Convert Digital8 Tapes to Digital
Based on the 8mm video format developed by Sony, Digital8 cassettes were used widely by keen videographers and home-video makers alike after they were first introduced in 1999. While Digital8 equipment uses a similar videocassette format as Hi8, its digitally encoded signal meant that audio and video quality were superior to its older brothers. Unfortunately, Digital8 tapes were a bit late to the party, and became obsolete and replaced by the popularity of digital camcorders that use more compact storage media like SD cards.
How We Digitise Digital8 Cassettes
Our digitisation process:
- Select a Memory Box in the appropriate size and your preferred output format – CD, USB or digital album.
- The next day, your reinforced Memory Box will arrive on your doorstep. Put your tapes in and we’ll organise collection.
- We collect from your doorstep and track delivery to EachMoment HQ.
- Before putting tapes through our players, each one is cleaned using a two pass wet/dry method. At EachMoment, every single tape, cassette or photo is assessed and cleaned on a case by case basis using bespoke cleaning methods.
- We use broadcast-quality players to playback and digitise each cassette. Domestic standard players and USB converters often produce a low quality conversion and are sometimes prone to chewing up tapes, resulting in those precious memories disappearing forever. The tape decks used by EachMoment provide better sound quality than a USB cassette converter as they allow for adjusting the bias – used to get the highest output, the best high frequency response and the lowest distortion – for both chrome and metal tapes.
- Once the cassette is converted into a digital file, its quality is assessed and re-mastered if necessary. ‘Hiss’ is reduced as much as possible and dynamics processing software is applied to improve sound quality and loudness.
- The newly created mp3 files are transferred to your chosen output format.
- We return all your cassettes to you via tracked delivery, along with your CD or USB, or we’ll email you with a secure link to the digital album if you chose the Cloud option.
Why should I digitise my Digital8 tapes?
Because the format is obsolete and doubtful that owners will have working equipment to play them on, for many people they will likely be taking up space and collecting dust in a dark corner of the attic or a cupboard. What’s more, and similarly to other magnetic tapes such as VHS or Hi8, the contents of your old tapes and your cherished memories could soon lose their worth or be gone entirely. Like Mini DV tapes, Digital8 tapes are even more susceptible to ‘tape dropout’ than VHS, so much so that the video stored on Digital8 tapes can degrade by 20% over as little as 10 years.
Converting your Digital8 tapes to digital and DVD yourself can be a painstaking process. Fiddling with expensive and often hard-to-come-by equipment is not how anyone wants to spend their free time. With EachMoment, we will remove all the aggro of converting your Digital8 tapes yourself. It’s so easy to prevent time taking its toll on your old tapes and precious memories. If you have any Digital8, camcorder tapes or any old formats like VHS that you’d like preserved on DVD or digital which are accessible on your smartphone, TV and computer, we will collect your old photos and tapes from your doorstep, convert them to digital and DVD and return them to you in one of our Memory Boxes.
The best way to convert Digital8 to alternative digital formats
When converting Digital8 footage to DVD and digital, it’s essential to use a regularly-serviced, broadcast-quality Digital8 VCR. Domestic standard Digital8 players, such as a Sony GV-D800, are available to purchase online but can nonetheless be highly costly. Digital8 players, despite their cost, are outdated and difficult to configure with the latest computer software. As such, they are certainly not perfect and are susceptible to mechanical faults. Our customers often recall issues such as dropped frames, less vivid colouring and ‘overscan’ – unsynchronised lines at the bottom of the frame – when converting Digital8 tapes themselves. EachMoment corrects Digital8 conversion issues by using either direct digital transfer or analogue capture. Our team use their expertise to choose the best method on a case-by-case basis depending on a tape’s condition and corruption.
EachMoment corrects any syncing issues by only using broadcast quality Digital8 VCRs that are equipped with Time Base Correction. A time base corrector (TBC) amends a Digital8’s signal and image quality by inputting the video into a buffer, correcting the image before it is subsequently output again and formatted digitally.
Why wait? Get your Digital8 tapes digitised today!
Once these steps are complete, your Digital8 tape is fully converted to digital and DVD, giving your footage a new lease of life. It’s now time to relive your newly restored footage. Preserving your precious memories and gifting an EachMoment Memory Box to a friend or family member is an especially touching way to remind those closest to you how much you care about them. Whether it be a birthday, Valentine’s Day or Mother’s or Father’s Day, the memories inside an EachMoment Memory Box will always make the most thoughtful gift.