Digital8 artifacts on side of screen?
 

I'm trying to digitize some Digital8 tapes for a friend. I had to buy a camcorder to do this since I didn't own a camcorder capable of playing Digital8 tapes. It is a Sony DCR-TRV460.

I don't know what kind of camcorder was originally used with these tapes. However, the playback shows some weird artifacts on the right-hand side of the screen the entire time (attached image). They constantly move and change color. They very rarely creep more into the frame than what the picture shows.

Sometimes on the tapes there are "photos", and when it displays a photo, there are no artifacts like this.

Has anyone experienced this? Is this likely a camcorder issue or a tape issue? Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!

Sony DCR-TRV460 > TBC-1000 > Pinnacle 710 > VirtualDub

Most likely tape drop outs, Check the condition of the magnetic tape itself, Try different tapes. Some camcorders have auto cleaning rotary sponge mounted on a shaft, As the foam hardens it clogs the head, It should be removed completely, This requires some repair skills.

Using the wrong capture process for these. D8 tapes are already digital, so no need for a capture card and Vdub. Use the firewire out to a firewire card and WinDV or scenalyzer live. Then it's more like a file copy.

If still having issues after that i'd be making sure heads are clean. miniDV and D8 tapes are also notorious for digital dropouts, especially if recorded in LP mode. Sometimes blocky diginoise are all you're gonna get.

I didn’t even think about doing a different process for the D8 tapes. But that obviously makes a ton of sense. I’m going to get my FireWire setup, try a different camcorder, and then report back. Thank you both for your help!

It's not impossible that either the recording camcorder or the camcorder you are capturing with has a misaligned tape path. (I think this is the symptom you get on misaligned digital8 recording/playback but can't remember 100%.) Not an uncommon issue on 8mm camcorders.

If you have a spare tape you can test whether a fresh recording gives the same symptom, though it's hard to say if it was the recording camcorder or the new one.