What to do about distressed tape?

MikeW

Active member
A while back you helped Cyndygreen with a tape mystery. Now I am facing a simliar problem with a DV tape I shot with a Canon XL2 from a friend.
I placed the camera at the back of the audience for my wide shots. My main camera was closer to the stage for the performance.

When I tried to digitize the XL2 footage, the tape playback choppy. The audio came in short bursts. No, the heads were not dirty--there was no banding on the tape.

My guess is the tape head are out of alingment. I have tried different decks and different camcorders. Each one yeilding a different result. The closest I've gotten to normal playback is in my Canon HV40. The video appears fluid, but no audio.

My question to you is should I try to complete my project by digitizing the tape with the HV40 or should I send the tape to a videotape repair shop hope the expense is worth it?
 

cyndygreen1

Well-known member
Ugh...I absolutely HA(TED that episode of my life.

Digitalize what you can - the video if that is all. See if the audio plays back in another deck/camera. You might get lucky and be able to import each separately and synch them up (fingers crossed).

Did you try playing back in the camera that recorded the tape? That may work.

Good luck...it took me a few weeks to find my problem and get it resolved.
 

MikeW

Active member
The first thing I did, Cyndy, was attempt to digitize the tape from the originating camcorder. The video was skipping and even giving me a blue screen.
 

cyndygreen1

Well-known member
Should have figured - that was a basic given.
I've gotten blue screen when the connection wasn't good-firewire problems.
 

Necktie Boy

Well-known member
Could be a bad tape. If the heads were out of alignment, the tape would play in the original camera, but not play correctly in other cameras and decks.

Since you have tried other units, I say go with the one that just played back the video, sync that footage with the other camera with sound. Look for a flash to sync the video.

That is what I would do.
 

MikeW

Active member
After the XL2 failed to play the concert footage properly, I tested the XL2 with another tape. Same results. So I doubt it have made any difference if the tape was fresh or used stock.
 

Necktie Boy

Well-known member
Knowing that, the XL2 is bad. Tape motor or reels have a problem. Do the best you can, and tell the client what happen.

Try to get enough wide shots to cover you. Yes, it will be a pain to sync the footage. Or just go with one camera. Working with two camera, I always treat my camera live, just in case of a problem.

Good Luck
 

MikeW

Active member
I told my friend about the trouble I had with his camcorder. I will send it in for repair.
Meanwhile, I'll try to use as much good footage I can from the XL2 to mix with the main cam.

At least I'm not as bad off as the gentleman, I read about in the general forum here, who corrupted his P2 files and consequently lost all his footage.
 

pixlmgr

Member
Is the dropped fame causing your import to stop? There may be an option, depending on your system, to defeat that so it continues to record. A few years ago, in the tape to tape era, I was in a similar situation and had to add White frames to cover the distorted video frames, I tried to make it look like flash photography by varying the intensity of the white level and the duration. It wasn't perfect but It covered it up.
 

MikeW

Active member
Yes, my Firewire import does freeze up. So I decided to try the S-video In with a TBC, which worked better. There were less dropped frames but some frames still had blemishes. So far, I've able to skirt most of the bad frames staying on the main camera, maybe longer than I would have liked-- being this is a concert video.
 

MikeW

Active member
I did try your white flash idea. In the wide shots, however, the effect just didn't look convincing to me.
 

MikeW

Active member
I lucked out. The Forestry group, I was taping for, ran a slide show before the concert. So I asked to incorporate their slides into the show.
 
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