Importing DV tape recorded in LP Mode

I copied a 1970's VHS tape to Mini DV in LP record mode. The Mini DV tape plays perfectly on the camcorder with rich colors, but the imported video in iMovie is jittery & the colors are washed out. The main issue is the video seems unsteady, like it's loosing some frames. Does it matter if imported video is recorded in SP or LP record mode?

iMac G5 20" 2GHz, 2GB Ram/400GB HD, iMac G4 15" 800MHz, Mac OS X (10.4.5), Airport Express, OWC 120GB FWHD, iLife 06, QT7 Pro, JBL Encounters

Posted on Apr 1, 2006 9:28 PM

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14 replies

Apr 2, 2006 3:11 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Hi Karsten - iMovie supports only SP, using LP results in ... jittery & the colors are washed out

That's what I've believed too, but see here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1968093&#1968093

in which is stated:
"I produce over 100 iMovies a year using LP recording mode so I can record for 1.5 hrs. The recorded sound is set at 16 BIT. 99% of my productions are speaker presentations with the camera aimed at the speaker at all times. (with extreme close ups at times)..."

He does extract the audio - maybe that's why it works OK for him? Any thoughts?
User uploaded file

Apr 2, 2006 4:14 AM in response to catspaw

Also, this from iMovie Help titled "My camcorder won't communicate with iMovie HD"
Check your camcorder's documentation to determine how to view and set the video recording quality. The quality levels are usually called "SP," "LP," "E-SP," and "E-LP." When you use your camcorder with iMovie HD, make sure the recording quality is set to SP, even if you recorded the video at a different quality level. SP and LP modes work well when you record video that you plan to import into iMovie HD. Before you record using other modes, you should try importing a sample recording first, to make sure it is compatible.

I re-recorded using the SP mode with the same results. On the camcorder, the video seems perfect. The video fills the whole screen. Imported into iMovie, it seems there's a little space at the top & bottom of the project window with some digital noise going on in that space. I know that doesn't explain it well, but the imported video is just not as smooth looking as it is on the camcorder.

Apr 2, 2006 4:33 AM in response to Joe Gramm

Hi Joe - thanks for your input, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean -

I re-recorded using the SP mode with the same results. On the camcorder, the video seems perfect. The video fills the whole screen. Imported into iMovie, it seems there's a little space at the top & bottom of the project window with some digital noise going on in that space. I know that doesn't explain it well, but the imported video is just not as smooth looking as it is on the camcorder.


I'm not quite clear on this - you seem to be saying that SP mode was not as smooth as LP, and that there's space top and bottom (and yet you say your re-recording had the same results). Also, I would have thought it would be the other way around.
Or do you mean that you originally recorded and imported it to iMovie in LP mode, and then re-entered it into iMovie with the camcorder set to SP?
Yup! Now I'm totally confused.

Could you elaborate a little?
User uploaded file

Apr 2, 2006 5:18 AM in response to catspaw

Hi catspaw & Karsten & thanks for the replies. I originally recorded about 80 minutes of VHS tape to Mini DV using the LP recording mode. Then after reading Karstens reply, I re-recorded from the VHS tape to Mini DV using the SP recording mode. Both methods produced imported video into iMovie that seems to have some digital noise at both the top & bottom of the project window. Also the video seems like it jumps around slightly. Almost like a slight live video stream effect. That's the best I can describe it. On the camcorder screen, it plays smoothly with no digital noise on the top & bottom. I haven't played the DV tape itself in the camcorder to the TV yet to see what that looks like. But as far as iMovie goes,I'm assuming that in general what I see in the project window will be on the finished DVD burn. So since iMovie appears to support both SP & LP, I'm wondering;

1) Would it make a difference if I used the pass through on the camcorder & imported directly from the VHS player to iMovie?
2) Is this just the result of taking a 30 year old analog recording & converting it to DV?

Apr 2, 2006 7:48 AM in response to Joe Gramm

concerning "garble" at top& bottom:

that is on your VHS, mostly with recordings from TV... you've never seen that, because a TV shows just the safety-area of a video, your Mac/iM shows fullscreen.

later, from DVD, again, that garble vanishes behind the borders of the telly..

there's a free crop-plug-in, but I'm not sure, it works with iM6:
http://www.imovieplugins.com
search for "crop"
a simliar effect can be accomplished with a slight "cinematize" effect in iM....

tht jumping around... no idea.
my guess, a pass-thru gives no better results....

your VHS will allways look better on TV, because a TV has a better "error correction" then a digitizer/digicorder....

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Importing DV tape recorded in LP Mode

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