Thousands of tapes just like yours are safely sent to our studio and transferred on a daily basis. Our Hi8 digitizing transfer service will convert every memorable moment packed onto that little tape into the digital realm via DVD, thumb drive or the cloud. And while Hi8 was the new kid on the video block back in the late 80s, it’s shelf life was never meant to last forever. They’re dying.Īs one of the founding fathers of film, we’ve seen several iterations come and go over our illustrious 100 plus years in the industry. The magnetic Hi8 tapes of the 80s and 90s are deteriorating and their film is fading from improper storage, but more than that, simply old age. They were so compact that they were almost too small, which is why most people who had Hi8s undoubtedly lost them in the shuffle of various moves, spring cleanings and more.īut for those that still have a bundle of these cute little tapes laying around the house, it’s important to note that they won’t hold your memories forever. The tapes were about the size of a stack of playing cards at half an inch thick, 2.5 inches wide and just under 4 inches tall. The name itself was an explanation of what it offered consumers, the “8” a reference to 8mm video tape and the “hi” standing for high quality. This technological upgrade of the time paved way for digital audio, which in combination with its sleek size and convenient portability made Hi8 the new go-to in family video entertainment. In 1985, the Handycam (Sony’s premier camcorder) made its debut and dads everywhere rejoiced in a lighter, less bulky video camera to tote around to ball games, school recitals and every other family-oriented event deemed worthy of recording (aka ALL of them). Convert Hi8 to Digital You say goodbye, and I say hello.Īfter VHS had solidified its seat upon the home theater throne, the new challenge was making the tapes smaller, more compact and mobile.

Hi8 analog to digital converter box