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  1. Member
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    Apr 2009
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    Search Comp PM
    Hi, I'm new here so excuse me if this is a known thing.
    I scanned through a bunch of the video8 hi8 topics and didn't see anything like it.

    I have some old Sony Video8 tapes I wanted to get online. I don't have the original camera, but lucked out and was able to borrow a Sony GV-D200 8mm deck. This deck handles the conversion to DV and Firewire output and all. At first I had some problems, but I was able to find an 8mm head cleaner, and after a couple of cleaning passes, things started working great. I plugged it into my Mac and was able to control the deck from the software and capture a bunch of the tapes. I have one that just cuts out noisily in the middle of the tape, but I think that's all that's on there. Multiple attempts (in between other successful tapes) cut out at the exact same point.

    Then there is the tape with the mexico trip on it, one that I really want.
    I've tried this multiple times, again in between successful tapes, so I know the equipment is working.

    If I just hit play the deck kind of winds up, the display goes from blue to grey like it's getting all ready to give me a signal, then the deck winds back down and the screen goes blue again. Over and over.

    I would just give up, saying "bad tape", except for the part I find mysterious ...
    If I catch it when the screen is grey, and press FF or REW while it's still in play mode, to advance, back up the tape while showing video *** I CAN SEE THE DANG VIDEO!!!!! Sure, it's got those bars across it like you usually see when speed-advancing the video, but other than that it looks fairly good.

    I tried the deck with video plugged directly into the TV, to take some of the digital stuff out of the equation, and get similar results.
    With direct video out, I can see the video not only with speed-advance and backup, but if I press "x2", "slow", or the mode that plays the video backwards.

    So any playback mode which tells the deck to play fast and loose with sync plays the video just fine; the only mode that doesn't work is normal playback with sound. (Which, of course, is the one I want.)

    I've turned digital noise reduction on and off, I've switch the tape detection back and forth from auto to hi8/video8 (to make sure it isn't confused that the tape is digital8), I've switched TBC (time based corrector) on/off, I've run out of interesting settings to twiddle.

    This is the manual for the PAL version of the deck, I've got the NTSC, but the controls are the same.

    http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/3064179521.pdf

    Anyway, I can find all sorts of ways to see tantalizing amounts of video from this tape, but I cannot figure out a way to capture it to digital video.

    Does anyone here have suggestions about what I might be able to do in order to get whatever is on this tape into DV?
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  2. is it possible that tape was recorded in lp mode and the others were sp?
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  3. Member
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    Search Comp PM
    "is it possible that tape was recorded in lp mode and the others were sp? "

    Good question.
    I don't think so.
    The deck indicates that it's trying to play it as sp,
    and when I play it in reverse x1, the motion looks the right speed (albeit backwards).

    Does video8 have sp/lp? Or did that only come later with hi8?
    hi8 lp gave you video8 tape duration instead of the shorter hi8 time, didn't it?
    I don't remember a setting for it on my old video8 camera, but I haven't seen the camera in years, so I could have just forgotten.
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  4. v8 had a decreased resolution lp mode i think. 240 minutes. i could be wrong...
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  5. Have you tried winded that tape all the way to end and back again - could be a tension thing.
    John Miller
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  6. Member
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    Search Comp PM
    I've been to the end of tape and rewound a few times and it's consistently bad, so I don't think it's a tension thing.

    After thinking about it further, LP mode sounds like the most likely explanation for my problem.

    I found the manual for the camera online and it did have an LP mode. I'm pretty sure I never selected it consciously, but it could have possibly gotten into that mode accidentally.

    They even warn you in the manual for both the camera and the deck that when recording in LP mode they don't guarantee that it will play back properly on another camera or player. Which really sounds like a mode I would never use on purpose.

    LP mode seems to always be an auto-detected mode. There is only a setting for *recording* in LP mode, there is no manual setting for playback in LP mode. If the camera had recorded an LP mode that the deck is unable to properly digest, that might explain my problem.

    So, unless someone else stops by with a better explanation, it sounds like my only hope might be if I could find the original camera, or at least one like it, and see if I can play it back on that.
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  7. Member 2Bdecided's Avatar
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    It probably is LP mode, but it's worth mentioning that almost any tracking-type problem can sometimes manifest itself this way: visual search works, normal play gives no picture.

    Cheers,
    David.
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  8. Member darkknight145's Avatar
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    as others have said, probably LP mode.
    Sony does indicate in the user manual that they cannot guarantee playback of a LP tape in a player other than the one it was recorded on
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  9. Member
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    Hi there,

    I have the same exact problem with all my 8mm tapes when trying to play them back on the Sony DCR-TRV320 digital 8 handycam. On playback all I see is a blue screen but when I forward and stop, for a micro-second I can see the footage clear as day. I know some digital 8 camcorders can't play back all 8mm tapes but I just wanted to ask if someone out there knows one that does. I'm desperate (I bought the TRV320 specifically to save my old 8mm tapes to a digital format )
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