Unusable footage. at DVinfo.net

Adam Haro · April 8th, 2010, 11:46 AM

I've got a bit of problem I'd like to run by everyone and see what my options are.

We shot a wedding a week ago, we always do 2 cameras, a Canon GL2 and a Pansonic DVC60. Never had a problem with either camera but when we loaded the footage we noticed the tape from the DVC60 was real bad. After taking the camera to the shop apparently the tape guides were loose and not aligning the tape on the head correctly. Here is a link to a sample of how it turned out. For the most part we can create a nice video from the one camera but there are a couple necessary shots we need from the bad tape. Any suggestions on a possible fix?

YouTube - bad footage.avi

Thanks
Adam

Noa Put · April 8th, 2010, 12:04 PM

ouch.. you might try recapturing the tape with another camera because during transfer some things might go wrong as well but if it's recorded the way you show then there is not much you can do about it I'm afraid.
You can cut together all usable pieces or even work with some still frames?

Adam Haro · April 8th, 2010, 01:58 PM

Thanks for the response Noa. We have incorporated a few short clips over the audio from the other camera as needed and it looks "ok". The other camera mostly focused on the bride and groom's reaction during the toast so we used a few seconds of the bad footage to establish who is giving the speech and than switching to the good cam.

Dave Blackhurst · April 8th, 2010, 03:00 PM

Did you try dumping the tape from the same camera it was shot with? The mechanism is supposed to self correct tracking to some degree, but if it's enough out of alignment, sometimes it can't quite correct itself.

The description from the repair shop it sounds almost like something was wobbling around, in which case probably not possible to get a clean capture from the tape, but if it was simply misalignment, it should be possible to capture it if you're patient, allowing the camera to correct the tracking - you could FF and REW a couple times before trying to capture, and see if that allows the tape to reposition on the spindles allowing playback to track.

Adam Haro · April 8th, 2010, 04:01 PM

Thanks Dave,

I'll give it a shot. I only tried to play it back once on the DVC60 and it had the same problem. I didn't try rewinding and FF and playing back multiple times.

Alec Moreno · April 8th, 2010, 05:51 PM

If recapturing doesn't work, you might try using some extreme slow motion the lengthen out a good section from each clip.

Alec Moreno
http://www.1Day1ShotProductions.com

Bill Vincent · April 8th, 2010, 07:56 PM

One other option is to contact a local broadcast-quality post production house in your area - they might be able to take your cam and run the output through a Timebase corrector and eliminate some of the problem, although it would take an analog hit in the process. Sometimes TBC's can do wonders - in this case I'm not sure, but if it's absolutely crucial than it's worth a try. They can probably run it through the TBC and then digitize to a new file for you in whatever format you want. It may not fix everything, but it might make the unusable usable.

Adam Haro · April 8th, 2010, 08:15 PM

The footage is fine for 4 or 5 frames and than the next 3 or 4 are bad. I tried slowing it down and it doesn't help much, almost makes the problem more obvious. It looks like the top of the picture is out of sync with the bottom.

I will try to look into the time based correction. Any idea if going that route is very costly?

Thanks

Bill Vincent · April 9th, 2010, 05:45 AM

Most post houses charge you by the hour, so figure 1-2 hours of work depending on how much footage there is. So at most a couple hundred dollars at most, maybe? Have them do a test first tho to make sure it's going to help.

April 8th, 2010, 11:46 AM	#1
Adam Haro Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 171	Unusable footage. I've got a bit of problem I'd like to run by everyone and see what my options are. We shot a wedding a week ago, we always do 2 cameras, a Canon GL2 and a Pansonic DVC60. Never had a problem with either camera but when we loaded the footage we noticed the tape from the DVC60 was real bad. After taking the camera to the shop apparently the tape guides were loose and not aligning the tape on the head correctly. Here is a link to a sample of how it turned out. For the most part we can create a nice video from the one camera but there are a couple necessary shots we need from the bad tape. Any suggestions on a possible fix? YouTube - bad footage.avi Thanks Adam

April 8th, 2010, 12:04 PM	#2
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	ouch.. you might try recapturing the tape with another camera because during transfer some things might go wrong as well but if it's recorded the way you show then there is not much you can do about it I'm afraid. You can cut together all usable pieces or even work with some still frames?

April 8th, 2010, 01:58 PM	#3
Adam Haro Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 171	Thanks for the response Noa. We have incorporated a few short clips over the audio from the other camera as needed and it looks "ok". The other camera mostly focused on the bride and groom's reaction during the toast so we used a few seconds of the bad footage to establish who is giving the speech and than switching to the good cam.

April 8th, 2010, 03:00 PM	#4
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	Did you try dumping the tape from the same camera it was shot with? The mechanism is supposed to self correct tracking to some degree, but if it's enough out of alignment, sometimes it can't quite correct itself. The description from the repair shop it sounds almost like something was wobbling around, in which case probably not possible to get a clean capture from the tape, but if it was simply misalignment, it should be possible to capture it if you're patient, allowing the camera to correct the tracking - you could FF and REW a couple times before trying to capture, and see if that allows the tape to reposition on the spindles allowing playback to track.

April 8th, 2010, 04:01 PM	#5
Adam Haro Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 171	Thanks Dave, I'll give it a shot. I only tried to play it back once on the DVC60 and it had the same problem. I didn't try rewinding and FF and playing back multiple times.

April 8th, 2010, 05:51 PM	#6
Alec Moreno Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Glendora, CA Posts: 184	If recapturing doesn't work, you might try using some extreme slow motion the lengthen out a good section from each clip. Alec Moreno http://www.1Day1ShotProductions.com

April 8th, 2010, 07:56 PM	#7
Bill Vincent Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 253	One other option is to contact a local broadcast-quality post production house in your area - they might be able to take your cam and run the output through a Timebase corrector and eliminate some of the problem, although it would take an analog hit in the process. Sometimes TBC's can do wonders - in this case I'm not sure, but if it's absolutely crucial than it's worth a try. They can probably run it through the TBC and then digitize to a new file for you in whatever format you want. It may not fix everything, but it might make the unusable usable.

April 8th, 2010, 08:15 PM	#8
Adam Haro Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 171	The footage is fine for 4 or 5 frames and than the next 3 or 4 are bad. I tried slowing it down and it doesn't help much, almost makes the problem more obvious. It looks like the top of the picture is out of sync with the bottom. I will try to look into the time based correction. Any idea if going that route is very costly? Thanks

April 9th, 2010, 05:45 AM	#9
Bill Vincent Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 253	Most post houses charge you by the hour, so figure 1-2 hours of work depending on how much footage there is. So at most a couple hundred dollars at most, maybe? Have them do a test first tho to make sure it's going to help.