Analogue capture problem

[skier-hughes]

I have some Std 8 video tapes to capture and convert to dvd.

Done this many times with my old storm card.

The situation is;

Put tape in my camcorder and it plays fine on the camcorder screen.

Connect cam to tv via composite cables and scart and it plays fine on the tv.

Connect cam to composite in on front bay and the tv (connected by composite on bay to scart) picture now rolls.

I don't get a picture in edius capture window.

Connected the video 8 to the analogue in of my digital camcorder and the picture rolls on the digital camcorder.

Tried different cables, no difference.

Connected to the rear of the pc into then nx card. No difference.

Connected my digital cam via the same composite cables, both to front and back of pc and edius captures like a dream.

The tv has a built in vcr, so I tried recording to vhs tape, but although the picture on the tv is perfect, the recorded picture on the tape is not just rolling but breaking up.

I've tried a few of the 8 supplied tapes and they all do the same thing.

The tapes all say SP playing when in the camcorder.

I've just recorded a little piece with my camcorder on the tape and this captures fine.

So, why would this problem manifest itself.

The tapes are all just home movies that the client wants on dvd, so no copy protection or whatever.

The tapes are all PAL, but if I change the input settings to NTSC I get a still black and white picture, which captures fine, although black and white.

When you changed the storm from PAL to NTSC you had to do it and restart the app, is there a special way of doing it in Edius?

Graham

[peterC]

Graham, it is possible that our client's tapes are recorded with a camera that is worn.
So aside from composite recording being OK for you S is not. Don't really know, but maybe using his unit to dub In may get you out of it.

[skier-hughes]

I thought about his cam being worn, but why does the pciture look fine on the camcorder screen and on the tv monitor? Surely both of these would show up problems as well?

The problem is that his cam has given up the ghost, some time back. These tapes date back to the late 90's, so there is no chance of using his :)

The composite worked from my digital cam and also on a piece recorded by my 8mm camcorder. I haven't used the S-video connector on the front as the video is Std 8 not Hi8 and the cam only has composite output.

Graham

[GrassValley_KH]

Do you know the make/model of the source camcorder?

[skier-hughes]

I'm afraid I don't.

I can try to find out, but I suspect I won't get any meaningful reply as they haven't had it for so long and they are not very technically minded.

Graham

[GrassValley_KH]

At first I thought "SECAM!" - but then, SECAM should capture fine into an NX system.

I wonder if it's some other strange PAL flavour..

[skier-hughes]

I doubt it, the cam was bought in London and used at home and abroad for family holidays.

And again, if it was a funny PAL flavour or even SECAM, surely it wouldn't play and appear fine on my camcorder.

Graham

[skier-hughes]

I've been through all 8 tapes and one appears to work, so I'm just capturing this one at the moment.

Graham

[skier-hughes]

Tape 7 has captured a small section ok, so I'm now capturing the rest. I've emailed a request for more info from the clients, if anything comes back I'll let you know.

In the mean time anything else anybody can think of will be gratefully received.

Graham

[peterC]

Graham. I might be missing something in all the posts, but if this footage is Std 8 anyway, just record it In on the composite that you say (I think I recall) works. You don't gain much coming in S. Edius is pretty good at cleaning up analogue signal to digital.

[skier-hughes]

Yes Peter, you missed the problem ;)

7 tapes won't capture through composite, one has.

The cam doesn't have an s-video connection so I haven't gone from composite to s-video then in through the front bay, but I will try that this morning.

The tapes play on the camcorder and appear fine on it's screen.

Connected directly to my tv the tape plays fine through the cam on the tv.

If I try to capture to vhs using the built in vcr on the tv then the picture is fine on the tv when recording is in process, but the picture when played back from the vhs tape is scrambled.

Picture rolls on both the pc screen and tv (conncted by composite out on front bay) when connected to either the front bay or rear connections.

Just in case it is ntsc, I'm going to try connecting up my NTSC vcr to the camcorder. I doubtful of this working, and as I don't have the cams manual anymore, I doubt the cam would play back an NTSC signal, but you never know.

Then I'm going to try recording to my stand alone hdd/dvd recorder - something has got to work!!!!!

The most confusing part is why does one tape work and not the rest????

Graham

[skier-hughes]

OK,

Clients got back to me again.............

They may have bought this camcorder while they were on holiday in the USA.

I suspect they did and the tapes are NTSC.

I suspect my Video8 cam can play back a pseudo NTSC signal, (which surprises me with the age of it) as now I've had a play I can capture a b/w ntsc signal, using ntsc capture settings in Edius.

They don't recall using a different cam for one of the tapes, but again I suspect they did.

Thanks for the help.

Now, to try to find a cheap ntsc video 8 cam.


Graham