Footage in the void?

[Beppiekraft]

MiniDV timecode corrupted?

I recently bought a Canon GL1 with some new tapes, it's my first time shooting on a digital camcorder (miniDV), but I have some experience on VHS and Video8. Well the first day off shooting went great, I was new to the timecode thing and saw sometimes the tapes had problems with finding it or something?? But with some fiddling around it worked and I shot on two tapes and recorded it perfectly on my Mac via FireWire. Now a week later I wanted to shoot something again, I rewinded one of the two tapes and started recording, and it recorded. But I saw the timecode running but whenever I stopped the recording it started it again it would reset to 00:00:00 and record from there on again. While I don't have much experience I just took it for granted because everything seemed to work. So when I decided to digitalise it today, I rewinded the tape and played it, it was a blue screen with no timecode, I tried to put it somewhere in the middle but still a blue screen with no timecode. After I put in another tape (I thought it would reset the timecode) and put it back in, it suddenly played, but it literally played the old recordings Im so confused as what happened, did it never record in the first place, was it something with the timecode. How can I fix this in the future and is my footage gone forever? I hope someone can at least make me understand this better.

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PS: Also every time I changed the battery something would happen to the timecode but also resetsome settings??

[dellsam34]

Time counter starts from 0 every time you remove the tape from the camcorder or you remove the battery, that's at least for most camcorders and VCRs, The blue screen could be just the heads got dirty and needed cleaning, putting another tape may have helped clean the heads. Now to why the old recordings are still there? I can think of one reason, You may not have rewound the tape all they way to the beginning, just to the start of the last recording, Some camcorders do have this feature to avoid erasing previous recordings, I'd suggest downloading the manual and spend some time reading it to familiarize yourself with how that camcorder work.

[Beppiekraft]

Is it necessarily a bad thing that the time counter resets? I may have rewinded the tape all the way to the beginning even before the timecode started (I remember vaguely) could this have been the problem? And what about the new footage is it lost forever or is it somewhere ‘there’, if you were to assume. Its weird cause the camera recorded and the tape did too..

[dellsam34]

You may not have pressed the record button, I don't know, I don't have the tape in front of me so I can't guess.

[Alwyn]

On the advice of someone many many years ago, every new video tape I used I "striped" first: I did one initial recording, pointing at the wall, from start to finish to ensure there were no breaks in the tape's timecode. You then didn't have to worry about where you were starting the recording because the timecode was already there and there wouldn't be any breaks. And you always knew, exactly, where you were on the tape.

Obviously, you had to make sure you weren't recording over a previous wanted recording.

[Bwaak]

AFAIK, striping DV tape is pointless, as the camcorder re-records timecode when it records. Striping only is helpful for insert editing on decks that support it, that is, they can insert a video segment into an existing recording without re-recording timecode. AFAIK, consumer-grade camcorders cannot do proper insert edit. If the tape has not been removed or winded beyond the recorded segment, the camcorder should pick up the current timecode from the prior recording.

[Beppiekraft]

Yes cuz the tape was fully recorded on, and the timecode was full aswell except some at the beginning or ending. Maybe this was my fault that I rewinded it before the timecode began (even some seconds). Idk what it has to do this, and Im just curious where the new footage went, I started and stopped recording multiple times so it was not that I ‘forgot’. Its kinda annoying cause even if miniDV is more stable (when there is footageh then something like Video8, its weakness seems that its depended on some digital things that can mess up

[Alwyn]

If the tape has not been removed or winded beyond the recorded segment, the camcorder should pick up the current timecode from the prior recording.

That's the point. If this is done, no problem. If it is not done, you have a blank section of tape with no timecode.