Older VHS-C to MiniDV captures (issues during fast movement)

[KoolKiller85]

Hello,

I have an issue with DV footage and am not sure how to proceed.

The problem concerns VHS-C tapes that I recorded directly onto my MiniDV camera around 15 years ago. At the time I just used component input, but it still looks much better than the actual VHS-C footage at this point in time, so I'd like to work with it.

Unfortunately, during fast movements (mostly pans) the video glitches/destabilizes for a moment. It's even visible on the camera display (but as a sidenote: I transferred the tapes to dv1-files using dvgrab and the issue was retained).

Any idea what could cause this? Both cameras are PAL, so it's probably not a framerate difference. Maybe an internal image stabilizer on the MiniDV camera (though I wouldn't have thought that this would be turned on with external video input)?

If I can recover most of the original VHS-C tapes, I'd consider the idea of using a few frames from them during affected sequences, but that might be a gigantic chore.

[JVRaines]

Capturing the original MiniDV cassettes to your computer will provide a superior result. What you are doing now is Digital►Analog►Analog►Digital when it could be just Digital►Digital.

Please post a sample of the glitch.

[KoolKiller85]

Capturing the original MiniDV cassettes to your computer will provide a superior result. What you are doing now is Digital►Analog►Analog►Digital when it could be just Digital►Digital.

I captured them via Firewire and dvgrab (the standard Linux program). No analogue conversion in-between. So it really must have happened while transferring the VHS-C tapes to MiniDV.

Please post a sample of the glitch.

I'll get to it later in the day, thanks for taking a look!

[JVRaines]

I captured them via Firewire and dvgrab (the standard Linux program). No analogue conversion in-between. So it really must have happened while transferring the VHS-C tapes to MiniDV.

My mistake; I misread your post. I'd still recommend converting the source tapes to a lossless format rather than compressed DV.

[KoolKiller85]

I captured them via Firewire and dvgrab (the standard Linux program). No analogue conversion in-between. So it really must have happened while transferring the VHS-C tapes to MiniDV.

My mistake; I misread your post. I'd still recommend converting the source tapes to a lossless format rather than compressed DV.

Yes, that would be better (although the few tapes I could find look considerably worse now than the dv recordings from 15 years ago). Unfortunately, most of them seem to be lost and my budget can't justify high-end equipment or a professional service. My only other means would be a subpar VCR and an ancient DVD/HDD-recorder.

[dellsam34]

I second that. Capturing the original VHS-C tapes will give you better quality, Even though DV smoothed out some noise but that doesn't mean DV tapes are better than the original source. Good luck.

[jagabo]

during fast movements (mostly pans) the video glitches/destabilizes for a moment. It's even visible on the camera display (but as a sidenote: I transferred the tapes to dv1-files using dvgrab and the issue was retained).

I suspect the problem is on the tape. Camera motion while shooting caused the helical scan drum speed to vary. So the sync timing is off, causing problems during playback/capture. A good time base corrector, like an old Panasonic DVD recorder, may be able to fix it.

[lordsmurf]

although the few tapes I could find look considerably worse now

I doubt that. DV may have glossed over some errors, but the real issue is getting a proper lossless conversion. Quality VCRs and TBCs must be used.