converting old 8mm to digital why are they black and white?

[sherrehm]

I recently had my 8mm tapes I filmed in the 90s with my Sony Camcorder converted to digital and DVDs-- I was very disappointed when they came back all in black and white?  How could that be?  

[IamNic]

Hi @sherrehm,

how did you perform the digitalization process? 

Or did you send it to a company to do it for you?

- Nic

[sherrehm]

It was done by a guy in a town near me.. from what I understood when he explained why they were black and white ... He turned the video on and ran it through the camcorder to his computer.  When I said, why are they in black and white?   he said, "that's how they are"... Why the heck would I buy video tape in the 90s that are black and white??? is what I said..... 

I really don't think they are suppose to be just black and white.. he did something wrong....would you agree?   He mostly digitalizes family photos into a thumb drive this was the first time he did mine.

[IamNic]

Hi @sherrehm,

I assume he did something wrong with the settings of the PC software he used to capture the video signal of the camcorder.

If you have a PC yourself, I can highly recommend the video capture device from MAGIX called "resuce your videotapes", which you can use on your camcorder as well as long as it has a composite (yellow, red, white) or S-Video output: https://www.magix.com/gb/video/rescue-your-videotapes/

- Nic

[Jonnie1266]

Hi @sherrehm

You are right, if the tapes are colour and the recordings are in colour then they should have converted to digital in colour.

I transfered my 8mm tape recordings to the hard drive of a Sony DVD recorder using my old Digital 8 camcorder through DV IN using i.LINK cable. Then I simply burned the recordings from the hard drive to blank DVD media. I can confirm that they kept their colour, and are actually slightly enhanced in quality. As the recordings are now on optical disc I can do most anything I choose with them.

Are you able to check the tapes and even play them back through a 8mm camcorder? That way you will know if they are in colour.

Regards