Once I switched over from miniDV to memory cards, I never thought about them again. I figured I had most of the important footage already captured and didn't even know where the miniDV tapes are (I'm a hobbyist, so it's all home movies).

A few weeks ago, my wife asked me what I wanted to do with these tapes. I took a look, and it was dozens of miniDV tapes, most of which were never captured to my computer. Hard drive space was at a premium 10 years ago, so I didn't bother except for special circumstances. But now, hard drive space is so cheap that I thought I would just digitize all my footage. So I bought a used miniDV camcorder (same brand that I used to use, Canon. The ZR900) and looked forward to capturing all this missing footage.

I opened up Final Cut Pro (10.3.2) and started capturing the tapes. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that half the tapes cannot be captured. The time code is so messed up on capture that I have a bunch of 2 frame long files. Joining them together does not result in usable footage.

If it didn't capture anything, I'd chalk it up to a bad camcorder. But it captures some tapes fine. Other tapes, it captures half of a tape before the dropped frames start happening. Other tapes, the dropped frames are all over the tape.

I have a 2010 Mac Pro with 16 GB RAM and I'm not capturing to my system drive. With these specs, I'm 99% sure that the computer isn't the problem here. And yes, I'm capturing via Firewire.

I don't have any A/V cables for this camera, so I can't hook it up to the TV to see how the footage looks there. On the small screen, sometimes it looks fine, but the timecode just looks messed up. Sometimes the stuttering happens on the video also.

What are my options? I've tried capturing via iMovie, and it results in the same problem. I've tried Quicktime Pro, but it doesn't not capture audio at all, despite the audio being set correctly.

I also have a PC and am willing to try out Premiere if people have had better luck with PC. Of course, I'll need to get a PCI card with Firewire ports first.

Should I try to get another miniDV camera?

I just had no idea that miniDV was such a fragile media, which is so disappointing to me and my big collection of memories that may or may not be useless.

EDIT: I've cleaned the heads using a head cleaning tape several times and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

It's been a while, but I seem to remember that fast forwarding a problem tape all the way to the end, then fast rewind all the way back to the beginning, before trying to capture, SOMETIMES helped.

I do remember a couple of times where a tape was damaged that nothing helped. Also remember one time the only deck that would capture a particular tape was the camera that recorded it. Heads had gotten out of alignment, and only the deck (camera) with the out of alignment heads could read that tape.

You could try this ScenalyzerLive Page (http://scenalyzer.com/) PC only but was the bees knees in its time.

Scenalyzer Live. That's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

I remember using that when I first got my mini DV camcorder as the best way to capture video that had broken timecode. I used it all the time.

It hasn't been updated since 2006 and hasn't even been sold since 2010. But I might as well see if it works.

ScenalyzerLive Page (http://scenalyzer.com/)

I've had luck in situations where the time code got screwed up by capturing via Windows Movie Maker.
Microsoft had just ended its support in January for the set of free software known as Windows Essentials 2012, which included Movie Maker, and they have stopped allowing you to download from their site; however, it looks like it's available at this other site. Give it a try. Windows Movie Maker Free Download - For Windows 7/8/10/Xp/Vista (http://www.windows-movie-maker.org/)

The Windows Essentials 2012 site is located here, and maybe there's still some manuals or FAQs that might be helpful. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13785#Windows-Movie-Maker-2012


Mark

First thing is to clean the camera properly with the right solvent and wipes, and check the camera is in good working order. Stick in a new tape, record on that and then see if that gets into the computer without dropping fames. This will prove the camera is functioning properly. If it passes this test and still fails on the old tapes, then, assuming they were once good, then either the old or new camera is not aligned to the standard to ensure compatibility, or the actual tapes themselves are damaged in some way.

I doubt that any software can recreate frames that are simply corrupt or missing. It's quite common for DV based cameras to be fine on their own, but fail on other people's tapes.

I guess the sensible thing would be to see if you can borrow another camera and that will prove if it's duff tapes or a poorly aligned camera that is to blame. You need to fix this - not repair the files. I have two DV players here - one plays back my very old tapes recorded on a JVC aligned incorrectly, and the other plays tapes recorded on the repplacement JVC camera. Crazy I have two, but as I have a large archive of tapes I still need access to, it's the only solution for me.

Stick in a new tape, record on that and then see if that gets into the computer without dropping fames. This will prove the camera is functioning properly. If it passes this test and still fails on the old tapes, then, assuming they were once good, then either the old or new camera is not aligned to the standard to ensure compatibility, or the actual tapes themselves are damaged in some way.
Thing is, it's not all the tapes that have this problem. Some tapes capture without a single dropped frame. Others don't Others look fine on the little screen, but you can see that the timecode is stalling (suggesting that the timecode is bad, even though the actual data is good.

I just ordered a Firewire card for my PC and I'll see how the capturing goes on that computer. If that doesn't help, guess I'll just pick up another camcorder and sell the one I just got.I'll also look into some head cleaning videos. But I don't think the heads are very accessible on the ZR900. If you have any tips, they would be greatly appreciated.

