A client has brought me a digital 8 tape that has sound drop-outs. The sound dropouts relate to the picture going in and out of a stable mode. The picture is actually quite acceptable, even during the drop-out phase, but only if we could hear the audio.

Might the tape play back better in a clam shell Digital-8 machine versus a camcorder Digital-8? Are there "souped up" models of Digital-8 VCR's in Japan that were never released in this country?

I presume since the audio is only on a digital track, and the digital track is part of the picture, wherever the sound cuts out or goes "tinny" the missing sound just does not exist?

Maybe you can use the camera that shot the footage?

I find with LP tapes, they work well in the camera that shot it but not necessarily in other cameras.

2- There's a possibility that cleaning the deck/camera's heads may help?

3- You could also try recapturing and laying the footage over the original capture. In the second capture, it may have captured some bits that didn't come through with the original.

4- Sorry, no idea about the clamshell VCRs.

The client was told the cameras tape path needed to be realigned and so that aas already been done. However, the tape was dropping audio before, is dropping audio now, and when I tried the tape in one of my digital-8 camcorders, it drops audio as well.

It also appears that it is dropping audio in the exact same places each time.

If there'a a digital8 deck with tracking, that might help. I have no idea if such a deck exists though.

I feel helpless.

I agree that to be able to manually track the tape might help. That's why I wondered if Japan perhaps has more sophisticated digital-8 gear than the small choices we get in the United States.

It also appears that it is dropping audio in the exact same places each time.

there's the key, IMO....if they're all in the same place, it likely was recorded with the drop out vs capture probs.
All you can likely do at this point is hunt/peck for words or sounds to semi-adequately fill in the holes.

There's a guy in new york and I'm really trying to remember his name right now. He specializes in retrieving audio from DAT machines and other sorts of transports.

rrrrrrrr..AH! Thanks Google.

Bill Drucklieb
www.cinemasonics.com

Contact him to see if he can help.

Regards,

Ty Ford

I think I'll try laying the tape back in two passes and absolutely verify that the audio is corrupted at the same points in time, each time. What is strange is that the picture holds up quite nicely, even during the audio drop outs.