miniDV tapes recorded settings conflicting with playback

[wixmmm]

I recorded a bunch of stuff on Radioshack brand 60/90 and 90/120 (used in random order) minute tapes on 2 different XL-1s cameras. Now I am playing back those tapes in a consumer Sony mini-dv camera and i have a feeling that one of the cameras was set for wrong playback speed settings or something, because one 60/90 and one 90/120 tape are playing back with sporadic playback....

some intervals will play smooth and then others will 'digitally skip' in fast foward--like, the timecode will be ticking a normal second count, but the action on the tape is going faster than realtime--skipping to keep up with the timecode, it seems.

I need to get these tapes playing back normal and am uncertain if i will have time to get another minidv camera to try. Is there ANY software anyone knows of that possibly might let me override the dv playback speed, so i can get these tapes to play smoothly?

I know how to use, I am or have tried to use::

any dv codecs that would help (decode?)
Adobe Premiere Pro 6.5
VirtualDub
WinDV

Specific settings of those programs, however, i don't know much at all about (save Premiere, which i am very familiar with.)


Thanks alot for any tips you might thing are worth a try,
Mike

[wixmmm]

rephrasing of what i think is my new understanding, after reading around...

so it seems that when you transfer DV it isn't 'capturing' because you're just getting data off a tape, right? that means, in theory, if my problem is just a playback problem, i SHOULD be able to find some type of program to use at some point to get this video in some form where it doesn't give me skipping and artifacts, and does give me smooth video and clean audio.... because the camera's settings don't matter at all because the information is on the tape and transfers the zeros and the ones and nothing else, right?


so, if this understanding is correct can anyone point me in the same direction?

and there's also some type 1 and type 2 and conversion from 1 to 2 in virtualdub (how? would it help?)

thanks again
mike

[wixmmm]

also: it skips on the camera, and on the computer, the same way.


but remember i reccorded on an XL1s and am using a Sony HC30 (consumer) to capture...

but, as i said above, it shouldn't matter....right????

(i don't know anything, i'm just stating what i understand as fact so peopel can point out where i'm wrong)

thanks
mike

[thecoalman]

Just a guess but it sounds like you have tapes with mixed recording speeds, that or tehy were recorded in LP mode and the Sony is having trouble reading them. There are selections for SP on LP on most cams, the quality is identical but LP tapes can become unreadable especially if you try playing them back on a different machine than the one they were recorded on. Try fast forwarding the tape to a point where the speed changes and begin recording from there..... you may have to do that for each segment where the speed changes if you have a mixed speed tape.

Type 1 and 2 are nearly identical, the only difference is the way the audio is stored. Some software only excepts one type or the other.

[wixmmm]

thanks for the tip, and i can feel progress being made, however

the speed changes every single time i fast foward and rewind --- it skips in a new place each time!

this is driving me absolutely nuts because it is basically telling me: you have the video i'm just not gonna give it to you.

using that method you gave me works, but only for 5-10 seconds (if i'm lucky) at a time, so isn't gonna be practical--it just changes/screws up another part of the tape.

Bottom line:

I need some way to tell this camera to play the tape at 1 speed (The speed its at when i press play from a part that i've gotten to play smooth.)

please, i am leaving the state on wednesday morning and NEED to have this done.... i'm going away to school and i've been patiently waiting for responses for the past two days... i KNOW there is some one out there that can tell me what

program
and
setting

i can use to get this to work.

Thanks alot.
MIke

going insane.

[takeshi]

Best bet is to get a hold of an XL-1s for playback. And don't use LP in the future.