Mini DV tape recorded with Cannon camera plays no audio on Sony camera

[dalitso]

I have this problem where when I get a mini DV tape recorded on a Cannon handy cam and play it on my Sony handy cam to capture to PC, there is no sound and sometimes it plays sound on and off.

I only own a Sony handy cam. Do I have to get the cannon handy cam that recorded the video, or theres another way around it?

[aedipuss]

check for a menu option to change the audio bitrate. canon usually defaults to 16 bit audio, some sonys to 12 bit. see if you can change it as they normally have options for either.

[Steve Stepoway]

Yeah, as aedipuss says, good chance it's a 12-bit/16-bit issue. Some capture apps don't like 12-bit audio. IIRC WinDV had problems with 12-bit audio under some conditions. I think I had to manually start playback on the camcorder before hitting the capture button in WinDV. If not, it didn't recognize the audio. Or so I recall from a few years ago.

[dalitso]

Thank you for your replies. You are right, its the 12bit, 16bit issue. When the tape plays, it shows 16bit on the camera's LCD. Unfortunately, I don't seem to find an option to change the audio in playback mode. The option is available in recording mode.

I have a Sony handy cam DCR-HC26

[aedipuss]

do as steve says. hook up the firewire connection, put the cam in play mode, start winDV, start playback with the play button on the cam, once the video starts then click the capture button in winDV. should be fine. the hc26 can record and playback 16 bit audio without any problem.

[dalitso]

WinDV is also recording cutting audio. I have audio recorded from a sound mixer (it ws a live event) and I also have 2 other camera recordings from different angles. I will sync this misbehaving video with the rest. It will take some effort but it will work. having proper sound could have made everything easy.

Thank you very much everyone. I am learning alot. Having learned the audio bitrate, I think if next time we change this Cannon's audio bitrate to match my Sony, then all will be well.

[edDV]

You should set all DV camcoders to 16bit/48KHz stereo to match DVD standard.

There are only a few obscure reasons to use 12bit/32KHz.