Squares & Lines On MiniDV Recording

[SaintDude]

Hello, I'm new there, I have a Panasonic Palmcorder PV-GS300 and I had an issues with miniDV tapes playback/recording. Color squares or artifacts can show up in the beginning or in the end of the tape but in the middle of the tape all good, and sad thing that I'm loosing a recordings in the beginning and in the end of the tapes which I'm unable to restore. I will attach some footage so you can see what I'm talking about.

Thanks in advance.

[rrats]

Bad tape head probably

[DB83]

What are you using to transfer the tapes to a PC ?


TBH I do not recall ever seeing 'Bottom field only' (which suggests that a whole field is missing) in a DV avi

[SaintDude]

What are you using to transfer the tapes to a PC ?


TBH I do not recall ever seeing 'Bottom field only' (which suggests that a whole field is missing) in a DV avi

USB Type-B Mini and WinDV software

[SaintDude]

Forgot to mention when I play those recording those glitches still appear on my camcorder screen

[DB83]

You forgot to mention the most important. if it is on the camera, it is on the tape. Nothing can be done unless you can fix the issue on the camera.


And the 2nd most important is the method of transfer. I am amazed that WinDV even recognized the source/camcorder.

[SaintDude]

Do you mean that there is an issue with my cam? So you should find and fix that?

[DB83]

Well you can do some testing to eliminate the camera or the tape.


Record footage to, preferably, a new tape and see if the issue is still there with playback within the camera.


As for transfer to a PC I still do not understand how you can possibly use WinDV and a usb cable. The standard method of transfer is with a firewire cable and an IEEE 1394 interface on your PC. There may be issues with this under Win10 but there are fixes.


Page 49 of the manual also states:


≥If a picture containing a copyright protection






signal (copy guard) is recorded by the


Camcorder, the picture is distorted by mosaiclike


patterns at playback.


So I also ask did you film to tape or attempt to use the camera to record from VHS ?

[SaintDude]

I've tried film to tape and attempt to use the camera to record from VHS

[DB83]

Same issue with both ?

[DB83]

Let me clarify. If the issue is just with VHS then it could be a copy-protection as noted in the manual.


If the issue is with a record to tape 'Live' then the camera is at fault. See reply #2

[aedipuss]

usb transfer is most likely the cause of the problem.

even though there were a couple panasonic minidv cams that came with special usb drivers that were supposed to allow dv over usb transfer, usb is too slow and can't keep up with the 25mbs data rate.

use the standard dv transfer method. firewire is all that works reliably.

[DB83]

^^ Those drivers, certainly for this model, are pre Win7


Just a little confused. The OP states that he sees these artefacts in the camera as well. He needs to confirm once and for all that he is not viewing this during transfer.


The manual is also quite confusing. Maybe that usb cable should also not be plugged in to the camera when recording/viewing.

[aedipuss]

drivers were for winXP iirc. without the drivers installed, no way to capture dv over usb even if winDV "sees" the cam.

[Skiller]

If the squares do show up in the camcorder's viewfinder or LCD, you should use a tape head cleaning cassette. It may be just clogged heads.

Furthermore, it's usually best to playback using the same camcorder that made the recording, if by any means possible.

[SaintDude]

^^ Those drivers, certainly for this model, are pre Win7


Just a little confused. The OP states that he sees these artefacts in the camera as well. He needs to confirm once and for all that he is not viewing this during transfer.


The manual is also quite confusing. Maybe that usb cable should also not be plugged in to the camera when recording/viewing.

I should watch the video on my tape in order to record it to my pc

[SaintDude]

If the squares do show up in the camcorder's viewfinder or LCD, you should use a tape head cleaning cassette. It may be just clogged heads.

Furthermore, it's usually best to playback using the same camcorder that made the recording, if by any means possible.

I've cleaned it 5 times with cleaning tape that came up with the packaging, also going to buy new blank tape soon to check if it's a camera fault or the tape ones

[DB83]

^^ Those drivers, certainly for this model, are pre Win7


Just a little confused. The OP states that he sees these artefacts in the camera as well. He needs to confirm once and for all that he is not viewing this during transfer.


The manual is also quite confusing. Maybe that usb cable should also not be plugged in to the camera when recording/viewing.

I should watch the video on my tape in order to record it to my pc

So I take it, since even your answers are not the clearest, that you do watch through the viewfinder as you transfer to the PC.


If you were doing this by proper, accepted, methods, WinDV provides a playback/preview window. And if it does not see the video in this window I still question how you manage to transfer the video. But, again, the transfer is not correct since you should have two interlaced fields not one.


If you are not prepared to accept that transfer by usb is not the way to do this then how can we help. By all means get a new tape but the basic issues will still be there even if it plays back correctly in the viewfinder.

[dellsam34]

Most miniDV camcorders equipped with USB port it is used for transferring still pictures or using the camcorder as a webcam, there are exceptions where the computer driver supplied with the camcorder on a CD can emulate a DV port and WinDV can see the camcorder as a DV device, Pinnacle did this with some of their capture devices, The only limitation will be that you can print to tape DV files with a firewire cable but you cannot do so with a USB cable except that Pinnacle allowed it in their devices.

But none of this matters since the OP's problem is the camcorder itself, If you see the artifacts in the viewfinder it is the camcorder, period.