Dropouts

[Ludde]

I have got some tapes with dropouts, I just wonder how you handle droputs ?
Thanks

[Rusty]

Not much you can do. Lost data is just that. :~<

If it HDV (mpg2) the loss can be substantial. If it's DV it may only be one frame and you can patch with a still image from a surrounding frame.

[AJL14]

Rental.....

Hey Ludde,
If you don't have too many tapes, and you want to transfer them all at the same time, then you might want to contact a professional camera/etc. rental house and see if you can rent a TBC (time base corrrector) from them which has a DOC (dropout compensator) built in. Most of these were analog, however - and I don't know what kind of tapes you're talking about. If you can find one, they would probably rent for $25-$35/day. The DOC's can sometimes automatically replace a great deal of the missing frame's information. Worth a try.
Good luck,
Alan

[Angelo]

I have got some tapes with dropouts, I just wonder how you handle droputs ?
Thanks

With drop-outs or poor video quality on "needed" scenes that are just unfixable, "jazzing-up" is needed to bring life back to that scene. Using your "artistic" talent and checking out some music videos for example may give to some ideas with video effects, different sound tracks and/or mixing in photos stills.

Just some ideas...

...Angelo

[Ludde]

Sounds nice with a TBC with dropout compensator,

[antonsvideo]

Sounds nice with a TBC with dropout compensator,

it depends on what tape you used, analogue or digital

if analogue, a TBC can help

if digital, sorry, there is no help, welcome to the wonderful and perfect world of digital :)

[Ludde]

He, it is HDV on mini-DV tapes....hmmmm, ok

[antonsvideo]

He, it is HDV on mini-DV tapes....hmmmm, ok

sorry, no TBC will fix that

[GrassValley_MD]

He, it is HDV on mini-DV tapes....hmmmm, ok

Getting creative is about the only fix.


I hope the drop outs were not to big! :)


Mike

[Blast1]

He, it is HDV on mini-DV tapes....hmmmm, ok

Best cure for that is a two cam shoot even if one is only a static wide shot.

[biopic]

Are you playing back the tape on the same machine (camera) that it was recorded on? If not, give that a try. It is just possible that the problem is a transport alignment one

[Ludde]

Yes, I am playing back/capture with the camera it was redorded on....don´t think there is much more to do, I have to go artistic :)

[AJL14]

Hey Ludde,

Try one more thing before giving up. The guys have all had the correct suggestions: playback with the same camera, and since it's digital and not analog - no TBC will help! Try one more thing - it can't hurt. Sometimes I have found the tape is OK, but the heads of the playback (camera) device are not as clean as they could be, thereby sometimes causing dropouts. This happens in both analog and digital. Try getting a really good quality head cleaner and cleaning your heads TWICE. Don't overdue it, but some of them are slightly abrasive and may take some life off the heads, but if your careful they make work miracles. If you can find a liquid cleaner - all the better. Give it a go, and good luck.
Cheers,
Alan

[GrassValley_BH]

If the dropouts aren't being caused by physical damage/loss on the tape itself, then if you're lucky, you can capture the same segment and have different dropout artifacts.

If that's the case, you can get two or more frames that can be re-integrated together to form a whole frame. It's terribly time-consuming though.

[antonsvideo]

maybe the dropouts are not over both fields, they may only affect the upper or lower field, so you could try remove one or the other with the old movie filter

it works great on Betacam SP dropouts because the drum has 2 heads, one records upper field and one lower, it is unlikely that both heads are dirty at the same time