several camcorders that can deal with the various formats. They will most likely be a few years old and you need to use caution when buying.

There are a few Sony Digital 8 camcorders that can handle Hi8/Video8, to. But you have a bit of homework to do to clarify that. Check the owner's manual of the Sony DCR-TRV330 - there are a couple of others.

And to be accurate, Digital 8 is a digital format (hence the name). The zeros and ones written to the digital tape are the same zeros and ones written to flash memory, hard disc drive or optical disc. Just because it is tape media does not make it somehow less digital. The DV (Digital Video) file format is less compressed than the other storage media, but it is most certainly "digital video" - just like MiniDV tape. On the other hand, 8mm, Hi8 (and Video8, VHS, VHS-C, Beta and a few others) are analog video storage media.

For the tapes that can work with the Digital8 camcorder, you will be connecting a firewire cable (not USB) to the camcorder's DV port (not USB) and the computer's firewire port (not USB). Put the camcorder in Play mode and import the video using a video editor - and control the camcorder from the computer.

For the tapes that cannot work with the Digital8 camcorder, then the appropriate "other" analog camcorder will work if you. Connect the analog camcorder's AV port to a capture card (Black Magic) or "analog/digital converter" (Canopus units use firewire). Put the camcorder in Play mode and import the video using a video editor - and manually control the camcorder from the camcorder.

While it is possible to connect a digital tape camcorder's AV port to a computer using a capture card (Black Magic) or "analog/digital converter", this is not the recommended method and results can be problematic.

In either case, since you are merely transferring the video, the lens quality and imaging chip qualities in the camcorder are irrelevant because they are not used. What is in the back office to get the work done is irrelevant - as a video transfer service, the task is to transfer the video to a different format. A deck will not somehow provide "better quality" for mere transfer. But you do need to use the right deck (or camcorder) and connectivity to get the best possible video quality.

(By the way, the "Sony EVS-9000E" appears to be PAL-specific and a Hi8 - analog - deck. Does it have a firewire port?)