[MacDV] Re: Converting VHS Videos to DVD's

[R B Williams]

This sync issue happens if the DV camera is 
recording 12 bit audio AND/OR the recording 
speed is LP. It shouldn't be an issue at all 
when you use 16 bit audio & SP recording 
speed in camera. I have literally hundreds of 
mini-dv dubs from S-VHS, Hi-8, or Beta sources.

FYI - Even though I have a canopus converter, 
I often move to DV first so that all of the 
"original" footage has timecode on an 
archival tape. That allows you to log and 
capture in FCP without filling up a hard 
drive with junk.

R.B.



Gregg Gorrie wrote:

> on 4/13/04 6:38 AM, Ian Tucker at carlian at picknowl.com.au wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>>A friend has purchased a Sony DV camera and has been copying VHS
>>footage into the camera and in turn, through to FCP4 on his iMac.    He
>>is happy with the results, but is concerned that the amount of work he
>>has to do will create undue wear and tear on the transport mechanism of
>>his camera.   He does not want to purchase a conversion unit such as
>>Canopus as it will become redundant once he has copied his VHS
>>collection across to DVD.
>>
> 
> As another list member mentioned, if the Sony DV camcorder is a fairly
> recent model it should have a pass-thru mode, which means they can bypass
> the tape (saving wear and tear) and record directly to the computer.
> 
> Unfortunately the Sony Digital 8mm model I have (TRV-315) does not have
> pass-thru, so I opted to do exactly as your friend - copy my VHS tapes to
> Digital 8mm and then capture them into Final Cut Pro. *WARNING HERE* After
> spending a huge amount of time transferring all my family footage to DV
> tapes, I began the process of capturing and editing.  Any footage that was
> captured into FCP from those tapes would consistently lose audio/video sync
> within a minute or two! I checked every setting in FCP regarding sample
> rates, audio/video sync, striped the tape with blank TC, etc. and no
> solution. Posted a number of messages on this list and no one else could
> seem to nail it down either. No problems with sync playing back directly
> from the tape on the camcorder, and no problem with capturing tapes that
> were recorded with the camcorder. Only tapes that were recorded using the
> RCA line-in jacks seem to be affected, or older 8mm/Hi8mm tapes that I was
> directly converting to digital.
> 
> One temporary work-around has been to record from the camcorder into iMovie
> first (which >doesn't< lose the audio/video sync) then export as a Quicktime
> DV file and import into Final Cut Pro. If I output this Quicktime from FCP
> back to tape via Firewire, I could capture the resulting footage from that
> tape WITHOUT SYNC PROBLEMS!!!
> 
> Suggest to your friend that he go through the whole process (capturing and
> editing) to check for this before wasting countless hours of time (and
> wearing out the camcorder) like I did. Hopefully, he will discover that his
> camcorder has pass-thru and won't have to worry about this issue.
> 
> 
>>His wife works as a teacher and she took
>>one of his VHS tapes to school and burnt it to DVD on a DVD recorder
>>there.    The resultant disc plays OK on both his home DVD player and
>>also on his iMac.   However,  when he attempts to transfer the content
>>to FCP4 , or iMovie 4 for editing/cleanup purposes,  the video is OK ,
>>but there is no sound.
>>
>>We have tried passing the DVD's  content through DVD Backup and DVD2one
>>X,  but only end up with the same files as we started with on the DVD.
>>
>>Is there any way of getting the DVD's audio into either FCP , or
>>iMovie, or does he have to fall back on the slow, laborious task of
>>passing his VHS content through his DVD camera ?.
>>
>>TIA
>>
>>Ian Tucker
>>
> 
> There >are< solutions to convert the DVD's MPEG-2 format back to DV (which
> he'll need to do to edit in FCP), but the problem with that is the original
> video footage has incurred lossy compression going to MPEG-2, and if he were
> to convert it back to DV for editing and then output back to MPEG-2 for DVD
> again, there will be a cumulative loss of quality.
>    
>