Video static when transferring VHS-- MacDV Digest #1960

[Ted Langdell]

Michael, 

Here's what you're probably seeing... and why it's not usually a problem:

If what you're referring to along the bottom looks like black with some
white wavy lines, you may be looking at the vertical interval (vertical sync
interval) of the video picture, and the switching between video heads on
your VHS deck.

There's not much you can do about it, except do a box wipe or horizontal
wipe to "wipe out" the vertical interval.

It's like a frame line on film, just much thicker... around 23 TV scan lines
thicker.

As another poster pointed out... it's probably not going to be a problem
when you watch the finished product on a TV or television video monitor.
That's because TV's and television video monitors normally "overscan" the
edges of the visible picture area by about 10 percent.  That means that you
see less than the full picture.  This was instituted in the 1950's when
television was new.

When looking at video on your computer during editing, the entire scan area
is visible in your edit window, so you notice things like the head
switching, or other stuff that's often contained in the vertical interval.

Hope you're enjoying the DVD of your wedding!

Ted.

> From: "Macintosh Digital Video List" <MacDV at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 15:59:20 -0800
> To: "Macintosh Digital Video List" <MacDV at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
> Subject: MacDV Digest #1960
> 
> 
> Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 16:48:10 -0600
> Subject: [MacDV] Video Static when transferring VHS to DV to iMovie/FCP3
> From: Michael Ginsberg <lists at mdg.com>
> Message-Id: <BC4B2D00-3892-11D7-9BEF-0030657B816A at mdg.com>
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am transferring my wedding VHS video to DVD.  I am using a Canon
> ZR10, iMovie3, G4/1GHZ.  After transferring the video to my camera and
> then to iMovie, I get a video static on the bottom 2% of the movie.
> The video doesn't show this, but it does after transferring.  I made
> sure that I use the 60 minute speed vs. 90 minute speed of my camera.
> The DV tapes that I used were brand new.  I cannot think of what would
> be causing this.
> 
> BTW, I also tried Final Cut Pro 3.0.4 and the same things happens.
> 
> This was a professionally created VCR Tape of my wedding, this may
> sound goofy, but is there any type of copy protection that could have
> been used that would prevent me from copying it?
> 
> Any ideas?  Thanks in advance.
>