How can I get my old VHS/Hi8/etc tapes transcribed to MiniDV?
This is perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions of all, especially since the answer’s pretty disheartening. The easiest and best way is to buy the Sony Digital Video VCR. For a mere $3,000-odd (I’ve seen it as low as $ 2,850), you get a lovely, rugged unit that looks like it was carved out of a solid hunk of shiny silver. This unit has the analogue inputs you need to transcribe your old pile of VHS tapes into shiny MiniDV tapes. Of course some people may think $ 2,850 is a bit excessive for a VCR, especially considering that you can get a VX1000 camera for about that. The big conspiracy theory is that Sony is not introducing more competitive units because the movie industry feels threatened by the easy and perfect piracy made possible by DV. Since most movies are cheaper than the MiniDV tapes needed to hold them, I think this is but an interesting fantasy. I occasionally hear rumours that a competing DV VCR is coming out, so the best solution might be to wait until this happ
