Capture problem with Canon ZR-50

[Mr. Orange Pants]

I recorded a wrestling event on Saturday, but used the super LP that a lot of Canon cameras come with. I assume it's a special way of compressing the video so you can end up with 3-4 hours of video on a minidv instead of using regular LP or other recording option. Now, when I try to capture, the computer doesn't recognize the video. I tried another tape recorded in LP and it worked fine.

Does anybody know how to get around this problem and capture this video? Is there a driver or software update I can get to bypass this, or do I need to do some weird runthrough to another camcorder or device to get this going? I know I could use s-video or rca, but I'd rather still capture through firewire for the better quality.

More info I realized I should include:
Capturing on Windows XP with Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5
Capturing through firewire pcmcia card
Camera is a Canon ZR50MC

My apologies, I realized this is probably in the wrong forum.

[thecoalman]

I've never used that mode on my cam so I went " hunting" for you because I was interested in what the differences were betwen SP and LP. I guess this provides the best desription. I think the most important thing here is the last sentence. http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/archive/index.php/t-7601.html

I'd say you have been misled mainly by inference. DV is DV. The '1's and '0's get written the same whether you use SP or LP recording mode.

Ah, but there are are two big caveats. When recording in LP mode the tape is moving past the camera's heads much more slowly. That means that the manufacturing quality and condition of every square millimeter of that tape becomes much more important for preserving the recording. Nearly any defect, however small, will likely cause a drop-out in video or audio or both.

The second caveat is replayability. LP mode's replay tolerance for slight head alignment and tape speed differences between tape transports is nearly nil. That means that you may have trouble playing back an LP tape in a different camera (even the same model) or a deck. It will just appear as jibberish.

In summary, the record-time benefits of LP mode are just not worth the risk. You may initially have no trouble...but when it strikes (and strike it probably will) it will inevitably be on a tape that cannot be recreated. Tape is cheap.

[Mr. Orange Pants]

Yeah, I've run into that. The tape obviously doesn't play in any other type of camcorder unless it's a Canon with the ability to record in that mode. I may just have to do some weird run through of another camcorder or some other wackiness. I hope I don't have to settle for capturing in s-video.

Canon themselves so far have been no help. They just sent me a form letter on how to hook up to firewire.

I appreciate you looking into it. Thanks.

[thecoalman]

Yeah, I've run into that. The tape obviously doesn't play in any other type of camcorder unless it's a Canon with the ability to record in that mode. I may just have to do some weird run through of another camcorder or some other wackiness. I hope I don't have to settle for capturing in s-video.

Canon themselves so far have been no help. They just sent me a form letter on how to hook up to firewire.

I appreciate you looking into it. Thanks.

It even reccomends in the manual not to use anything but SP for transfer to computer.... p.22

[Mr. Orange Pants]

I've used LP with no problem. I've done that to record a hard camera and mobile camera, then edit them together. I captured with Premiere fine. I have a feeling I'll just be capturing in s-video this time and not use the Canon extended recording modes if I ever plan to capture again.