8mm/Hi8/Digital 8 i have analog canon es870. power supply is shot. need to buy other 8mm to access recorded tapes. would any 8mm camcorder, digital/analog/otherwise be able to do this?

Video Only, and Best Buy will most likely have 8mm tapes. Walgreens and Radio Shack should also carry them. If the only tapes you can find are labeled Hi8 or DV8, you can still record on them with an 8mm camcorder.

The only way to do that is to play it in a device that plays Hi8 tapes and somehow converts it to a digital signal (likely through firewire as DV), then capture it to your computer just like a digital camcorder.

There are several ways:
1. Buy a device (like a camera) that plays it, output through RCA cables to your other camera or tape deck that is digital through the line in, and then just record that. (Alternatively, you could put that signal into a DVD-R machine and record onto a DVD, then just copy the files off the DVD, if you don't have a way to capture DV through firewire.)
2. Buy a device that plays Digital8 (same tapes, but miniDV FORMAT) and output directly from the tape through firewire. This means you must buy a SONY (only brand that made [now discontinued] Digital8) camcorder or deck [if decks were made, though those are usually expensive].

So, the simple answer: get a Digital8 camera and capture, or get another digital camcorder and a Hi8 camcorder and play through the digital one into the computer.

Buying a Sony Handycam (OLDER model) will be your easiest option, and probably possible on ebay, etc., for $100-$200.


Short of this, you could look to a friend or a professional solution for just getting the tape copied (like VHS->DVD services exist, there is probably some place you can mail your tape to).

EDIT: I should add: You included "8mm" in your title-- that is a bit confusing. 8mm refers to a few formats. One is film (obviously not what you're referring to), but then there is the older "8mm" tape format; it's like Hi8, but I believe it's actually not the same tape-- unlike Digital8 and Hi8which share a physical medium. I don't think you can get an 8mm -> Digital device, so you'd need to go through the RCA cables, as described above. [And though Hi8 is actually 8mm in width, it's not quite the same as the other "8mm" format... for whatever odd reason someone decided.... ]
However, I suspect you ARE actually working with Hi8, so this shouldn't be a problem.

I have the exact same camera and same exact same problem. Any analog Video8 or Hi-8 camcorder or VCR will play these tapes.

By using the same cassettes as Hi8, many (NOT ALL) Digital8 (produced by Sony exclusively) camcorders are able to play analog Video8/Hi8 recordings, preserving compatibility with already recorded analog tapes.

you can connect Digital8 camcorders to your computer to download your movies for editing or Internet use.

As of 2008, Digital8 camcorders have been removed from the equipment offered by Sony.

I believe this camcorder is 8mm only, so you won't be able to use a Hi8 tape with it. They will not play right in your camcorder.

DCR-TRV130 is not capable of playing back 8mm or Hi8 tapes recorded on analog camcorders. Digital recording playback only.

The older tapes were shot on a 8mm camcorder and the camcorder you have wil not play them becasue it doesn't have backwards compatability with the older format. The tapes you recorded are on a digital 8 camcorderr and it is different encoding than the one you recorded the other 60 tapes with. You will need to find either a dcr-trv 350 trv 530 trv 730 ect as these have the ability to play all the tapes.
Or find an older 8mm camcorder to play your tapes with.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Al

I believe all Sony model DCR-TRV2XX and 3XX would play Hi 8 and ST8
Such as DCR-TRV265, DCR-TRV285 DCR-TRV340, DCR-TRV355
I hope that give you some ideas

may be your camera not design to play the analog tape...there are some model that can playback a analog tape...i think your camera is for digital playback only.... check your user manual

maybe I would buy your camera,
yes as far as I know hi8 and 8mm are completely different cameras,
where are you and how much for the camera?

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Yes. Hi8 camcorders are manufactured to work with 8mm or Hi8 tapes. The difference is the quality of the tape. 8mm tapes will provide about 270 lines of resolution where a Hi8 tape will provide up to 400. For better quality recordings, you'll want to use Hi8 tapes.