VHS Tape import issue

I'm running an iMac 7.1/2.8 ghz with Final Cut Studio. Importing a VHS source through a Canopus 110 via RCA cables. A/V settings are DV NTSC 48khz and non-controllable device. The problem happens when I try to import SLP speed VHS tape. The picture and sound break up in a regular interval, about 2 seconds between hits. The breakup is not like a tracking error - it's more like the source seems to loose control track, the picture and sound scramble for 1 second and then it plays correctly for two seconds or so until the next break. It's very rythmic. That same tape plays OK when just running out of the VCR to a monitor. SP VHS tapes work fine...it's just this batch of SLP recorded stock.
Any ideas? And thanks reading the lengthy description!

If it's rhythmic, it's likely edge damage on the tape. A regular ol' TV set will not react fast enough to such glitches but the conversion to DV cannot fill in the missing pieces. Possibly.
If you won't purchase or cannot borrow a TBC, you have only one option, dub the tape directly to DV tape and capture the DV.
Borrow another VHS deck to see if it's your deck causing these problems.
bogiesan

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Capturing old VHS tapes - synching issues

Firstly as I am only a very infrequent user of Premiere Pro I apologise if this has been asked before but my searching hasn't found an answer. Sorry to ask on here but I don't seem to be using the right keywords in search to find the answers either on here on the Premiere Help files.
My problem -
I have an ION VCR 2 PC device that plays VHS tapes and converts them to digital format. However when I used it to capture a long VHS tape the resultant capture was useless as the sound was out of synch after a few minutes because a blank (red?) frame was not inserted where a video frame was dropped although the sound ran on uninterupted. I want to try again but don't want to waste time if all that will happen is the same issue recurs. What settings do I need to make for the capture so that the video and sound timelines match with points where frames have been dropped at the very least marked so I can hand edit the soundtrack back into synch?*
Version of PP = 5.0.3 fully updated. System is Windows 7 64 bit on a high spec machine.
*NB I have noted from other found posts that to minimise dropped frame risks during the capture run I need to stop all background processes and virus checks etc., and capture to the main HDD on my PC not to the external USB network drive.

I know nothing about an ION device, but will "guess" it then connects to your computer via Firewire, since Firewire is all that PPro will use
Yes, using a USB drive will cause problems due to the file transfer speed
Adding a 2nd 7200rpm hard drive inside your computer, or one connected by eSata, will work better - I have not used this device, but it may work for you, if you have an eSata connection http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-BlacX-eSATA-Docking-Station/dp/B001A4HAFS/ref=cm_cmu_pg_ t
The external conversion devices most often mentioned here are...
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc55 One Way Only to Computer
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110 for good tapes, or
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300 better with OLD tapes
Or
ADS Pyro http://www.adstechnologies.com

HELP - VHS Tape Import via Canopus ADVC110 creating giant file size?

HELP. When I import video from a VCR tape via a Canopus ADV110 the file size is massive. A 9 minute clip is 15GB? This makes burning even a short project impossible. What am I doing wrong? I have preferences set to NTSC 29fps. It must be some kind of high resolution setting?
Please help.

Hi John
Wounder what kind of project You started ? (HD ?)
Mac OS ?, iMovie 5.0.2 ?? and QT ???
I would:
- start a new account so that iMovie will make new pref files
- start a normal DV project in iMovie (NTSC if You like)
- only work on the internal hard disk (no ext. PC-formatted device)
What will 9 min end up as ?
Yours Bengt W
G3/G4 Blue white Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Is there a way to import videos from old VHS tapes so that they can be later accessible to processing with imovie?

Is there any way to import videos from old VHS tapes so that thry can later be processed by imovie?

I recently got a new iPhone, and after restoring all my stuff from my old iPhone via the iTunes restore thing, I had to put all my music on manually, instead of it being restored.
iTunes content is not included with your iPhone's backup - no music, movies, tv shows, podcasts, audio and print books, tones, and apps. All iTunes content must be transferred back to your iPhone when restoring. If you sync music with Sync Music selected under the Music tab for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes, music is transferred back to your iPhone from your iTunes library when syncing - syncing is followed after the iPhone is restored. If you manually manage music and videos with this selected under the Summary tab for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes, you must manually drag all music from your iTunes library back to your iPhone. Manually manage music means manually all the way.

