The Comprehensive Guide on 8mm, Hi8 & Digital 8 video tapes
Hi there! We’re so glad you found us.
Remember when you had a handycam, camcorder video camera that recorded to an 8mm video tape? It either was a Hi8, video8 handycam or a digital 8 camcorder that recorder directly to an 8mm video tape.
If you’re anything like us, you have some of those old tapes sitting around gathering dust. Let’s face it—they’re not going to last forever. But they don’t have to be lost forever!
At Works Perfect, we convert those old video tapes video8, digital 8mm & Hi8 to DVD.
We then transfer the digital VOB files from the DVD’s onto or computers and convert the digital VOB files to MP4 digital files ready to be put onto either a USB stick or a portable hard drive (HDD).
These old 8mm tapes produced a really good video quality image for its time and lasted a very long time weather it was sitting on a shelf or being played over and over again.
Now is your chance to preserve them forever!
Looking for someone to convert your 8mm tapes to digital at the highest quality possible click here for more information
Damaged 8mm tapes
There are a few ways 8mm tapes get damaged. Being dropped, thrown, crushed, melted under the sun, ripped tape, mold build up on the tape, placed near a magnet etc.
More than likely your 8mm tape can be rescued. There are a few things we can do, replacing the case of the 8mm tape if the 8mm tape has a physical damage or if the tape is warped.
Splicing the video tape back together if the tape has been split. Spooling the 8mm tape onto new spools if the spool is damaged or warped.
Cleaning mold/fungus/mildew build up off the tape. Those are the most common faults we find with damaged 8mm tapes.
The most serious issue would be that the tape in the 8mm tape is stretched or wrinkled or that the information on the 8mm tape is no longer there, sorry to say but there is no fix for those problems.
Check with us at Works Perfect to see if your 8mm video tapes can be rescued as we are the professionals in providing the very best and up to date service in 8mm tape repairs.
8mm video tapes with mold/mildew/fungus build up on the tape
Mold/fungus/mildew is a living organism that increases in environments with lots of moisture.
Keeping your 8mm tapes stored in a sealed plastic container generally keeps the mold out if the container is stored in a room that has no air flow from outside and no moisture (water, steam) around.
Keeping your windows open and airflow from outside running through the house can easily cause mold/fungus growth on your 8mm tapes.
But all is not lost as here at Works Perfect we can clean off that mold/fungus/mildew build up and get the video tapes playing video footage again.
Depending on how bad the tape has been affected by mold and the physical condition the mold has altered the tape plays a massive part on how good the quality of the video footage can be played.
History on Video 8mm video tapes
8mm tapes and video cameras where introduced to the public in the 80’s, they where smaller tapes than VHS, VHS-C & Betamax tapes and produced a better video quality recording at luminance resolution of 400 lines compared to around 240 line which is what VHS and VHS-C tapes where producing.
Super VHS matched 8mm video tapes but this all came to technology advancements and video tapes where getting smaller creating smaller handycams allowing the user to easily use and carry around a smaller camcorder compared to a larger outdated VHS or Betamax video camera that where much more bigger and heavier.
Technical Specifications Video 8, Hi8 and Digital 8 Video Tapes
| Tape Width: | 8mm |
| Record Time: | Up to 120 (SP) using 120 minute tape. Normal tapes have a maximum of 90 minutes. Note: Many 8mm camcorders have a long-play (LP) mode which slows the tape speed to allow longer record time and could easily double the time length per tape. |
| Video bandwidth: | Video8 – Approx 5.4 MHz
Hi8 – Approx 7.7 MHz Digital8 – Approx 7.7 MHz |
| Horizontal resolution: | Video8 – Approx 400 lines
Hi8 – Approx 400 lines Digital8 – Approx 500 lines |
| Vertical resolution: | Video 8 – Approx 240 lines
Hi 8 – Approx 420 lines Digital 8 – Approx 576 lines |