Having Hi8 tape from a camera that is dead I bought a new Sony TRV-138 to play tape into a recording DVD player. The camera plays tapes faster than original! Someone posted that you need to record from original camera!? Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can transfer my Hi8 onto my Mac?

You'll need to install a video capture card. There are some USB models available, like this one.

Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.

Thanks for your response. The capture card you suggested
appears to be for windows only and not for Mac. Also, part of
my problem is that the camera I have now does not play the
tapes at original speed. Surely one doesn't need the original
recording device to replay recorded tapes?

"The capture card you suggested appears to be for windows only and not for Mac."

I actually didn't "suggest" a video capture card, just gave an example of what type of device you'll need. A google search should find a Mac compatible capture device.

If you have access to a digital camcorder, you can use this as a capture device (with it's built-in analog to digital converter). Connect the Hi8 camera to the digital camera, using the digital camcorders inputs. Then connect the digital camera to the computer via firewire/iLink (assuming you have a firewire/ilink port on your Mac.

"Also, part of my problem is that the camera I have now does not play the tapes at original speed. Surely one doesn't need the original recording device to replay recorded tapes?"

Once you've captured the video to your hard drive (it's now digitized), you can use an NLE (non-linear editor), such as Final Cut or Adobe Premiere to increase or decrease the playback speed of the video.

If you don't have an NLE, you can download a trial version of Adobe Premiere CS3 for Mac.

Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.

Thanks again for your reply. I will try it out!