How to video TV
 

How do you guys capture such good videos of your televisions? I'm trying to do it with my Sony Handycam and it always seems to capture 1-1/2 fields. They seem to be at the same exact frequency because it doesn't even drift.

John

I'm using a JVC GR-D27U lately. Usually my TV screen caps come out fine but sometimes I do get a slowly crawling dark bar. It's especially annoying because I don't see that bar in the viewfinder. It's only after I transfer the video to my computer that I see it :mad:

Is your Sony HD ?

I have gotten such poor results trying to capture video that I've given up trying (at least with the current camera).

Always a moving dark bar, which seems like it must be due to different frame rates. And if so, I can't think of a way to prevent it. The TV's frame rate is fixed, and I'd imagine the camera's is, too.

Maybe I will haul out my 15-year old camcorder and give that a try. It has the drawback that its pin-head sized microphone makes really awful audio.

Phil Nelson

I wish the frame rates were different for my equipment. Using my Pioneer videodisc player as a source and my Sony DCR-TRV310 camcorder the black bar stays in one place making it look like a defect. It's amazing that the frame rates could be so close in frequency.

Maybe I should try my DVD player.

The camcorder has a slow shutter mode, but it makes it difficult to turn the brightness down low enough and the motion ends up being a bit jerky. It does eliminate the bar though.

John

Drifting a bit off topic, I'm having problems with the select/push wheel on the camcorder so I thought I'd order the service manual to find out how to get to it.

The "condensed" manual is a stack of schematics and literature 3/4" thick thick and 8-1/2 x 11". :yikes:

I'm glad there's nothing serious wrong with it.

John

I had the same issue with my DCR-TRV340, as I suspect a loose connection. When I pressed the jog dial, the screen will go blank until I stop pressing the dial, and also the transport controls would work the wrong functions (pressing [stop] would cause the camcorder to engage in record instead). A temporary fix would be to lightly-to-moderately smack the lower side of the camcorder near the jog dial (with the LCD flipped open) with your hand and so far, it has worked for me every time this problem came up. :D

That also seems to be a popular fix for one of the error codes that pops up. Guess I'll give it a try.

All my other functions work fine. I suspect the wheel isn't soldered well to the flex circuit. I'm waiting to get my reading glasses before I work on it.

John

When I'm using my Nikon Coolpix S560, I'll adjust the brightness until the viewfinder looks OK. Usually the brightness is below the normal setting.

I'll use the exposure control on my Sony D8 camcorder, but I've found the better pictures are from the Coolpix. Much easier to get the video to the PC as well.

Yep... what you actually want is to have the camcorder at a slightly longer eposure... changing frame rates won't make a difference (apart from changing a black bar to a flicker)

What happens is that the dots start to fade a bit before the gun comes by for the next sweep; hence the black line staying in the same spot if the rates are matched). If they're off, the bar is all over the place, and thus you see the screen flicker or the black bar "crawl" No matter your camera's frame rate, it will still catch the black bar somewhere on screen, because the first bright dot and the last faded one will remain a constant distance apart.

If you have a longer exposure (darker light, lower shutter speed) , the camera will take a longer picture and the gun will make more than one pass, illuminating the darker dots twice in the same exposure, reducing the black bar effect. The trick is to time the exposure at the right speed... but it can be done.

Longer exposure is the key.

Funny how sensitive the camera is, I generally have to turn the brightness down to the point that it would be unwatchable with the naked eye.

I got a Flip Mino HD camera last Christmas and it works really well for videoing TV, much easier than the older Sony DV 8mm since there are NO adjustments you can make except Zoom.

The downside is it makes huge files that need a ton of processing power to watch on your PC, the MP4 format is hard to edit and convert too.

The good thing is it can be uploaded directly to YouTube without hassle and in HD quality up to 720p.

Here's a Flip Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EykM_lam17c

You can see a faint bar roll upward at intervals but it's not bad.

Depends if the camera has a rolling or static shutter as to what the effects are with it, rolling shutter tends to make the whole image brightness pulsate in a very strange manner, particually if the screen is only occupying a small part of the frame.

Eric, the video your Flip Mino made came out really good.

Guess I'll have to look for something like that and admit that my Sony Handicam isn't anywhere near state-of-the-art any more.

John

Most video camera's have there exposure set to automatic, if you set that to manual and play with the setting, you should be able to get a better screenshot. Also, changing the color balance will make the screenshot appear less blue'ish.