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Capturing Hi8 video tape into iMovie

I'm capturing lots of old Hi8 video tapes onto my Mac via iMovie. Using a Sony DCR TRV310 camcorder connected from DV Out to Firewire on the Mac.


This method has worked well for some of the tapes, but others have suffered from audio/video noise on the captured clips after a few minutes of successful capture. The corrupted clips show clumps of coloured pixellation, sometimes with video showing through in vertical bands, and sometimes audio breaking through the static noise.

The preview in iMovie and on the camcorder screen shows perfect audio/video as it captures but the actual clip is corrupted. I start the capture process at the beginning of the tape and leave it running for the 90 minutes duration of the tape - so no interruptions that might cause an issue.

I tried re-capturing a tape that had the problem but the issue repeated.


Any thoughts on what the problem / cure might be?


regards

Peter

Posted on Mar 2, 2022 7:34 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 2, 2022 8:58 AM

In QTP FILE> NEW MOVIE RECORDING

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/quicktime-player/qtp356b55534/mac

See section 2 regarding connecting external camera.and ensure you also select the audio ( microphone) from the camcorder.Also note quality settings,

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11 replies

Mar 2, 2022 7:58 AM in response to PeterAlanF

Old tapes that have been stored for a long time can get corrupted. Or perhaps the issue is with the camera or the cables. Also, if the Sony camcorder is different than the camcorder that was used to record the tapes, sometimes that can cause problems. Perhaps you can run a head cleaner through the camcorder and see if that improves the quality. Or try importing with a different camcorder. Check to see that your cable connections are tight. Or, you might swap out the cables for new ones.


-- Rich






Mar 2, 2022 8:09 AM in response to Rich839

Thanks for the reply Rich.

I do use a head cleaner from time to time; although I can see on the preview screens in iMovie and on the camcorder when the quality drops, which prompts me to clean it.

Your other suggestions seem valid, but I've proven the capture process works fine with this method on several tapes. If the DV out signal is being corrupted going into the Mac then I'd expect to see this on the iMovie preview screen - but this always shows good quality. Very odd!


regards

Peter

Mar 2, 2022 8:22 AM in response to PeterAlanF

Can you clarify a few points first ?

The TRV310 ( as you well know but others reading this may not ) is a Digital8 camcorder.

A Digital8 camcorder can use either Hi8 tapes or Digital8 tapes as they are the same product but labeled differently so as not to confuse the purchaser.

Therefore a Hi8 tape can have analog video on it that has been recorded by a Hi8 analog camcorder or have digital video on it that has been recorded by a Digital8 camcorder.

Finally your Digital8 camcorder has the ability to play back a Hi8 analog tape and transfer it to digital DV ( .dv ) output from the FireWire port of your camcorder.

So the question is, have your Hi8 tapes been recorded on another Hi8 camcorder and you are using the TRV 310 to transfer to digital or were they originally recorded on the TRV310 Digital8 camcorder that you have?

I have laboured the point in order for others to follow.

You could try capturing with QuickTime player but from what you describe is happening above I am not convinced it would be any different but might be worth a try.

Mar 2, 2022 10:44 AM in response to PeterAlanF

Sometimes the hardware/software just won't give you what you want, so possibly a workaround is necessary.


Since the footage plays fine in iMovie, try playing your iMovie project at full screen and take a screen recording of it with Command-Shift-5. You will get a screen recording video on your desktop, with audio, . If the screen recording audio sounds a bit tinney, import the screen recording into a new iMovie project. Then go back to your original project and do a Modify/Detach Audio. That should leave you with a good audio clip that you can Select/Copy, Edit/Paste, into the new iMovie project that contains the screen recording. Then mute the audio in the screen recording clip, and substitute the detached audio clip. Then export out.


-- Rich





Mar 3, 2022 8:53 AM in response to PeterAlanF

QT definitely is good for screen recording. Lately, I have been using Command-Shift-5 because of the Options feature. I use the Timer feature to delay start of recording for 5 seconds so I can fiddle with the source video and sync the recording with the start of the playback.


We'll outsmart the software yet! Let us know how it worked.


-- Rich

Capturing Hi8 video tape into iMovie

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