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Footage recorded on DV tapes but won’t show in playback
Hi, I recently shot hundreds of hours of footage for a documentary film I’m creating. Of these, about 20 tapes appear to have nothing on the tapes because when I play the tapes in the canon XH-A1s they were shot in, it merely shows a blue screen or sometimes will freeze on a single frame from the footage and otherwise continue running through the footage. However when I fast-forward or rewind through the tape, you can see the footage is there.
I really want to be able to retrieve footage from at least 3 of these tapes and I’m not sure what to do. Any suggestions? Thanks. -
8 Replies
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I’d guess either you have a head clog which you would need to have the heads cleaned; you have used low grade tape; or you have the playback option set to something other than what your footage was shot with (DV, HDV, or Auto). Try placing it in Auto for the playback signal settings in the menu.
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It might be an issue with the heads, which may in turn have damaged the tapes permanently(I hope not) but the tapes did record footage and I’m just unable to retrieve it in playback.
It’s not a camera setting issue because I recorded the previous 70 hours and the subsequent hundred hours without changing any of the settings. Likewise for capturing, I never changed any of the settings and managed to capture over a hundred hours except for this 20 tape chunk in the middle of my stack.
Again, I will try fiddling with settings and see if I can’t get it to capture but I have already tried everything I could see with this camera, with a dv tape-deck, both SD, HDV, and Auto. I really think there’s a damage with the tapes themselves but didn’t know if anyone has advice for retrieving footage from dv film separate from playback mode…?
Thanks so much! -
Have you tried capture by Firewire IEEE 1394A in to say Premiere Pro, ignore the blue screen on the camera. There could be a play back problem into the LCD or viewfinder ?????????????
Freelance Imaging & Video
AUSTRALIA -
Hi guys
Does anybody have a solution to this problem because we have exactly the same issue. The footage is definitely on the tape because we can see it when fast forwarding/rewinding, but how else can I get the footage from the tape into premiere? The first 10 mins and the last 5 mins on the tspe are fine, but nothing In between. Tried head cleaning about 3times with same results.
Any advice will be much appreciated
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I wouldn’t clean the heads anymore (especially if you are doing that with a head-cleaning tape), as you might damage them.
I think you have a head-alignment issue, based on the fact that you can see the footage at non-normal speeds when searching.
One short-term solution to try would be to beg/borrow/rent another Canon camera and see if you get proper playback… and if so, use that for capturing. It does not have to be the same model of camera that you shot with. In fact, unless you shot HDV in 24f mode, it doesn’t even have to be a Canon.
The long-term solution probably is, unfortunately, having your camera professionally serviced… either by Canon or a reputable camera tech. Sadly it’s not a do-it-yourself job… not only do you really have to know what you are doing, but have to have the right tools. In fact, the head-alignment testing tapes for each Canon model are more than $500 a pop, so you have to have someone who already has the right stuff.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Ever find a solution to this Jon? I have the exact same problem with very important footage. Anyone?
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Hi Dennis,
I ended up sending these tapes off to Sony Media Services to recover the footage from the tapes. It cost me about $50 a tape but they managed to pull a majority of the footage off successfully with just a few patches of dropped frames per tape. They recovered the media and put it on a new tape for me to recapture myself.The Price list:
https://mediaservices.sel.sony.com/docs/Service%20Price%20List.pdf
Hope this helps, I understand that feeling of having non-replaceable footage trapped on a tape that won’t show it in playback mode.
jon
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Thanks Jon. I’ll get on to them right away.
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