I am in the process of transferring about 200 Hi8 video tapes to files. I am currently using a Sony GV-D900 video walkman for the transfer. This works great, however I am finding about 10 percent of the tapes do not have audio.

I did a quick search and learned that Sony produced a couple Hi8 cameras that had a feature called 'multi-audio' that would enable a user to record multible tracks of audio as PCM in the video track of the head.

My Sony GV-D900 does not support 'multi-audio' -- so before I go out a get another deck that does have this feature I thought I would ask the experts on DVinfo.

Have you ever used a cam with 'multi-audio'? Any other ideas on whu some tapes have no audio?

Thanks

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Sounds like the tapes in question were recorded using the PCM audio. The only deck I've seen that will play that back was a dual deck made by Sony that we had set up in the linear Toaster suite in my media college 11 years ago. The tapes we recorded were using the Sony BVW-537 dockable camera with a Hi-8 back on it.

Thanks Shaun. I have located a Hi8 deck that has this 'multi-audio' feature and will try that.

Update... I used a Sony EV-S900 for the tranfer and it worked perfectly. The audio was indeed recorded as PCM in the 'multi-audio' mode. The EV-S900 is one of the few Hi8 decks that can handle this format.