If some work, it suggests it's simply dodgy tapes. If some are totally solid, then I expect your computer isn't the problem. It's possible that the camera you have is a bit like my problem - it plays some but not others. If the tapes are not actually damaged, then it's possible it's just alignment - either of the camera now, or the original camera. Cleaning wise - if it works on some tapes, I would leave alone, but DV machines have always been tricky to clean. realistically, unless you know what you are doing, it's quite easy to damage the head drum.

Proper cleaning means a complicated strip down, then a spray with some solvent to soften up any debris in the head gaps, and then a lint free cloth (just so stray strands don;t snag the head itself) to gently wipe away the oxide you loosened. In some cameras, you can see the heads on the drum, and with some dexterity, you can get a finger in along with a cleaning device - I like a cotton bud with a small strip of lint free cloth taped to the end. I always hold this lightly touching the head after I have sprayed it with Colclene, but at a push, lighter fluid does pretty well, and evaporates quickly.I then rotate the head drum with my little finger so the slots pass under the very light pressure from the wet pad. This doesn't clean the mechanism and tape path of course, but will clean the heads.

Head cleaning tapes are the recommended way to do it, but they're a bit of a cop-out. If the tape says ten seconds, then 5 won't be enough and twenty could wear the head away. This just won't help on the dodgy ones.

Are the problematic tapes recorded in 'long play' mode by any chance? Those were never guaranteed to play on any device other than the one that recorded them, and not necessarily even then.

Otherwise, I sometimes have problems when I capture old tapes from my DSR-11, but fast-forward and rewind of the tape usually sorts it. Not sure whether that's realigning the tape, or rubbing crusty crap off the heads.

FWIW I've never captured with anything other than Softonic winDV (free), and still use it occasionally - never a fault that couldn't be traced to hardware. And the recommended full FF and then rewind before capture should help if the tapes have been 'resting' for a while. Good luck.

PS Oh, yes - Firewire, of course...

Most of my dropped frame situations were almost always traced back to low ram, some other software running, a slow drive.

Most of my dropped frame situations were almost always traced back to low ram, some other software running, a slow drive.That was probably in the early 2000s, though. When I first got a MiniDV camcorder, I had a 400 MHz computer with 2 GB RAM and I captured fine. Even though the computer is 6 years old, I seriously doubt my 16 GB Mac Pro with a 2.8 GHz CPU is even close to running out of resources.(The hard drive is 7200 rpm drive connected via SATA).

In fact, when I check the diagnostics while it's capturing, I'm using less than half the RAM and less than 10% of the CPU.

Are the problematic tapes recorded in 'long play' mode by any chance? Those were never guaranteed to play on any device other than the one that recorded them, and not necessarily even then.

Otherwise, I sometimes have problems when I capture old tapes from my DSR-11, but fast-forward and rewind of the tape usually sorts it. Not sure whether that's realigning the tape, or rubbing crusty crap off the heads.I'll definitely try the FF/REW trick.

And no, all of the tapes are recorded in the 60 minute mode.

I just received a PCI Firewire card today, so I'll also be trying my PC instead of the MAC. And my PC is even less likely to run into resource issues, considering it's running a 4.5 GHz processor and has a nearly empty hard drive.

Lol, Scenalyzer Live is so old that it can't capture to my hard drive with 2.93 TB free because it thinks it is full. I assume that's because the program hasn't been updated since 2006 and can't process disk sizes past a certain amount.

So I'm forced to capture to my SSD with 295 GB free. But it looks like it's working!

Alright! Glad you got it working.

Mark

That's so weird. But glad it's working. Is there a way to do a check on your hard drive in case it's on the way out.

I'm not worried about it. When Scenalyzer Live was last updated, not only was it pre Windows 10, 8, and 7. It was even pre Windows Vista. It was an XP program. Back then, the 2 TB limit hard drive size limit was real. I assume that, when the software requests the amount of free disk space and it gets a number larger than 2 TB, it doesn't know what to do with it, so defaults to thinking there isn't enough space. I seriously doubt there's anything wrong with the fairly new hard drive, since the error happens with both hard drives (both of which have more than 2 TB free), And not because the software is somehow checking the health of the hard drive.

I just went through digitizing all my DV / HDV tapes using FCPX. I found using the "Create Archive" to be the best solution to capture the tapes even with dropped frames. I was then able to import the media from the Archive file and edit. Despite dropped frames I was at least able to select footage that was not effected.

I just went through digitizing all my DV / HDV tapes using FCPX. I found using the "Create Archive" to be the best solution to capture the tapes even with dropped frames. I was then able to import the media from the Archive file and edit. Despite dropped frames I was at least able to select footage that was not effected.If you have access to a Windows computer, I highly recommend using Scenalyzer Live.

