Video8 tape playback sound, but no picture?
 

After thinking about it for decades, I finally borrowed a camera to transfer my Video8 tapes (also done VHS and miniDV) to MP4-files.

This has been going quite well, until I got around to the Video8 tapes. Some minutes into one of the tapes the picture got distorted, showed a blue screen, then picture and so on. I tried fast forward/rewind a couple of times, fast forward during play, cleaning cassette, without luck. I found some articles online suggesting using different cameras due to misalignment (?), and borrowed another camera (Sony Handycam Video Hi8 XR CCD-TR840E, first one being a Sony DCR-TRV120E). This time the picture was ok/fine and I managed to transfer two tapes which had issues on the first camcorder.

In between I checked other tapes recorded on the same camcorder (I do have it, but it is not possible to power on - Sony Handycam CCD-F450E) to make sure the camcorders didn't have general playback issues.

But, the last two tapes have issues on both camcorders, distorted image/blue screen/audio noise. I do see the recording in play/fast forward, but have not been able to do regular playback.

Unfortunately one of these tapes contains the only recording I have of my late grandparents, and it breaks my heart not to be able to recover the content. And, of course I blame myself for not doing this 25 years ago when my camcorder was still working...

All help is appreciated. I'm afraid I won't be able to modify a camera or similar tasks, but anything that can get me closer to a potetial tape rescue is highly appreciated!

Regards, Cathrine

If the tapes aren't physically damaged it's probably a combination of the camera itself and whatever poor capture device you are using.

If you do not want to get a setup yourself then you can, if you are comfortable with doing so, mail out the tapes to some people here on the forum that use much higher quality gear such as myself.

Either:
- Your tape is dirty. It's rarely something you can visually see. This is one of the few instances.
- All of your tapes are dirty, and it has now accumulated on the camera.

What happens when you try to play a tape your know what fine at time of previous capture?

I'm afraid to ask, but what did you use for capture card and software? Capturing direct to MP4 is almost always terrible.

Due to your issues, and the likelihood that you've never seen what a quality capture looks like, I'm really tempted to accept this project from you.

I can only hope the tapes are possible to playback/transfer, and if the solution requires high technical skills/camera modifications I would have to ask for professional help of someone who actually wants to look at it - knowing there are issues.

Both cameras were tested with other tapes in between the "bad" ones to rule out erros on the camcorder itself (dirt etc.).

I know that my home non-professional setup is not the best (I'm only doing this for my own tapes), so instead of dealing with one old PC with FireWire or unfamiliar capture card/SW, I've connected the cameras to a Philips DVDR with DV input. For Video8 I have connected the Video8 camera to a miniDV camera (pass through) to the DVDR. The files are stored on the DVDR, burned to a DVD (*.VOB) and converted to *.MP4 later on. Probably not the best way to do it, but I had the DVDR, and it works (memories saved) :)

And that is what I hope for with these two tapes - save memories, especially since this is the only recording I have of my grandparents.

Thank you both for your replies, any help is appreciated.

That's actually a decent method. Not best, but also from worst.

However... Firewire?
But you're using a Sony CCD-TR840E?
- Hi8 cameras have composites output, sometimes also s-video
- Also, E means PAL

So you're PAL?
Europe? Australia?

Yes, that is important content. :salute:

They look to be in Norway, so yeah they are in Europe.

Don't have any PAL machines so I can't help I'm afraid.

The Hi8 camera is connected to the miniDV camera with composite to AV (minijack) cable, and the miniDV is connected with DV/FireWire/iLink/IEEE1394 cable to the DVDR :) (sorry for mixing up the terms)
Yes, in Norway, but reaching out to the world hoping to solve my problem.
When there is a picture doing play/fast forward, is it hope of recovery, or could the tape still be ruined?

Hmm... I wonder if that chain is causing issues.
For testing, remove the DV camera, and run the Hi8 tape in the Hi8 camera directly to the DVD recorder.

I didn't clearly see it in the thread, but do the problematic tapes play OK if the player is connected directly to a TV input?

I ask because TV sets are generally more forgiving of out-of-spec video signals than capture cards or recording equipment.

I'm viewing the tape on the camera itself, so unfortunately the tape is the issue - not the connected devices :-(

Since another tape played ok changing from one camera to another, I'm hoping it will be possible to recover this as well, so any advice is welcome.

Some of your tapes are probably clogging the heads, for easy troubleshooting try to get a cleaning cassette, cleaning the video head only may not solve the problem if the entire tape path is dirty, Are the tapes ME (metal evaporated)? if so, those are notorious for SSS or at least dry flaking of the magnetic layer.

I don't think the camcorder can be the issue. I can change to a different tape which will play just fine, so it's just that specific tape (MP tape) :-(

When you switch to other tapes they may clean the tape path and when you put that tape back it clogs the heads, It's a possible scenario to consider. If a part of that tape plays perfectly at times and it doesn't play at other times it's a clear indication of a tape shed.

Sadly it is only flickering or blue screen, but thank you for this information. I appreciate all the input and help.

Rgds, Cathrine

I wish I had better news for you. It can be really hard to diagnose certain errors online, with tape in hand.

If you're ready to give up, and willing to risk mailing the tape, I know somebody in Norway. I'll send him a message, see if he's interested in helping you. For a fee, most likely, of course. Also PM me your city, he might be close, no mail needed, I can check on that as well.

FWIW: failure to play at normal speed, yet showing an OK but fast image at high speed (say 2x) playback may indicate a malfunctioning head (one of the two) resulting in missing fields and associated audio. If it happens when played on known good players it likely happened during the recording process.

Some players will revert to a blue screen if they detect problems with the image such as missing fields, but will not switch to blue screen at the fast playback.

A recovery kludge might be to record the fast play image and then slow it down to normal speed using an appropriate editor. Not great but perhaps better than nothing.

Here’s a pretty good discussion of some issues with specific Sony tapes.

https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...uring-hi8.html

Maybe it relates to your tapes as well.

BW

Is it possible the recording has PCM audio, which your camcorder doesn't support?

Dealing with tricky Video8 tapes

He stated he is getting sound but no picture, So the nature of audio shouldn't matter, Should it?

I wouldn't think so.