Capture problems HI8 analog to PC vi Terratec TV-card - Jitters ?

[gambla]

Hi there,
i'm aware that there might be a solution already in the forum, but as i don't know the right keywords and english is not my native language, i kindly ask for your help to get the problem to the point first.

My Sony CCD TR810-Camcorder (Hi8 analog) is connected to my Terratec Cinergy XS (dual), and capturing newer tapes works fine. But older ones show heavy shaking of the picture (vertically) in the "cam-view" and on the preview of the capture-software too. So i don't know if this is called "jitters" or "dropouts" or whatever ?
The internal "TBC" of the camcorder doesn't solve it. If it's "on", the picture is mostly stable in the cam-view but shaky on PC-screen, only on "off" i get sometimes a usable movie capture eventually.

my questions are:

1) What is the right expression for this problem ?

2) Any solution without buying expensive hardware ?

3) Is it true that later Digital8-Camcorders can correct this ?


thank you all for your help in advance...

kind regards
gambla

[guns1inger]

It sounds more like the older tapes or either damaged, or not tracking correctly. A TBC won't fix either of those problems.

Have you checked the actual tape itself ?
Were the older tapes recorded on the same camera ?

[gambla]

Yes, think you're right. The tapes are from a friend, and it was recorded on his (now broken) camera. And some are about ten years old. What i've learned is that maybe the "metal-cover" of the tape is damaged meanwhile.

What do you mean by "checked the tape" ? Do you mean if i've checked them playing in my camcorder ? Yes i did.

[guns1inger]

You should be able to raise (carefully) the panel that covers the tape down one side of the cassette. If the tape is creased or crinkled you will get playback issues.

I suspect, however, that the problem is far simpler. Different cameras have slightly different alignments, and these can shift over time. This means that tapes recorded in one camera may playback perfectly in that camera, but not playback correctly in another simply because the tape does not pass over the heads in the same manner. If the difference in tolerance is small then the tracking controls may be able to compensate for it and playback is OK. However if the difference is too large, tracking simply cannot adjust the mechanism enough to fix the problem.

I don't know of a simple solution other than to try other cameras and hope you find one close enough to his old one to be able to play these tapes back.

[gambla]

Ok, thank you. I'll give it a try on another camera sometime, and maybe i can try a Digital8 too.

Is there any chance to correct this by demuxing/remuxing and adding a special filter ?

[guns1inger]

Nope. This is hardware problem that requires a hardware solution.