Tapes that resulted in a thousand clips, most of which were under a second, were captured just fine on Scenalyzer. (Although I didn't try the Create Archive option.) Because I'm not a Premeire user and really don't want to go through the process of learning a new NLE, I will have to go through the extra step of moving them back to my Mac. But at least I'll have the footage. And the bonus is that I will already have a backup of the original footage.

I still shoot tape , both HDV and DVCAM , with my HVR V1e and DSR 500 , I also have three Firestore FS-4HD DTE recorders , which are great for recording conferences and the like .

I used to plug my camcorders , both current ones and earlier ones , into my Macs to ingest via FireWire . I'm using an 8 core MacPro with 16Gb RAM and a pair of 2Tb internal drives configured as a RAID pair for my scratch disc ; there is a separate OS disc in bay 1 and a time machine disc in bay 2 , nothing beyond the OS resides on these . For data storage I have a number of G Technology G-RAID drives on the FW800 bus and anything beyond work in progress goes onto these ( each drive having a backup copy ) .

To capture from tape , I now use an HVR-M15 deck via FW400 - this works unfailingly into FCP 7 . I never bothered with FCP X as I just can't get my head round it and FCP 7 ( I have the full FCS 3 suite ) does everything I want .

I can't remember when I last saw a drop out , other than last year when a friend handed me four very dusty looking mini DV cassettes with dates in 2003 on them . Being suspicious of them , I used my older DSR45 deck to capture them - one tape was damaged , visibly creased , at one point , and there were occasional drop outs on all four tapes - I put it down to them being recorded on a misaligned camcorder as my decks generally play everything thrown at them without issues , and the DDR 45 still plays other tapes just fine .

I'd be very surprised if the issue the OP is having is to do with his Mac ; it may be some import setting . I used to edit using iMovie on an iMac DV ( the first generation ) and a PowerBook Pismo , which was only a G3 processor , importing from my DCR VX-1000 - that now seems like Stone Age stuff , so the Mac Pro should take it in its stride ; HDV is the same data rate as DV so makes no difference .

The only question mark in my mind would be FCP X , given I have done little beyond play with it in the Apple Store and decided I didn't like it .

Hi All

I have just spent a few weeks ingesting all my miniDV tapes too. I did get some patches of timecode error, but it was just in the first few seconds of the tape. I would get up to twenty short clips then everything settled down. I just ignored it as a problem as it was not an important amount of the sixty minutes of footage.

I captured on my 2010 iMac i5 2.8GHz, 20GB RAM, 1TB HD, macOS Sierra 10.12.6, using iMovie 10.1.6. I had shot most on a Canon MV630i or Sony PDX 10. I only have my Panasonic NV-DX100 left from which to capture. Sold the Sony, the Canon died.

After I had captured each tape, I copied everything off the internal drive to my 8TB desktop drive and deleted the media from the event after each tape was done. I also deleted the Thumbnail and Peaks files each time. I got very good results, but looking back on my miniDV tapes I really wonder why I bothered filming some of the stuff.

I also found thirteen of my tapes were actually blank. What to do with them now?

I did get some patches of timecode error, but it was just in the first few seconds of the tape. I would get up to twenty short clips then everything settled down.

Have been gradually capturing about 200 MiniDV tapes myself, originally shot on a Sony VX-2000, PDX-10 and HVR-Z1U. Using a Sony HVR-M15U deck that I purchased used from Adorama last year since I no longer have any tape based cameras. I started this project using the legacy version of FCP on Mountain Lion but a few months ago I switched to the current version of FCPX under Sierra. Using a 2012 quad core Mini Server with system on an external 1TB Samsung T3 SSD. After capturing, I copy the files to one of two external 5TB hard drives depending on the content. Also have a second pair of 5TB drives for backup.

Has gone pretty well although I have seen something similar to what you describe with lots of little clips from the beginning of some tapes. Generally it hasn't been a problem, but a few of them did have a significant issue that wasn't immediately obvious.

On these captures, the audio is out of sync on that large clip that was captured (not the small clips at the beginning of the tape). And not just a little out of sync - a LOT out of sync, like a second or two. Don't think I've ever seen this happen before, and it was a bit of a pain to fix on one since there weren't any obvious things like somebody clapping their hands to use for sync.

I recall reading that one advantage of the DVCAM format was audio locked to the video on the tape. Guess that would have helped with this problem? Would not have been practical as these are tapes of opera performances where I really needed the full 60 minute run time.

I suppose this could also be caused by some issue with how FCPX captures tapes? Anyway, if you have tapes with a bunch of little clips at the beginning as you described, you might look more closely at them to see if the audio is in sync. I did not notice this until I started editing one of these projects. Some of my tapes were shot with a telephoto lens over 100 feet from the stage with an on-camera mic. These have about a 3 frame offset to the audio which I'm accustomed to fixing. But the big sync problems on some of these tapes was a new one on me!

Thanks Boyd! That is useful advice. I have finished all the capture now, but I am waiting on a new computer to come next week that has USB3 so I can copy all the data onto a new drive for backup, before I start editing. I will look more closely at the sync of those clips when I get to the editing and let you know what I find.