dub from Sony mini-dv not readable on XL1
 

A kind hearted individual is trying to help me out by supplying some supplemental event footage I need. But there is a problem ..

My XL1 (unfortunately is my deck) can't read the tape he sent me. He went from DV Cam to Beta to Mini DV on Sony equipment.

I can see individual frames if I pause during playback but otherwise it *seems* as if the frame rate is too fast or too slow. The effect is similar to (if you're old enough to remember) a vertical hold problem on old TV set.

Any ideas?

thanks

Find out if your friend recorded the mini dv footage in lp mode from the beta....I've had problems like that before..

Thanks - I'll ask him.

I think it's because All Sony DV (consumer or not) reads DVcam as well.

Since your friend went from DVcam to a consumer DV, assuming beta also handles DVcam w/o problem (since its a sony anyway) it is effectively still in DVcam mode.

XL-1s (or Canon's for that matter) can't handle DVcam



I went from a DSR500 to an XL-1 and it didn't work (gave me jerky individual frames like you mentioned) for certain, but worked on a Panny 1 ccd consumer, for some reason.

Guess Panasonic is DVcam friendly too

My guess is a DVCam v. DV problem. If you are making a dub to your Sony Deck, you can certainly switch it to DV mode. This will allow the tape to play in any DV deck/camera.

Cheers

Wesley, I'm just curious if you can recall the model number (or at least year) of the Panny that played back DVCam?

er, nope. Sorry. but it coulda been a JVC as well. There were mixtures of consumer camcorders for the 1st years in Uni. I can't really remember the model, but they were pretty used.

Thanks anyway. I'd love to get my hands on a tape with DVCam video on it so I could see if/how my own camera (PV-DV851) would handle it.

thanks to all
 

The dvcam theory sounds likely, however I won't know for several weeks because my counterpart with the Sony left town for a job.

Thanks to all who replied!

I'd also vote that the tape is DVCAM. Most Sony DVCAM decks will not record DV, although some of the lower end models, such as the DSR11, will record DV as well as DVCAM. Some JVC and some Panasonic decks will play DVCAM but only record DV.

You might see if you can find somebody with any Sony miniDV camera you can borrow. Almost all their cameras, even the consumer single chip ones, will also play DVCAM properly.

There is one other problem it could also be--a head alignment issue with the XL1. If the XL1 has its heads out of alignement, then it would play back tapes it recorded but would not properly play back tapes from other cameras or decks. I've heard of several XL1s and GL1s that had head alignment problems, and this happened. However, in your case I'd vote first for the DVCAM issue.