Dropouts during DV capture at DVinfo.net

Gary Kitchen · March 20th, 2007, 05:29 AM

I recently shot 2 tapes at an event, and during capture to the PC a large number of random dropped frames were noted. Both tapes were Sony standard grade (blue shrinkwrap 3-pack). The frame drops occurred at nearly the same areas of both tapes, no idea why. About halfway through 3/4 of the way into the tape brief dropouts of between several frames to several seconds were showing up. The video/audio simply freezes, no blocking, then resumes. This showed up during steady-run taping, not at the beginning or end of a take.

Is there any way to tell during recording, if dropouts are happening, or are you simply trusting that it won't happen? I ran the headcleaner once after this, and running a trial record straight thru another Sony cassette and will check it. Visual of the heads looks clean, but can you tell by eye, and is there a better way to maintain them than the head cleaner cassette? They're abrasive I understand, not real good, but the only way.

Bill Busby · March 20th, 2007, 07:07 AM

You can't really eyeball microscopic debris that could cause a headclog. Apart from using a head cleaning tape, the only other (& best) way would be to manually clean the heads, which should be left to a professional unless you know how to do it yourself properly.

Bill

Robert Garvey · March 21st, 2007, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary Kitchen

I recently shot 2 tapes at an event, and during capture to the PC a large number of random dropped frames were noted. .

Connect your camera to your TV and then playback. If no problems then it is an issue with your capture -PC/Mac.

Cheers,
Robert

Michael Pulcinella · March 21st, 2007, 09:37 AM

Were you recording over previously used DV tapes?

March 20th, 2007, 05:29 AM	#1
Gary Kitchen Tourist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 2	Dropouts during DV capture I recently shot 2 tapes at an event, and during capture to the PC a large number of random dropped frames were noted. Both tapes were Sony standard grade (blue shrinkwrap 3-pack). The frame drops occurred at nearly the same areas of both tapes, no idea why. About halfway through 3/4 of the way into the tape brief dropouts of between several frames to several seconds were showing up. The video/audio simply freezes, no blocking, then resumes. This showed up during steady-run taping, not at the beginning or end of a take. Is there any way to tell during recording, if dropouts are happening, or are you simply trusting that it won't happen? I ran the headcleaner once after this, and running a trial record straight thru another Sony cassette and will check it. Visual of the heads looks clean, but can you tell by eye, and is there a better way to maintain them than the head cleaner cassette? They're abrasive I understand, not real good, but the only way.

March 20th, 2007, 07:07 AM	#2
Bill Busby Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 959	You can't really eyeball microscopic debris that could cause a headclog. Apart from using a head cleaning tape, the only other (& best) way would be to manually clean the heads, which should be left to a professional unless you know how to do it yourself properly. Bill

March 21st, 2007, 09:37 AM	#4
Michael Pulcinella Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ridley Park, PA, USA Posts: 269	Were you recording over previously used DV tapes?