Audio Drift when importing VHS Tapes-Do I need a Canopus ADVC 300

Embarking on the daunting task of importing/editting >100 2hr VHS tapes, and want to get the best results for my efforts.
I pop a tape into a VCR connected via S-Video (video) and RCA (audio) cables to a Sony DVMC-DA1 AD converter, and from there to my Mac Pro via Firewire. Use FCE "Capture Now" using NTSC DV Converter setup. Start capture, let it run unattended, and return at my leisure to do some rough editting.
Problem is the audio on the imported clip gradually loses sync, by about 2 seconds by the end of the clip. The sync problem is present on the clip when played with Quicktime as well.
Questions:
1. Is there a reasonable way to correct this in FCE?
2. Since my Sony converter is nearing 10 years old, will use of a more recent AD converter such as the Canopus ADVC 300 result in a perfectly synced import?
3. If so, can you comment on the Canopus's purported video noise reduction and image stabilization capabilities? Is it noticable/worthwhile?
Thanks for your time.

Hello,
The problem is the audio is not 'locked' to the video, and your old Sony DVMC-DA1 does not appear to support locked audio.
The only way you might deal with this in FCE itself would be to capture shorter clips (say, under 15 minutes each) which would minimize the degree to which the audio drifts out of sync in each clip. (The longer the clip, the greater the drift.)
Given the large amount of video you wish to digitize (some 200 hours), it will be far preferable to use a Canopus ADVC-100, 110 or higher model - +they all support DV locked audio+ - so the video & audio are sync'd without the need for manual intervention or capturing short clips.
I have used the Canopus 100 & 110 extensively and have been very happy with the results. Sometimes, depending on the VHS tape, there is some slight banding at the very bottom of the image but 1) this is +usually not visible+ in the finished movie because it is outside the 'image safe area' and 2) if necessary can be compensated via about a 2%-4% enlargement of the image in FCE (which is not enough to soften the image).
I have not used the Canopus 300 because I never felt the need, as I am happy with my results from the 100 & 110. Users of the 300 have been pretty positive about its built-in TBC and image cleaning capabilities.

Importing VHS tapes w/ADVC-300 help

Please help, I'm converting a large number of VHS tapes to DVD using a ADVC-300 Analog to Digital Converter and a Sony VCR. Everything imports fine but everytime the signal hits a break in the tape (the old VHS snowstorm) iMovie stops importing. Since most of these tapes were made by my mother in law, nearly every couple minutes there is a break in the tape and I have to constantly hit import to begin again after a break.
While I enjoy being glued to 45 VHS tapes of my wive's childhood, I rather set it and forget it! It might be a function of the ADVC-300 but I was hoping there is a way to configure iMovie to import till disk full or stopped regardless of the signal coming in.
Thanks!

Hi Tom
I have an ADVC 100. I've imported VHS video through a panisonic VCR snow and all with no problems into imovie 5. The problem could be with the VCR or the ADVC 300.
A possible work around could be to set the VCR to play the video through to a mini DV tape camcorder. It should record one continueous video on a single time code. Then you should be able to import directly to iMovie -- snow and all!
It's an extra step, but you don't have to baby sit the VCR.
Good luck
Carl

Audio quality in video imported from VHS tapes

Hi All,
I am trying to import old videos on VHS tapes, using a Canopus converter. The video is importing into iMovie just fine, but the audio has a loud buzzing sound that covers up the actual audio and is very annoying. Is there a way to extract the audio so I can clean it up using Sound Soap, then return the cleaned up version to iMovie?
I am using iMovie '09, version 8.0.5.
I also use Final Cut Express, so maybe it would be better to just export it to FCE and then extract the video from there?
Please give as much step by step detail as possible for both approaches. In the iMovie "Help" it said to extract audio using advanced tools, but I couldn't find a command in any of the advanced tools to do that.
Thanks.

Is there a way to extract the audio so I can clean it up using Sound Soap
iMovie 06 has some good filters for that.
I also use Final Cut Express, so maybe it would be better to just export it to FCE and then extract the video from there?
Final Cut Express (or iMovie 06) will give you better quality but it won't solve the buzzing noise. I also suspect a grounding problem.

Importing VHS Tapes?

Hello,
I have a Honestech VHS to DVD converter package. It comes with a converter box that I can plug in audio and video cables, along with s-video. I don't prefer the software that the package comes with because it is Windows software. You plug the box into your computer with USB. Is it possible to let iMovie or some other Mac application import the my VHS tapes from this box? iMovie does not detect the box when I click "import from camera", so I am willing to try a different Mac application that would recognize it.
Thanks for your help.

