Any GURUS out there ! Mini dv camcorder playback glitchy / skip / lost frames ?

[Radical Posture]

Firstly, thanks for the info a few weeks ago ! I did it !
I used a Sony Z1 (in dv mode) with mic, plus, lapel wireless
mic on the presenters.

I finished 13 hours (over 2 days) of recording, only hours ago.

BUT ! I played back one of the tapes which looked good, up until
about the 52nd minute of the tape when the glitchy / skipping
started to occur. It was a little pixellated across the middle
of the frame. Plus, a flash of blue screen at each occurrence.
Once it hits that 52 minute mark, it keeps glitching every 1-3
seconds. It seems to become more frequent as it gets closer to
the end of the tape

To test ? I imported into iMovie – it was glitchy on playback through
iMovie too. Towards the end of the footage, iMovie had split frames
up into very small chunks. Some as small as 0.1 seconds.

I played that tape on another camera – same result – glitchy.

I tested one of the other tapes in one camera, then the other
camera. Damn it ! They were both the same.

I tried 3 tapes. EACH STARTED BECOMING GLITCHY AT ABOUT 52-53
MINUTES. It seemed to get worse as it got closer to the end of the
tape.

Please tell me that you guys know what the hell is going on !

I’m having trouble believing that all my efforts were in vain !

Is it the camera ? The tapes ? Something I did – which I can’t
believe it was … the first 51 minutes seem OK !

[Rob]

might need to clean the heads, although, if that is the case I don’t know why it would consistently drop frames at the 52 minute mark.

[Radical Posture]

Well … this could be true. The info so far is dirty heads, misaligned heads, fluro lights, mobile phone interference (via radio mic), pool pump interference, etc … The one that the hire place was most adamant on was the TDK tapes. Lots of metal in the tapes apparently. As the tape gets pulled tighter, the metal on the tape builds up and drags the tape across the heads, rather than pulling it across the heads. They said that the FUJI tapes have far less metal in them.

So, I may be getting no truth, a bit of truth, or all of the truth about this issue. Good lessons learned, but, I have no idea how to avoid this again.

[Rob]

have you tried new tapes? I would say dirty heads, head alignment, and tape brand are the most likely culprits. I’ve never heard of fluorescent lights causing that kind of problem. And mobil phones should only mess up your audio, not your image.

[Radical Posture]

Thank you for responding. I haven’t tried new tapes – I had to return the camera before I knew the problem was so extensive. I have asked them to run a tape for a full hour on their camera tosee if it does the same. I haven’t heard back from them as yet. I would imagine that it would be in their best interests to check it out, in case it is the camera.

My next issue will be how to link all these files in a project. In some parts, I have over 100 files all one (1) frame each !!! Other sections run for 5 secs, others 2.2 secs, others 8 secs, etc etc … Again, I should reiterate, this all starts at about 52-53 minutes into the tape, so 6-7 minutes of PowerPoint slides may be a bit too much.

I’m thinking of dumping all these broken up files into a project and then adding a very short transition (0.1 sec)to see if that will take the “jump / skip transition” out. Alternatively, inserting PowerPoint slides in lieu of all the skipping video may do the job.

I’ll keep you informed. An other input or ideas are welcome.

Over and out.

[arby]

Check to see if your camera is getting hot about 52 minutes in. If your camera has been running continously the motor is gonna get warm. After 45 minutes I’m getting warm. If your shoot is going to be more than an hour and less than two switch tapes at 45 – 50 minutes.

The tape could be sticking due to variations in storage tempatures. Fast forward your
tapes to the end and then rewind them. Make sure you give your camera time to cool off
and recharge before your shoot.

I’ve gotten very crafty with my transitions over the last couple of years.

[Anonymous]

So here is something I learned recently.

It may not be the entire tape (from 52 min to end) that is messed up. It may just be a couple seconds. Before you role your eyes at this, read on. It really does make sense.

This is what happened to me just recently. Humidity was the initial cause of the problem, but when I went to download the tape to the computer, everything was messed up starting at about 30 min.

NOTE: I download my tapes using a separate MiniDV camera so not to wear my good cameras out.

Initially, I thought the tape was screwed. But after some trouble shooting, I realized that a couple times during the tape, there were 2 second glitches here and there.

Each time it got to one of those short glitches, the camera would continue to record the glitch until the end of the download. Yet when I look in the monitor of the camera it was fine.

To fix this, I stopped the recording. Moved the tape forward a couple seconds (to the end of the glitch) then continued to download (until the next glitch).

Everything worked out fine and I ended up only losing about 6 seconds of footage instead of an entire tape.

Just a thought. You case just sounded similar to me. Good luck.

http://videomaker.com/community/forums/topic/vx2100-filming-in-medium-avg-humidity

[Author]

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