Repairing ruined footage from my DVX100

[Jim Quinlan]

The most annoying thing about my DVX100 is the problem I have in capturing the first video clip in a sequence. I *usually* start by running 30 seconds of nothing to get around this problem but sometimes in the heat of the moment I forget and the first clip of my capture sequence is unusuable.

Recently, I had this one in a million shot I got that ruined by this (2.5 gb worth) and was wondering if there's inexpensive software that can repair this clip (won't work in VDUB). When I playback on the DVX100, it looks fine but after capturing, it's all blurred and mixed up.

I suspect this has to do with me rewinding the tape after shooting and not returning to the exact spot once I start recording again.

I'm using Vegas 4.0b to capture. Maybe that's the problem. I don't know. I'm wondering if others with the DVX100 have this problem also.

[Glen Elliott]

I don't understand- what exactly is the problem your having?

[Jim Quinlan]

Sorry I guess I didn't explain well.

Often when capturing a group of clips from my DVX100, the first clip will be completely garbled and unusable. You can see movement but the image is all mixed up for the entire clip.

Even though I can preview it on the camera, it's ruined in the capture process. All the rest of the clips in the batch I'm capturing to the computer always come out fine. Just the first one is sometimes a problem.

[Rob Easler]

If you have another DV camera record some stuff on the other camera then record the clip in question onto the camera as well, then go capture.

[Peter Jefferson]

if the cam plays it fine, you should be able to capture without a problem...

i think u may have ur software configged wierdly.. maybeu have set upa batch capture to start at a certain timecode??
who knows.. but like i said, if u can see it, u can capture it...

[Imran Zaidi]

I actually noticed something like that with footage shot on my DVX100A. But the problem really wasn't in camera, since I use a 1-chip Sony cam as my deck. I use Vegas, FYI.

I found that once I have all my 24p settings configured in my project and capturing tool, if I just tell it to capture the entire tape (allowing Vegas to rewind and start capturing itself), that first bit sometimes gets garbled. That first clip ends up coming through as some other weird resolution aspect ratio.

But then I found that if instead I manually play the tape, and then trigger the capture button and just let it run through the rest of the tape that way, it works fine.

I had this suspicion that there was something at the very beginning of my Panasonic MQ tapes that made Vegas muss up the resolution. Or perhaps Vegas itself is the problem. Or perhaps I'm the problem because I didn't remember to check my timecode. I'm not sure. Either way, this small workaround that's not really too much of an inconvenience fixed the problem for me.

Give this a shot, because it sounds like what you said is what I experienced, since when you look at the tape in cam it seems fine, but the problem is on capture.

[Glen Elliott]

I had a similar problem with the DVX and Vegas capture but not entirely the same. For the first few seconds of the clip I'd get audio and video glitches- however I found that the latency between the camera actually spooling up and the fact Vegas begins to capture immediatly is what caused the problem.

Try this....once you start Vegas capture choose "Don't capture any clips right now". Make sure you have device control, then hit play...once the image appears on the screen in Vegas capture then try to hit record to start capture.

I could be wrong but I think there is a way to set up Vegas capture to accomidate deck/camera latency.

[Imran Zaidi]

Glen, it looks like you and I experience the same thing. Jim, let us know if this fixes your problem.

[Glen Elliott]

Great minds think alike Imran. Check the times on both our posts. lol

[Jim Quinlan]

Great tips ! Thanks guys. I'll go back and try to recapture that one clip I needed.

It's of a giant red headed woodpecker attacking cars and looking at his reflection in the door panels and side view mirrors. Then thinking it's another woodpecker he attacks ! Hilarious footage. All while his mate watched from a nearby tree. I wonder what she's thinking : )

BUT another thing I noticed unrelated to the capture problem was since this event happened so fast, I was only able to grab my camera and start shooting, slowly inching closer to the woodpecker. Didn't have a tripod handy and had to hold the camera and zoom in on the woodpecker. I had the camera set for 24p but for the life of me couldn't get a good focus or kept losing the focus (manually).

It might have been because I wasn't steady holding the camera for half an hour but is it harder to get a clean focus in 24p mode?

YIKES - you guys posted the same posts at the same times TWICE.

[Imran Zaidi]

If you're manually focusing, then the focus ability is the same on the cam whether in 60i, 30p or 24p. If, however, you are using the auto capabilities, the 60i focus far surpasses the 24p. I haven't really used the 30p much so I can't speak on that.

As you get used to your cam, you'll start to learn your way around the focus scale - you'll soon be able to tell by instinct, based on your zoom level and your distance from the subject, about where you should be on the focus scale. Once you're there, then snapping into focus will get easier.

Think of it as training for the big budget camera world, where focus pulling is a necessity. Of course... there you don't usually pull your own focus.

As far as those posts between Glen and I... pretty funny! (And a little creepy).

EDIT: Here's a link to a great chart about the DVX's focus scale:

http://www.flickerfactory.com/egp/mo...vx100focus.htm

[Adam Burtle]

I have experienced this issue in vegas 4 before.. it's a problem with vegas. glen's solution is what i use when capturing in vegas.

[Jim Quinlan]

That took care of the problem. Clip captured fine now. Thanks.

I'll check out the focus chart Imran.