Audio cutting out during DV capture.

GarretsDaddio wrote on 2/28/2015, 12:47 PM
Trying to capture off old DV tapes from a Sony TRV103 camcorder. Playback on the camcorder is ok for the most part. However capture is a mess. I am not getting any dropped frames according to any software. If I auto capture scenes are broken up many times without reason with parts of them missing. If I capture the full tape without scene detection I get good video but the audio still cuts out, sometimes just choppy, other times up to minutes lost at a time. The audio sounds good during capture listening directly from the camcorder. During capture or just previewing the tape live through the computer the sound cuts out. It appears to be dependent on the tape as I had captured several tapes with no problem. I have messed with audio bitrate settings. I have tried several different programs on both my PC and even Imovie on my MAC. No I do not think this is a problem related to Sony software. I am just looking for possible explanations and a work around. At this point I can only think to buy a new firewire cable and hope for the best. (6pin to 4) Perhaps give up and capture through the analog outputs but I would prefer to keep it digital. Thanks for any ideas.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 3/1/2015, 8:04 AM
Assuming you've got the camcorder connected to your computer with a FireWire connection and that you're getting the same results even when you use a low-demand capture program like WinDV -- I'd say most likely your problem is a background program interrupting things.

You don't say what your computer specs are or what operating system you're using -- but it could well be your antivirus software. Programs like Norton 360 are also notorious for interrupting intensive processes. If your computer is more marginal or you're using a laptop, it could also be something as simple as a Windows process, like Indexing (which, on my older computer, I used to have to shut off while capturing video).

And don't rule out the fact that it could be some malware! Unless you're diligent about running malware scans (like Malware Bytes) and programs for cleaning off adware (like Adwcleaner) you could well have a trojan or adware that's continually sending data from your computer and stealing your computer's resources.

Though that wouldn't explain why you can't even capture on your Mac, which is an entirely separate computer! That would indicate that the problem is with camcorder itself, and not your computer!
MSmart wrote on 3/1/2015, 5:53 PM
I've been using the same FireWire cable for years without issue but you can't rule yours out as possibly being bad.

When the audio cuts out, how does the video look?
GarretsDaddio wrote on 3/1/2015, 8:37 PM
Thanks everybody so far..... I did not give specs on the computers because I feel that is irrelevant unless it is about some old driver or something. I have tried it on a third machine. Same results. I have two windows 8.1 machines running AMD stuff. One an 8 core, the other a 4 core, both over 4 ghz with 8gb memory and dual ssd drives in raid. Windows defender and Malwarebytes.

My Imac has a fresh operating system installed on it. I tried importing from Movie Studio 12, Power Director 12, Windows Movie Maker on windows and Imovie on the Imac. Considering back in 2000 I imported from a pentium ii 350mhz running windows 95 I should have plenty of power to capture.

I have had a cable issue in the past. I have 2 Sony DCR-TRV103 camcorders. The one that recorded the original footage BACK IN 2001 eats tapes and I can not use it. I recently bought the 2nd camcorder of the same model to save these tapes I could not play. The second camcorder came from an estate sale. It was a gift that was never used and in fact still sealed in the original box. I bought a new cable because I could not find the original. The new cable did not work on both camcorders. Eventually I found my very old cable and that worked. I did order two new Belkin cables but they did not arrive yet. One firewire 9 to 4 pin and one 6 to 4 pin cables. I have my doubts that will help though.

I have no problem saving some tapes. They are perfect. However the one I am working with now has almost no sound at all but sound great with headphones plugged into the camcorder. The picture is perfect on the computer and the sound is good on the camcorder but no sound on the computer. I am guessing that perhaps the digital code on the tapes are deteriorated. I just do not understand they play fine but the information can not be sent to the computer? I have made new recordings on the camcorder and everything works fine when importing to the computer. I have cleaned the tape system. Any work arounds would be appreciated. (on a budget) Any explanation of why audio is processed on the camcorder but not sent to the computer would also be appreciated. Thanks for your time.