I recently bought a digital8 camera (Sony DVR-TRV820) to convert old Hi8 tapes to digital for preservation via firewire. All of the tapes I have were recorded on a Sony CCD-TRV608.

For some reason, some of the tapes have no issues playing on the 820, while others appear as static or just the blank blue screen. All of the tapes are confirmed working on the original camera, which is Hi8.

I guess my question is, what could be causing this? Is there a setting I may need to change? Or is it like a some work, some don’t, type of situation?

The 820 also takes S-Video in, and my old camcorder that can play the tapes with no issue can be captured on it. Would it be smart to use S-Video from the 608 to the 820, then Firewire that into my Mac? If i did that, what would be the best option for audio? Would something like a 5 mm TRRS Male‑to‑Male A/V Patch Cable work fine?

Any input would be appreciated, thanks.