Possible see date tape recorded on Hi8/8mm camcorder?
 

I've got a Sony TR 2200e camcorder I'm using to archive old tapes. Some tapes I'm curious as to the date they were recorded. I read something about this here: http://www.octochron.com/faqSonyHi8R...th-RC-Timecode
I thought they seemed to be saying even if you didn't have the time marking on that it was still there?
When I press data code-time I get nothing showing on the tape display or camcorder? Any ideas if this is possible? Thanks
https://www.sony.com/electronics/sup.../38562041M.pdf

The camcorder owners manual you quote says: "Before you start recording or during recording, press DATE or TIME. You can record the date or time displayed in the viewfinder with the picture. You cannot record the date and time at the same time. " Page 35.

My emphasis.

Cheers Tim.

The camcorder used to make the original recording would have to have supported RCTC, and the correct date would have to have been set on that camcorder. (Think of all the VCRs that flashed 12:00!)

Do you know what camcorder was used to make the original tape? FWIW: most Video8 and Hi8 camcorders DID NOT support RCTC.

Sometimes scene content can be used to estimate a date range for a recording.

Thanks for the replies. I was just hoping it was hidden in there somewhere. I'm pretty sure this same Sony TR2200 was used to make most of the tapes I'm trying to archive. I'm new to most of this but I thought that article http://www.octochron.com/faqSonyHi8R...th-RC-Timecode gave some chance of seeing this since it said it supported RCTC.

FWIW, the sections on date/data code and RCTC/time code in the manual go over some of the limitations.

I'm pretty sure that the time code would have been automatically written to the tape if the recording camcorder supported RCTC. As dpalomaki says, very few consumer cams had it, (I know this because I had to go to a lot of trouble to find one to buy back in the day), but the manual confirms that the TR2200 supports RCTC, so if it was used to record the tapes the time code should be on them.

Check that the "Counter" setting in the player menu is set to Time Code, as it might default to the "Normal" tape counter. If that doesn't work, the time code probably isn't there. Good luck!

The geometry of the signals recorded on tape is interesting.

The VHS variants included linear tracks at the top and bottom edges (for audio and control tracks) and the helical scan for video & HiFi audio toward the center.

The Video8/Hi8 on the other hand did not use linear tracks. The helical scam used over 210 degrees of head rotation; 180 for the video, AFM audio, and tracking signals, followed by ~5 degrees for time and data code, and ~31 degrees for PCM audio. The consumer RCTC system was NOT the same encoding system as the time code Sony used with its professional Hi8 gear, so a consumer Hi8 camcorder that can do RCTC might not read the time code on a professional camcorder recording. (Note: As I recall, the original Video8 design developed by Kodak included a linear track but that was not implemented in most gear.)

The neat thing about the consumer RCTC is that it could be added to an already recorded tape, as could PCM sound, enabling nearly frame-accurate editing of Vdeo8/Hi8 taped material.