I'm trying to record footage from a standard VHS tape onto my Sharp Mini-DV recorder via the analog inputs on the camera. I'm editing in Adobe Premiere 6.02 and was previously unable to properly capture the analog VHS directly through my firewire card. I resorted to this VHS to Mini DV method and the clips imported into the Premiere timeline with no problem.

I thought this dubbing method would be a relatively transparent process. However, no matter what VHS deck I would use or what pre-recorded VHS tape I would use, I would get a marked dynamic color phase shifting when it was recorded onto the Mini DV camera. This was most pronounced on outdoor shots with green grass that went from green to slighly reddish and then back again and so on. In desperation, I converted the footage to black and white which did away with the visual color shifting. This helped, but you could still discern some residual flickering where the phasing was taking place.

Any ideas as to what my be causing this? A problem with the camera, or just the recording technque I'm using. Thanks in advance for your help!

Ron

The phase shift is caused by Macrovision, a type of anti-copying protection recorded on the VHS tape.

Thanks Jeff for your prompt reply to my problem.

However, this footage was not commercially recorded, but was recorded on a typical old VHS home camcorder on standard blank department store variety TDK tape, so I don't think it would be Macrovision encoded, unless I missed something here.

Any other thoughts as to why I might be getting this color phasing?

Thanks again for your help!

Ron

How old is the VHS tape? Was it recorded under fluorescent lights, or with Auto White Balance (AWB)?

Jeff, the tape was shot outdoors last month on an old Panasonic VHS camcorder on Maxell tape (thought it was TDK originally). Since the person shooting it was non-technically oriented, I can assume it was set on Auto White Balance.

Interestingly enough, when I play the VHS tape directly into a TV, none of this color phasing is evident. I've tried other VHS tapes and other VHS players and still get the color phasing problem when I transfer to Mini DV on the Sharp camcorder.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Ron

Try using another MiniDV camcorder.

Best regards,
Arnaldo