Camcorder noise

[nlec]

I'm trying to capture some family video from an old Sony Handycam (Video 8 = 8 mm) camcorder. The camcorder is the same one that was used to record the tapes originally about 15 years ago. I see a lot of noise in the video, and was wondering if it's due to (a) dirty video heads in the camcorder, or (b) tape deterioration. I uploaded some sample capture frames if anyone would like to take a look and offer their opinion or suggestions on how to deal with this problem. I tried running a brand new head-cleaner tape through the camera but it didn't do anything to clear up the problem.

I see the same flickering horizontal white lines in all my old 8mm tapes. I'm going to purchase a new 8mm tape and record on it to see how it records and plays back with a new tape. The camera hasn't been used in about 10 years, but it has always been stored in a Sony hard-sided case. There was no dust at all in or on the camera when I took it out of its case recently.

[Cornucopia]

I would say it's A or B or both, or it could have had dirty heads at the time of recording and so recorded it that way, and now it's just playing them back as-is (dirty heads or no).
Have you tried someone else's camcorder for comparison?

If nothing else works, capture them and process (filter) through AVISYnth/Virtualdub.

Scott

[nlec]

Would the ability to record and play back clean video on a new tape help to narrow it down? I remember watching these tapes some years back and this noise wasn't there. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who still has an 8mm camcorder, and I hate to have to buy one. I suppose it comes down to how much I value the content on the tapes. OTOH if the problem is the tapes themselves then that would be a complete waste of money.

I'm familiar with Avisynth and VirtualDub, but no so much with available filters. Which one(s) would handle this kind of noise?

[Cornucopia]

Sounds to me like it's the camcorder (NOW). Even sitting around in good conditions, camcorders can deteriorate (they have rubber pieces like capstans, etc)

You may ? want to consider a Digital8 camcorder as most of those are backward-compatible with both Regular8 and Hi8 playback. Plus you'd have firewire input, a digital camera, and possibly Analog Passthrough for any VHS tapes you might have.
Normally, I don't recommend D8 in favor of standard DV tapes, but yours is a special case.

AFA filters, there are "temporal smoothing" filters. Don't remember offhand what they're called. there is a variety. Try 'em out and see...
On a 10 sec. clip, you could try a whole lot of em (even with different settings) without spending too much time or using too much space.

Scott

[nlec]

Thanks. Something else I'm interested in is analog passthrough to DV since I also have a ton of old VHS tapes that also need converting. Right now I'm sending the composite output of the camcorder through a Panny DVDR and feeding the s-video output of that into my capture card.

I just found a local store that has a 3-pack of 8mm tapes for less than $10 so I'll be trying that out tonight.