Types of Noise in Captured Hi8 Video

JohnM wrote on 6/8/2020, 6:28 AM

I have captured some video from Hi8 tapes using a camcorder and ADVC-100 for editing in VMS. The tapes are of varying quality but all are over 20 years old.

There are two types of noise visible in the footage and I was hoping to find out what it is caused by and subsequently how to minimise it.

The first is random splashes of colour (red, green and blue?) and the other is a like a little white comet going across the frame. Both of these appear on a single frame and then disappear.

The capture below includes both of these artefacts in a single frame. Any ideas or advice about them please?

Comments

EricLNZ wrote on 6/8/2020, 6:39 AM

Possibly tape deterioration?

JohnM wrote on 6/8/2020, 6:46 AM

Possibly tape deterioration?

That would not surprise me - at least my capture process wasn't the first culprit on the list!

Musicvid wrote on 6/8/2020, 6:46 AM

Dirty playback heads?

JohnM wrote on 6/8/2020, 8:54 AM

Dirty playback heads?

I've got a head cleaning tape on the way and will retry the capture afterwards.

Musicvid wrote on 6/8/2020, 10:10 AM

Has any coating flaked off the tape itself?

JohnM wrote on 6/9/2020, 6:16 AM

@Musicvid I took a look at various parts of this particular tape and it looks pretty much like normal tape. I assume that if it had deteriorated to the point where coating was flaking off, it should be pretty obvious 😉

KenB wrote on 6/9/2020, 9:13 AM

There is much written about capturing Hi8 on the VideoHelp forum, for example this: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/328741-Noise-in-Sony-Hi8-EVO-9850-Playback

I lurked around that forum quite a bit many years ago when I was capturing Video8.

It seems the streaks you are seeing are quite common, and can be helped by DNR and other circuitry on the camera.

Ken.