EyeV 250 Plus Setup for video transfer- http://support.elgato.com/index.php?languageid=1&group=englishdefault&_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&parentcategoryid=1&kbarticleid=1206
General Product & Setup Info -
http://support.elgato.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=view&parentcategoryid=1&languageid=1&group=englishdefault

EyeTV 250 Plus - http://elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/250plus/product2.en.html
Again, you can get an 8mm player and take the output via that player and record it either A) onto VHS or b) via the ElGato EyeTV 250 Plus into Digital format.
That's a lot of steps. It might be easier and more useful longterm if you have/had a camera with S-video (or RCA video) out that you could hook up directly to the elGato 250.
Once you have the video in digital fomat, you can burn it to dvd or park it on a big hard drive.
I have the elGato Eye TV Pro 250, and it is a nice HDTV tuner for your Mac, and it also will allow you to convert any video you can hook up via S-video or composite video cables.

Lastly, there are several commercial transfer services that will burn your video to DVD. I can't vouch for their quality, so you'd have to research that.
http://www.filmtransfer.com/services/video.aspx
Source(s):
Adorama 8mm Player - http://www.adorama.com/SOGVD200.html?sid=1230920154267235
About.com 8mm Info -
http://hometheater.about.com/cs/vcrs/a/aa8mmtovhsa.htm
Video Transfer Service - http://www.filmtransfer.com/services/video.aspx

Asker's Rating:
• Thanks!!! ;)


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January 05, 2009 02:30 AM
Wow, 2 "Bests" in one week! Thanks !
When you are done, maybe post part of your video to Vimeo.. let's see how they turned out ! ;-)

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January 09, 2009 09:33 PM
Hey, I noticed Staples is selling one of those VHS-C adapter cassettes..
But you would still need to transfer it to digital to make a DVD or upload it to a video storage service.

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_Video-Tapes-Video-Accessories_147430_Business_Supplies_10051_SC3:CG4:DP1832:CL141765

Amazon sells one for $23 -
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-PV-P1-Vhs-C-Adaptor/dp/B00006JPWT

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October 06, 2009 07:16 PM
There is no 8mm to VHS adaptor!

You have a standard 8mm Video 8 cassette. This is not a beta tape, beta is a completely separate tape type.

More details on why an 8mm to VHS adaptor does not exist:

In addition to VHS and 8mm cassette sizes being different, the tape on a VHSC is 1/2 inch wide whereas an 8mm tape is 8mm wide. Thus making it impossible for a tape player to read both formats. VHS-C tapes can be played back on a VCR with a VHS-C adaptor because VHSC and VHS both have a half inch tape. VHS-C tapes were introduced to allow for smaller consumer camcorders that were still compatible with VCRs. There is no 8mm to VHS adaptor because 8mm tapes are a different width and the video heads wouldn't be able to line up.

To convert VHS-C tapes to DVD check out
http://www.stashspace.com/video-transfer/vhs-c-to-dvd.stm

To convert 8mm tapes to DVD check out
http://www.stashspace.com/video-transfer/8mm-to-dvd.stm
Source(s):
http://blog.stashspace.com/2009/07/are-compact-vhs-tapes-the-same-as-8mm-ta...


Tags: vhsc, 8mm, video8

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