Welcome!
John, I know I'll get a lot of hate mail for this, but I would suggest that you
stay away from Hi-8. It is not as stable as S-VHS for editing, and its smaller
size is a minus, not a plus. There are many other reasons I would recommend
another format but it would take too much space here. Since you were asking
about Hi-8, I assume your budget would not allow considering the UVW series of
Beta-SP. It's not as costly as you might think. Another option would be a used
3/4" system. If you look around, you could probably find one for a steal right
now. And 3/4" will still be around a while despite what anyone will tell you.
Hope these comments will help.
Bill I.