Delay in beginning capture

clouds wrote on 6/23/2003, 1:02 PM

Every capture program I've used (VF, MM2, ULead) drops the first couple of seconds of audio and video from a DV segment that is preceded by blank tape (i.e., unrecorded--just forwarded in the play mode from the previous take). Is there any way to handle this so I won't have to reshoot the scene?

All I can think of is dubbing it to Hi8 and then to video capture through the DV camera as converter, but this time with a sizable leader.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/23/2003, 2:18 PM

It seems like your camcoder is taking way too long to sync up to the signal on the tape. Typically i only lose a couple of frames in that same situation. Can you try borrowing someone else's camcorder for a while?

Of course, in the future, it would be good to always try to start recording at least a few seconds before the action starts whenever possible. :) I also usually keep recording for a few seconds after the action finishes as well. Then when i need to cue the tape up to the next blank section i'll pause in those few extra seconds so that the next scene starts without any blank tape in front of it.

briggins wrote on 6/23/2003, 3:28 PM

I think another trick that people use is to record the whole tape first - you can even leave the lens cap on - so that the entire tape gets a timecode. You can then rewind the tape and use it normally. I know Premier will stop capturing altogether if it sees a dropped timecode, which is a real hassle if you want to start capturing and come back in an hour when it's done. VF is more forgiving but recording a blank tape first might help.

Bruce