Videos plays fine on camera, but stops when capturing

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Level 1

13 points

Videos plays fine on camera, but stops when capturing

Hello again folks, I have recorded about 18 minutes of talking to camera in a tuition situation and when I play it back on camera there is a small section that has got 'lost'*, but the following plays just fine for the rest of the video. When I capture that 18 mins clip, when it gets to the bit that's lost, it freezes for several minutes and the rest of the footage and the audio are totally out of sync.

* I assumed either the camera, a Panasonic NVGS330 mini DV machine, needed the heads cleaning, and I've bought and used a cleaning tape, and/or the tape itself has had too much use, and I need to get new tapes!

First question; is it possible to rescue the rest of the video, given I could do without the few seconds lost as seen on the camera? I'd like to use the rest if possible because its always hard to recreate the talk a second time...

Second question; is it likely to be either or both the heads or the tape? Cleaning the heads in itself didn't clear the problem.

Umpteen thanx as always...

Stephen

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5), Final Cut Express HD, Logic 8

Posted on Oct 31, 2012 9:02 AM

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Answer 1

Bousque Author

Level 1

13 points

Oct 31, 2012 9:55 AM in response to Bousque

I should probably add the following data;

- video is being saved to a separate internal hard drive, not the system disk, which has 870 GB free. Its is formatted as Extended (Journaled). The problem occurs at 4 minutes in.

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Answer 2

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

Oct 31, 2012 4:17 PM in response to Bousque

Sounds like a Timecode Break.

Always make sure the timecode is contigious or you will run into this type of trouble.

It's possible the tape itself has a large dropout on it, but unlikely.

Dirty heads, maybe. Head cleaning is something you do on set basis for tape machines in any case.

Timecode is the first thing to check.

Al

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Answer 3

Bousque Author

Level 1

13 points

Oct 31, 2012 4:35 PM in response to Alchroma

...timecode, is that something I can check while its still on the camera?

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Answer 4

Alchroma

Level 7

23,809 points

Oct 31, 2012 7:27 PM in response to Bousque

Yes.

Toggle the menu/Display so you can see the timecode display.

Look for a section that returns to 00:00:00:00 after it's been counting up, this is the most common form of timecode break.

On rare occasions you may have two numbers doubled up which also may get FCE in a twist.

Timecode breaks are usually caused by cueing and reviewing footage on the camera and not being aware of the consequences such as TC breaks.

Srtiping the tape with TC is one way to avoid problems. This means recording the whole tape with the lens cap on and audio to 0.

Al

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