DCR-TRV350 to PC

connorhawke

DCR-TRV350 wasn't listed for Final Cut Pro or iMovie at Cameras supported by Final Cut Pro X or iMovie for macOS supported cameras ...

BUT I have iMovie so did a test import of just over a minute. It worked. It imports as a .mov at about 280mb for 70 seconds. At over 20 tapes looks like this project will eat up quite a few gigs... Will have to allocate some spare storage for this before I proceed. At least it works.

connorhawke

I've reached an impasse with at least two of the tapes I'm trying to convert. These tapes have a mixture of analog, "VHS import (?)" and/or digital sections on the tape and don't seem to import properly on iMovie. Note I am only trying to capture the analog bits; I don't need to record the film or Digital8 bits (the latter of which were tests and have no content).

For example, one tape has analog recordings made using a non-Digital8 camera, apparently recorded in patches over an old animated film; not sure if that film was on the tape to begin with or it was somehow directly imported onto the tape (it's not simply a recording of a TV playing the film), but anyway, it seems whenever the iMovie recording reaches a part of the tape where it shows the film that was recorded over, the prior bits made using the analog camera are not imported (and neither is the film bit).

Another example involves a mixture of analog and digital. It seems if a tape has both older 8mm and Digital8 bits on it, whenever the iMovie recording reaches a Digital8 point then the prior, older 8mm content is not imported while only the Digital8 part is imported.

I'm guessing in either case it is essentially because the tape has different "formats" on it and the software is designed to successfully import only one format at a time. As imperfect workarounds I have done two things:
1) Stop the iMovie recording before it reaches a bit with the film or Digital8, and/or resume iMovie recording after said bits. The issues here are that (i) at least a partial second at either edge of the analog bit may not be recorded as I work around the film/Digital8, and (ii) several import files are created instead of just one.
2) Do a screen recording, e.g. using macOS's default Screenshot app, with the microphone volume turned up to max (since direct sound capture doesn't seem possible on this) as the iMovie recording is playing. Obviously this is far from a perfect capture of the picture and sound.

Is there a better way around this such that I can do a straightfoward import without needing the workarounds above (as I can with the other, only-analog tapes), perhaps using different soft/hardware or components? For example, is iMovie or something else to blame? Reminder of what I'm using: Video8/Hi8 tapes in a Digital8 DCR-TRV350 camcorder (which can play older 8mm tapes) importing to a Mac with iMovie using a FireWire400 cable, FireWire400-800 adapter, and FireWire800-Thunderbolt2 adapter. Thanks for any help.

Peter Brereton

Might be worth switching the Auto Analogue/Digital switching to either analogue or digital and make two passes of the tape. I know there can be a significant delay when using auto select function, also try switching the TBC off, the TBC can fail to lock sometimes causing incorrect analogue sensing giving no output even when an analogue recording is known to exist.
I capture using Sony Vegas via FireWire on a 32 bit machine running Windows 10
Peter

connorhawke

Thanks for the tip, I tried switching PB MODE from AUTO to Hi8/8 on my DCR-TRV350 but this didn't seem to work well for me. It recovered slightly less at the beginning and the analog bits imported chopped and distorted. I guess I'll just go with what I have. Thanks though.

connorhawke

Another issue, I notice audio starts to lag behind video on some analog videos regardless of whether there are digital bits, any ideas? It only happens a while after the tape starts, and oddly sometimes seems to reset so it's back in sync, but gradually delays again. On another forum I read that changing audio digitization from 12 to 16 bit to match the software worked for someone; anyone know how and if to try it in my case?

Edit: also, my latest import got automatically split into 5 files, at certain gaps in the footage, although it was all analog... wtf?

connorhawke

I tried reimporting using PB MODE Hi8/8 and both the chopped clips and audio delay issues were resolved, which is strange as this mode didn't work well for another tape, causing stutters compared to AUTO mode and not resolving audio delay. I'm now using Final Cut Pro but I doubt this makes a difference as the import system seems the same. Both tapes had mixed analog/digital meaning that any analog sections between digital sections were not imported on a full run regardless of pb mode and had to be retrieved by selective importing. The remaining tapes should be all analog so I'll try just using Hi8/8 mode. Hopefully smooth sailing from hereon out...

shotokan101

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Sony DCR-TRV350 Review: A Look at Its Specifications 2019 - Camcorder Now                                                                                                        Released in 2003, the Sony DCR-TRV350 was a bridge between the analog technology of the past and the digital video future.                                                                                                                                                                                                        camcordernow.com

connorhawke

Question: if I want to make minor edits to a few brief portions of an import and save the video with the original quality (lossless), what export method should I use? I'm using Final Cut Pro.

Edit (more info): in the past, I found it was possible to do direct cuts to the start or end of some video types in QuickTime without any apparent re-rendering. However, it doesn't seem possible to do direct cuts on a clip in FCP without re-rendering. It seems the only way to edit an imported clip there is to create a new project with defined settings that may differ from the original clip, dragging the imported clip into the project, making the cuts, then exporting. These imported clips also currently don't seem to be able to have direct cuts applied in QuickTime either, unfortunately.

Of course, if there is another app I can use to achieve what I want (direct cuts to portions of the mov import without compression), I'm all ears.

Edit 2: Just solved the issue with an older version of QuickTime. The cut feature is available in QuickTime 7 Pro and luckily I still have a working registration code for that. I was able to cut the portions with ease and based on the quick save time and comparisons of frames these were definitely direct cuts therefore preserving the integrity of the rest of the footage. I'm not sure why Apple would remove such a useful feature, but in case QT7 Pro becomes too obsolete to use anymore, can anyone recommend an alternative when it comes to that in case it's needed?

connorhawke

One more question for now: a few "interference" lines appear at the bottom of all the tapes. They aren't too distracting but wondering if there's an easy way to prevent them. I read that it may be due to a faulty camcorder.

Terfyn

The problems with tape based systems are wear and muck. You can clean the heads but you cannot do much for wear.
That is why for many years now SD cards are used, they have their faults, but wear and dirty read heads are not a problem