PAL Hi8/Video8 via DV/FireWire: best capture chain to prevent green strip?
 

I'm working on digitising hi8 tapes. I was using the original Canon camcorder the tapes were shot on to record via s-video into virtualdub2/amarectv via a gv2usb capture card, however both were giving me audio drift issues that I couldn't reliably solve. I do have a ViewCast Osprey 260e PCI-E Analog Video card on the way which I was going to replace the gv2usb with, but I later discovered you can capture hi8 tapes via firewire from a backwards compatible digital8 Sony camcorder, which would reliably keep the audio in sync.

I am using the Sony TRV355e Digital8 Camcorder and my mid 2012 macbook pro with it's inbuilt firewire port to record. All of my footage has a transparent green line on the right side of the frame. See this image. I have tried multiple capture softwares, however this problem seems inherent to the way my camera processes the tape. After searching this forum I found multiple posts on this issue, but the only solution offered was to crop the green line out. This means losing part of the footage underneath, which iscaptured properly via s-video, which I really don't want to lose.

All of the posts I have seen focus on solving the users problem with their particular set up, but instead I am asking whether there is any solution at all possible to record hi8 via firewire without this issue - whether that be with a different camcorder, or a different kind of dv capture device. Otherwise, is there a method to get reliable audio sync during the initial capture of hi8 tapes, and for that matter, any other kind of tape without needing to fix it in post?

I do also have a Panasonic DMR-ES15 on the way which I was planning to use with my S-VHS player - I don't know if that would help at all in capturing hi8 via s-video into say, the superior Viewcast I will have.

Thanks!

There is no edge discoloration inherent to DV. It's simply revealing artifacts in the overscan area that have been on the tape all along, but were unnoticeable when viewed on TVs (either physically masked by the CRT bezel, or digitally cropped on flat-panel TVs).

Capture it via any other method which doesn't crop off the overscan area, and you'll see the same thing.