Do I really need a Sony to capture a tape made on a Sony Cam?
 

Hi all, I am trying to capture a mass of tapes created on a Sony DV cam, but we have an XL1s hooked up to the editing bay and it won't play the tapes correctly. FCP was giving me all these timecode errors but I then noticed that the audio was not playing correctly.

The audio is not playing even thru the cams headphone jack. In the viewfinder of the XL1s the words Stereo and 16 bit are flashing on and off while playing the tape back. That can't be good. Now what?!? Do I really need a Sony camera to capture a tape recorded on a Sony? arg...

Thanks for ur immediate help, this is a hot one for me!!!
Cheers
HG

depends. the tape might have been shot in 12 bit or in LP or any other number of reasons.
I don't use FCP but shot with sonys and use panasonic tapes,capture with an 8 year old jvc 1 chip camera. Works fine. I've also captured tapes shot with Canon GLs andXL cameras so it could be anything.
I would try a Sony camera and see if it works. If not then youneed to find out whether it was shot in LP or DV or DVCAM (depends on the camera).
Don

Don, I found out from a pal in the FCP forum that Sony uses a format called DVCAM that nothing but another Sony will read. This explains why none of our Canons or Pani's can read the tapes. What a lark! Just when u think there is a standard...
thanks...

DVCam is used as a choice on certain pro level cameras, but regular DV on all others. It seems to me that if you are getting some image, then DVCam is not the issue. Back a few years ago, I recall issues between tracking with the Canon v. Sony cameras. Everything being laid down on the tape is digiit code, but as I remember, some claimed that where the digital information was laid down on the tape made a difference.

Hi Chris, I am assuming this IS the problem, as the shooter used a Sony cam that writes both formats DVCAM and DV, and I had captured the tapes using another Sony DV Cam, HDR-FX1, and now we just have Canons and a busted tape deck to do captures. The tapes played fine on the Sony, but not the Canon. It seems the canon is having a hard time decoding the audio, which freaks everything else out, especially FCP. Cheers!

is it a sony DVCAM camera or a sony DV camera?

it's probably not working because DVCAM is different than DV...the canon will only play DV. With DVCAM, the information is recorded at a different speed...so assuming it's DVCAM, to play it correctly, you need either a DVCAM camera or deck.

DVCAM is essentially the same signal as DV, but recorded at a different track pitch (track width and tape speed), and that may cause problem during playback on a non-Sony machine. Note that some Sony DV machines can play back DVCAM although not record it.

Machines like the PD150 and PD170 can do either DV or DVCAM.

Pretty sure it was recorded on a PD150, that's the camera of choice here in NP. And the capture camera was a HDR-FX1, so this all makes sense now. Except that now I think I have to go rent a Sony for this project...sure wish shooters would label their tapes correctly:)

Wow, what do u know! U do need a sony to play back a miniDV tape made by a sony:)

that being said, if it was recorded in DV mode (not DVCAM), the canon camera should be able to play it fine.

Right! With that all this being said, I guess we should invest in a tape deck that will handle both formats. Can anyone recommend a model? thanks.
HG

Any of the sony DVCAM decks will play (and record) both DVCAM and DV. I'm pretty sure the sony HDV decks will as well, but if you only deal with SD you can save some $$ by just picking up a used DVCAM deck like a DSR-11, 20, 25, 40 or 45.

I have the DSR-25...it's a great deck.

Thanks for the tip! the -25 looks sweet. Now to find one in Nepal - Ha!