How to fix this video?

[Gargantua]

Hello all,

I am currently in the process of capturing and converting some 10-year old Video8 tapes to digital format. All tapes were recorded in PAL video standard. I'm playing them back on the same Sony Handycam camcorder they were originally recorded.
One of the tapes exhibits the following problem:

Notice ugly black horizontal lines starting in the areas of high contrast and following in the right direction. I've also captured short clip to demonstrate the problem in motion (MPEG2):
http://home.comcast.net/~maxaggg/Movie-0010-1.mpg

Interestingly, another recording had been made continuing the same tape on the same camcorder after two years from the date of the first clip. This newer footage doesn't suffer from such errors.

Full frame TBC (AVT-8710) didn't eliminate those errors. Is there anything I can do to get rid of those flicking black lines on this video?

[anitract]

Have you tried using another camcorder?

[unclebud]

It looks like dropouts on the tape, not much you can do except try cleaning the heads on the playback machine and try again.
If you try using filters in an NLE you might alter the appearance but it probably will not look any better.

[BJ_M]

a film restoration system will fix it up a lot better ..

here is a quick pass through such a system - including some color restoration ...

if i tweaked it a lot more and hand worked it --- i could make it look a lot better (basically almost frame by frame in some cases) - in fact i can restore some really bad looking film stock (or video) ...

downside - it is $20,000 worth of software used ...

BUT - i bet some work with just avisynth could yield some decent results ..

clean111b.avi





snapshot
:

[BrainStorm69]

Yeah, only it looks to me like the recording camcorder had the dirty heads. And nothing's really going to fix that except perhaps (and only perhaps) a TBC with dropout compensation.

[MOVIEGEEK]

a film restoration system will fix it up a lot better ..
................
downside - it is $20,000 worth of software used ...

Can I pick it up on eBay for $100? :P

[Megahurts]

It looks like and excessive use of a head cleaning tape (causing worn heads) or you're playing back a HI8 recording tape on a standard 8 camcorder.

Looking at the Mpeg in VirtualDub (deinterlace/display field 1 or 2), both fields are distorted the same. This would indicate both video heads are worn equally but you said the remainder of the tape looked fine which would mean the heads are good.

Worn heads don't get better and cloged heads don't clog equally.

Is this a HI8 tape? Are you sure this recording was recorded on the same camcorder?

Chas

[BJ_M]

in a couple years -- just like all the 20k-200k sgi on there now for less than 10k (or a LOT less)

[lordsmurf]

Those do not look like drop-outs to me.

Have you ever tried to play an S-VHS-ET tape in a VHS player with SQPB? That's the same sort of error. The player is not correctly reading the data on the tape.

[Gargantua]

It looks like and excessive use of a head cleaning tape (causing worn heads) or you're playing back a HI8 recording tape on a standard 8 camcorder.

No, I've never done any head cleaning on this camcorder. The camcorder is a standard Video8 Sony CCD TR590E PAL model, which was gently used. I think it had recorded no more than a dozen tapes in its life.

But you are quite right about that particular tape - it is indeed a Hi8 tape. I am playing it back in the same Video8 camcorder which was used to record it. Do you think that Hi8 machine will perhaps playback it better?

[thecoalman]

Do you think that Hi8 machine will perhaps playback it better?

It can't get worse.... :P

BTW BJM that is quite impressive....

[SatStorm]

BJ_M, what you used?

[edDV]

Looks like dirty or worn heads to me.

Best way to tell is to play the tape on a different player. If the problems follow the tape, it may have been dubbed that way or is caused by dropouts (i.e. deteriorating magnetic layer on the tape). Dropouts usually don't smear to the right like that.

These seem to start on an edge (light to dark, or dark to light).

[Gargantua]

Happy ending of the story...those of you who suggested trying another playback machine were quite right!

I've purchased standalone Sony HI8 EV-C500E player/recorder on eBay. Never thought it would cost me so much. Boy, such devices are hard to find (especially PAL units) and they are still expensive these days.

But it made a whole lot of a difference playing back my problematic tapes. No more ugly smearing in high contrast areas. I noticed an improvement of picture quality in almost every aspect. I am going to recapture all my old camcorder recordings again for better results.

Thanks everybody

[thecoalman]

Happy ending of the story...

Did you do a dance? I would have.

Glad it worked out for you.

[swiego]

Excellent! I have an EV-S7000 and have been all but stunned at how much detail it can pull out of my Video8 and Hi8 tapes. The output is practically artifact-free.

[anitract]

Hey, can we see an "after" screen cap? Prettttyyy pleeeaasseee?

[Gargantua]

Hey, can we see an "after" screen cap? Prettttyyy pleeeaasseee?

Certainly. Will post as soon as I get my capture device back from service repair