I'm having some trouble capturing MiniDV footage to VHS.

[TrackingError]

Hello,

I have a project in mind which requires capturing MiniDV-sourced video footage to aged VHS tapes for purposes of degrading the MiniDV footage. I have been trying to accomplish this using an old JVC VCR I bought from my local secondhand shop, but I am doing something wrong - the VCR seems to be recording, but upon playing back the tape there is no video recorded, only blank space.

I have an A/V Out cable (which came with the MiniDV camcorder) plugged into the camcorder's A/V out port, and the RCA's at the other end to the VCR's Video In. The VCR did not come with a remote control, so I am unable to change the input - something some have suggested needs to be done. Is this a fatal issue?

I have taken a few photographs of the VCR, TV, ports and cables, in the hope that they will help in some way.








If any further information is needed, please ask and I will answer to the best of my abilities.

Thank you,

Lawrence

[yoda313]

The VCR did not come with a remote control, so I am unable to change the input - something some have suggested needs to be done. Is this a fatal issue?

99% of the time using the channel up and down button should get you to the input channel of the vcr. Its usually just below channel 1 on the vcr - ie channel 97, 98, 99, input, 1, 2, 3 etc. Not all are like that of course but a good number of them are. You should cycle through the channels on the vcr and you should hit the input channel. Take note if you are using the front or rear inputs. If its the front it might be input 1 or 2 and the rears will be the opposite naturally.

Just use any universal remote control you have laying around. Look online for the brand of the vcr and the brand of the universal remote for the manual and vcr codes. You will then be able to program the universal remote. Some have auto code search features but each does it there own way.

I don't recognize the cable you have in quadrant 1 square 1. Is that the connector to your camera?

Also I'm assuming you are using the rca yellow, white and red cables correct? Those are the ones to use unless you have a vcr with svideo in. However if you are trying to purposely degrade the quality of the video than use composite as that is lower quality than svideo.

Edit - This might be a time waster.

I would check this website for avisynth filters you could use on your dv-avi footage. Using virtualdub and the filters you might be able to acheive what you want to digitally with the original file. I'm not sure what they would be but I'm sure you could add noise and grain and scratches and the like digitally to alter the video without resorting to realtime capturing. You would have to recapture the vhs tape after the dub of course. But that would be another generational loss so that might be more beneficial to you in this experiment of yours. Just a thought though you should look for aging filters or other types to give a worn look to the video. There might be something there for you.

[TrackingError]

99% of the time using the channel up and down button should get you to the input channel of the vcr. Its usually just below channel 1 on the vcr - ie channel 97, 98, 99, input, 1, 2, 3 etc. Not all are like that of course but a good number of them are. You should cycle through the channels on the vcr and you should hit the input channel. Take note if you are using the front or rear inputs. If its the front it might be input 1 or 2 and the rears will be the opposite naturally.

Thank you SO MUCH! That solved it, and now it works. I LOVE YOU! haha, just kidding. Still... this makes it possible for me to finish a project I have had planned out for a long time now.

Yes, the cable you mentioned is the included camcorder A/V cable.

[yoda313]

Thank you SO MUCH! That solved it, and now it works. I LOVE YOU! haha, just kidding. Still... this makes it possible for me to finish a project I have had planned out for a long time now.

You are quite welcome.

Its nice to know mundane trivia like that is still useful for somebody out there

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You should check out to see if any of those filters I mentioned might make this project of yours possible in the digital domain.

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One other thing I thought of that might be beneficial to this project of yours:

Try endlessly recopying the tape. Just keep making copy after copy from the successive copy you made. That way you should throw in more and more degradation each time you dub. Don't dub from your original source but each new copy you make.

Ideally for a good project you would always use the original source to make a clean output. However since that isn't your goal here doing copies from copies would introduce quality loss quite easily. Only trouble of course is this is a realtime application. If this is a long video it will take a lot of time to do it this way.

Good luck.

Yes, the cable you mentioned is the included camcorder A/V cable.

Ahh a good guess then

[TrackingError]

You should check out to see if any of those filters I mentioned might make this project of yours possible in the digital domain.

Thank you very much for the suggestion, however I much prefer to do it using analog technology. Not that I am anti-NLE at all, however the effect I am looking for seems to be best achieved with a nice old=fashioned VCR or two.

Thanks, also, for your note regarding the endless-copy method. Generation loss is something I will most likely end up employing for this project. Luckily, if everything goes as planned, it will be a reasonably short video, (probably 15 minutes at most) so I will not have any problem with realtime copying.

Incidentally, I've spent the last few hours in lotus position before my TV and VCR, happily editing together interesting things onto old tapes I forgot I had.

Thank you very much, again, for your help. If my project turns out well, I will post a link to it here once I can get the appropriate hardware to digitize the tape.

[yoda313]

Not that I am anti-NLE at all,

Actually I think most of the filters I'm thinking about can be done with virtualdub and avisynth. It wouldn't really involve an editor per se. It would be file processing. Virtualdub is a video editor but it can be used as a gui for file processing situations.

Good luck with the process and I'm glad to throw in some ideas for you.

I'm sure others here on this website can also offer suggestions and tips if you come into some other problems or need to be pointed in a different direction.