Bruce,

First of all, I don't think NTSC will really be gone in 2 years, you know how they keep pushing it back.

Your best bet now is to get a set-top recorder with at least composite/s-video, preferrably component, inputs, and a seperate ATSC tuner. Hook the SD (or EDTV, hopefully) output of the tuner to the input on the player.

This will also be good for creating DVDs of all of those VHS and laserdiscs.

What kind of 8mm are you talking about? The camcorder tape will be easy. If you're talking about old film, I could help you there, too. I successfully made DVDs for over 200 reels cheaply and would be happy to share my experiences.