Capturing continuous HDV over timecode breaks

There are three options in the general preferences for on timecode break.

make new clip

this could give you 50 clips if you have 50 TC breaks in a two minute video.

abort capture

not really an option if you know you have TC breaks

warn after capture

most likely the best option presuming you cannot involve other equipment/dub to another tape/or have access/money for other options.

Dropped frames usually means the drives or machine can't keep up. It most likely has nothing to do with TC breaks.

Do you have access to the camera it was shot on or the same model?

I would try capturing from a camera.

You can often see this on tape that's been recycled. That's not the case is it?

Darby's right, dub the tape to another deck. Be sure to start the recording deck first so that you generate new timecode.

You could try capturing with a video card like an aja or decklink rather than via firewire. Some people say the quality is slightly better (doesn't make sense to me, but what do I know?)

i'm having similar problems ... but i'm using mini-dv tapes that have been sitting for 5 years (and they were recycled ones).

After trying all of the options with FCP and iMovie and getting clips that are a max of 11 seconds long, losing so many pieces of the tape (that are visible in the camera's screen), i finally decided to hook the camera up to my dvd-hdd deck and copy to it.

It plays back perfectly, no skips or missing areas ... once it's copied I will burn to a dvd and then work on getting the video into FCP for editing.

Is this a possible option for you?

Elizabeth

Can you get your hands on the same make and model camcorder that the footage was shot on? I know this was suggested in a prior post and you said that you can't get the camera. But, if you can rent a Sony HVR 1500 (I'm assuming it's a rental), can't you rent the same camera that it was shot in? It's not uncommon to sometimes have to capture from the same device that was used to shoot the video in the first place.

The drop frame error that you linked does not result from non-continuous time code.

Also, the free run time code setting on the deck affects where it looks for tc source when recording (it doesn't affect tc during playback of a recorded tape).

Based on everything in this forum so far, I'd suggest you go with Michael's suggestion and get a Blackmagic Decklink card (assuming that your computer can accomodate one). Patching the SD-HDI out of the deck to the SD-HDI input of the Blackmagic Decklink should do the trick. If you have something with HDMI out on it that can play the tape, you can go with Blackmagic's more affordable Intensity product that has HDMI in.

Plan C would be to rent or buy a HD field recorder and patch the video out of the deck to the video in of the field recorder. As long as the tape plays, you should be able to get it across.

Good luck!

-Warren