The only way I can see me pulling off a good PLL is to compare 8-bits at a time.

anyways, In order for someone to convert one bit of continuous data to one byte, a shift register is used.

When I look at my local store, I see that there are "shift registers", and "static shift registers".

Should I automatically go for "static shift registers"?
I don't care if the data remains when the power is off.

What I hope to see is that the bits shift only when the register is edge triggered.

Frank Gee once designed a "pulse time sorter" using a shift register. The clock frequency was varied until a pulse entering the SR exactly matched a pulse coming out. This circuit was able to seperate a fixed tone from noise quite well.