Video-8 (8MM) Problems digitizing them

[Solid_State]

I have a bunch of 8MM cassette tapes that I recorded with a Canon ES-190 (Which was stolen from me ) but today I picked up another camera to try and digitize my cassettes while they are still in playable condition (Which they are)

The camera I picked up is an Olympus VX-802 from 1988 (The recorder was the Canon ES-190 from 1999) and just Video 8/Mono audio like the Olympus

The camera works perfectly when displayed on the TV screen (No picture jumps or drop outs).

But when hooked up to a computer the picture jumps and drops out every couple of seconds (The audio is fine though)

The capture card is a Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE and the computer is an HP D530 CMT with a Pentium 4 3.20GHZ/2GB Ram and XP Professional

I also see that same jump/drop out even when in camera mode and also when the tape is stopped
Is there a way to fix this? or are my cassettes forever analog

Thanks

[sweitzel]

Capture cards are extremely sensitive to time base errors whereas a television can compensate. If I were in your shoes I would check craigslist or some thrift stores for a digital-8 camcorder that has a firewire output. Digital 8 cameras can play back analog video8 tapes and will put out a stable digital datastream which you can capture with a firewire card on your PC. If this isn't an option, I would look into buying a time base corrector off ebay and run your Olympus analog camera through that then into your Hauppauge capture card.

[Electronic M]

Another option is to record the signal using a DVD recorder (or a DVD recorder/VHS combo) most of them have decent enough internal TBCs (time base correctors) to record even mediocre-poor tapes. Use DVD-RW discs if supported by the recorder. After you've got what you want on the disc pop it into your computer, copy the files on the DVD to your hard drive, and erase (unless you want it on DVD) the DVD-RW (if you are using -RW) then record the next tape onto the disc....

I strongly recommend keeping the analog masters after copying to digital since recordable DVDs can degrade to unplayable in under a decade, and if I had a 20$ bill for every hard drive that has died on me with no or insufficient back up I could buy a new computer. Tape don't degrade (unless you store it in temperature or humidity extremes)....I have video tapes from the early 70's that still play as good as the day they were recorded, and audio tapes dating back to at least the 50's which still sound as good as when new.

[Solid_State]

The Hauppauge card I have has an on-board MPEG encoder
I found another card in my computer "junk" pile (also a Hauppauge) without the MPEG encoder and that seems to work fine with the camera

[Solid_State]

Also I now have another question
Would adding one of those "Digital Video Stabilizers" would that do any good or would it just make matters worse?
Thanks

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Solid_State

Also I now have another question
Would adding one of those "Digital Video Stabilizers" would that do any good or would it just make matters worse?
Thanks

These things have nothing to do with stabilizing the signal; they only remove the copyguard to prevent the instability in re-recording that copyguard is intended to cause. Some old, old TVs are sensitive to the presence of copyguard, but that is irrelevant since your private videos do not have copyguard anyway.

[Solid_State]

OK I seem to have solved the problem
The cameras "adapter" has a built in RF modulator and using that to channel 3 on the tuner card the picture is as good as it is going to get for an SD camera and no jumping or picture drop outs like I had when it was connected via composite

[NJRoadfan]

1. You need a time-base corrector
2. You likely need a better camcorder

An RF connection is horrible for archiving tapes to digital.