Capturing through dv-cam results in black and white

[lundoeer]

I bought a canon mvx 25i (optura 40 - I think) dv-cam recently and have begun capturing my old (5-10 years) video8 recordings using the analog in-dv out feature. My problem is that every now and the colors disappear for a short moment (and for slightly longer periods when the picture is changing rapidly. I find it quite disturbing when watching. Being new to this I don't know what can be expected - at first I thought my dv-cam was broke or of poor quality (which I think it shouldn't be...) but looking thrugh quite a lot of other post on capturing I have realised that my expectations may just have been too high. Which is the case???

Is it possible at all to capture from vhs (copied from my video8 - old edited movies) and get anything worth watching? (I think I will give it a try, but I don't have a vhs at the moment)

Thanks for all the valuable info I have already picked up! If this color issue has already been discussed I apologize, but I have gone through quite some post without finding anything.

Peter

[thecoalman]

Do you have a screen shot..... Does it go totally blank or just get washed out? And by picture changing do you mean between scenes?

[lundoeer]

Thanks for replying! Here is a screenshot: It's not the picture quality that's the problem only the missing colors. The colors disappear for a couple of frames and return, and it happens every 1-10 minutes (depending on the quality and age of the source, I suppose). By picture changing I mean when moving the camera around while recording(or when for some reason what's being filmed is moving fast) and not a change of scenes.

[lundoeer]

This is what the frame just before looks like: - I couldn't figure out how to put two pictures in the same post.

[thecoalman]

Is it possible at all to capture from VHS (copied from my video8 - old edited movies) and get anything worth watching? (I think I will give it a try, but I don't have a vhs at the moment)

Well to answer this yes it's well worth it. Converting through a DV cam is about the easiest method, good quality, and the least hassle.

To answer the video problem, I really don't know. Now that you have some images up there it gives a better idea and possibly someone else will stumble across it. Have you tried different tapes? Do they all do it or just this particular one?

BTW to insert multiple images you insert one and submit it. Once posted hit the edit button and submit it again.

Edit: The following is pure speculation, take for what it's worth.

What that sounds like to me is vaguely familiar to a false Macrovision signal, It may even be something similar such as the DV cam not getting a good enough signal. MV is for protecting copyrighted material. Sometimes with older analog tapes you errors or weak signals and these are interpreted by the capture device as MV giving you screwed up video.

The reason I say vague is because usually the video is complete trash and unusable. You on the other hand have usable but B&W. The other thing to note is when your trying to capture a tape that is having these issues you get the same results you do where it's intermittent. Might get 5 minutes of great video maybe only 1 minute before it pops up and goes away.

Again that's pure speculation though, I really don't know.

For small errors like this usually a device like the ones Sima makes will work. If you want to go overboard and really improve your captures overall many use the Datavideo TBC-1000.... It's expensive though.

I'd try some different things though. Borrow a VCR and try some VHS tapes to see if the same thing happens. You need to try and narrow down what the cause is.

[lundoeer]

It happens for all the tapes I have captured so far (but to a different extent), which is why I thought my dv-cam may be the problem. Except for this color issue i'm happy with the results and as you said it is very easy and hassle free.

I'm capturing in windows movie maker, but as far as I have understood movie maker does nothing when "capturing" dv-avi it just recieves the video from my dv-cam which is responsible for any conversion going on. In which case using some other capture software wouldn't make a change...Isn't that how it works?

Thanks for the help, I will try to borrow a vhs to see how that turns out.

[thecoalman]

...Isn't that how it works?

For the most part yes.

I will try to borrow a vhs to see how that turns out.

Probably a good idea, at least you can eleiminate the DV cam if it works. While your at it pop in a commercial VHS tape and see how the cam reacts to it.