Trying to capture some wierd Dv tape

farss wrote on 10/14/2005, 6:40 PM
I haven't got a clue how this tape has been recorded so please bear with me. Putting the tape into the trusty old DSR-11 and yes it plays it back, the deck and monitor report that it's NTSC but I can live with that.
But here's the odd thing, both VidCap and SCLive only get total garbage down the 1394 wire, major blocking and VidCap captures 1 frame and gives up, don't blame it really. The first part of the tape looks like it's been shot at around 15fps and the rest of it at about 2fps!
Given that I can get what looks like a valid signal out of the analogue outputs of the deck I'm hoping I can just run that through the ADVC-300 and digitise from that as NTSC but things look SO wobbly who knows.
Anyone got any clues as to just what this might be, and no sorry, I haven't a clue as to the camera etc although the words 'time lapse' were mentioned by the party one step closer to the source than me but I think he's still 5 steps away from the source.
Bob.
<edit> fixed spelling.

Comments

rmack350 wrote on 10/15/2005, 12:06 AM
Time lapse on DV tape? What does that do to time of day code? Maybe scene detection is screwing you up?

Rob Mack
farss wrote on 10/15/2005, 5:22 AM
Turning DV scene detection off was my first port of call. Thing is the video coming down the 1394 as viewed by VidCap and SCLive is just rubbish yet the analogue feed from the deck is well intact horrible stuff but still valid video.
craftech wrote on 10/15/2005, 5:48 AM
Bob,
Why don't you just copy it onto a new DV tape and try capturing from that? Fresh timecode, etc.

I am assuming the firewire cable is OK.

John
FullCircle wrote on 10/15/2005, 9:39 AM
IF you can play the DV tape in another device, you can use the DSR-11 to capture it.
What I mean is, (as you probably know), you can use the inputs on the DSR-11, (where you have the other playing device), put the source on the DSR-11 on 'video', and then capture through firewire into Vegas. Make sure to turn of scene detection/device control though..

Any source coming into dsr-11 can be captured this way in my experience.. I know it's composite, not digital to begin with but if it's all you got..
GlennChan wrote on 10/15/2005, 11:24 AM
The DSR11 should have Y/C or S-video input in addition to composite, which should be better quality.
farss wrote on 10/15/2005, 3:27 PM
Well the plan is to take the S-Video output from the DSR-11 through the ADVC-300 and from that into Vegas. It'll be a couple of days before I get the 300 back and know if this will work or not.
One trap to be aware of, monitors and TVs have very wide latitude on the sync and frame rates, A->D converters don't as they've got to meet precise timing constraints even when they've got TBCs.
Still it is odd that the DSR-11 can decode whetever is on the tape into a viewable signal but nothing can make any sense out of what's coming down the 1394 port.
Bob.
rmack350 wrote on 10/16/2005, 8:06 PM
You, know, I have no idea how you'd record time lapse onto a DV tape in the first place. Does the camera really advance the tape one frame and then take another shot? Three frames?

Doesn't that just sound fishy?

Do you think that the camera was really just recording stills to tape?

Honestly, I don't know how it would work but maybe you really do need to find out what camera was used and if there's a custom capture program.

Rob Mack
farss wrote on 10/17/2005, 1:44 AM
Success at last! Going analogue out of the DSR-11 and then through the ADVC-300 I can capture this as NTSC DV. I think what's been used is something like 'Slow Shutter' but I've used that on Sony cameras and they still record it as standard DV. One gem of information, it was recorded on a JVC camera and to cap it all off, judging by how much stuff is on the tape I'd say it's LP as well.
Bob.