If you want to import video on the Mac, there are several options.
1) There is the EyeTV Hybrid. Like the Honetech, it accepts the RCA cables and s-video. It also accepts high definition TV signals from an antenna or cable box. It records in MPEG2 format, so additional conversion is required before editing in iMovie. I do this with MPEG Streamclip (free) and the Apple Quicktime MPEG2 Playback Component ($20). EyeTV does not make DVDs but it can output files that can be burned with Toast or iDVD.
2) Canopus makes a line of converters that will convert analog input from RCA cable or S video into DV which can be imported directly into imovie.
3) Certain miniDV camcorders and Digital 8 camcorders will allow passthrough analog conversion. You plug in the RCA cable or the video cable into the camcorder and it converts to DV and outputs via Firewire. This can be imported directly into imovie. I recently bought a Digital 8 camcorder on eBay for a price much lower than the Canopus for the purpose of importing some old 8mm camcorder tapes.

Import VHS Tape from VCR

Hi all,
I have some old family tapes on vhs to import imto the mac.
in the past I used a canopus and imported to quicktime 7 with h.264 and all was good - but now it seems as though QT 7 is broken and won't import more than a few minutes
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=quicktime+7+maximum+duratio n&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Basically I want to just do some basic clean up after then save them as h.264 for archiving
So what is the best way to import these videos now?
IMovie or final cut pro or Adobe premier or another app (I'm not very good at final cut or adobe)?

Use the Canopus to import into iMovie.

VHS tapes drop-out while importing

Im importing VHS tapes to iMovie and without fail, every so many minutes they drop-out and the screen goes blue, though the tape hasnt stopped playing. Is there some way to stop this? Do I just need a new box? I have a Pinnacle Movie Box DV from a few years ago, and Id prefer not to spend a fortune!

Sometimes it is just the poor quality of the original VHS tapes, especially if the tape was recorded at extremely long play. I think the code was EP rather than SP or LP.
I have recorded ALL my VHS tapes to miniDV so that I would not cause further degradation as I tried to import VHS footage. Probably around 100 hours of miniDV tapes. Most of the tapes were ok with occasional blips of dropped frames.
However, one of my son's baseball games was recorded by someone who made copies of his original tape and gave all the team members copies. It is about 14 years old, and had become absolutely terrible with multiple video drop-outs. I copied the entire game to minDV, and then imported that into iMovie.
I spent a lot of time editing out the bad video drop-outs. Most of them were ok to lose, but some had important audio in the midst of the blue screen. It was tedious editing, and my iMovie quickly bloated up to 100 GB of space. Yes, that is correct......100 GB. Fortunately, I was making the movie on an external drive and had enough space.
I did the final version by sharing the iMovie as Full-Quality QuickTime movie and making a new iMovie with the quicktime one--which ended up being only 8GB!!!
So, you will have to decide if it is worth it to edit those sections on a nearly frame-by-frame basis. Is it worth the time and effort and large size of the movie, or can creatively put some good video clips over the bad to preserve the good audio segments?

Importing VHS tapes into iMovie

I have several VHS movies that I am importing into iMovie from a VCR to a Pinnacle Movie Box DV which is hooked up to my computer. The box is a few years old and I am having a problem. I cant simply start the import and walk away because without fail every so often the video screen in iMovie goes blue and while the tape is still playing, nothing is being imported. I have to stop the tape rewind it to where it stopped being imported, and start again. This is VERY frustrating!!! Is it my box, or iMovie???

Hi
My Guess. There might be drop outs on Your VHS tapes and Your A/D-box stops
importing then.
I payed up for a more costly way. Canopus ADVC-300. But this costs.
Alt. I used was to connect my miniDV tape Camera and download 1 hour at a time
to tape and use this. The tape has been pre-recorded with eg a wall so that I get
an unbroken time-code on it.
one hour passes are better than constantly supervicing.
iMovie is more accepting to drop-outs than FinalCut Express or pro (my experience)
Setting iMovie to import without breaking up in individual clips works better
for me. (Material from VHS/VCRs doesn't carry the information that can divide
into separat clips anyhow)
Yours Bengt W

Device for importing old VHS tapes into Mac to edit and make DVDs

Having tried one device unsuccessfully, we're looking for a device that we can use to convert old VHS tapes so we can edit in iPhoto/ Movie and store on DVDs. The one we tried came from the Apple retail store, but the Genius Bar was not able to get it to work. Thanks.

Here is how I do that (this only works with non-copy protected videos):
Connect the VHS tape player via RCA cables to an analogue-to-digital converter like, for example, the Canopus ADVC110.
Connect the converter via firewire to your Mac.
Import into iMovie as DV stream (I use iMovie 6). Edit out irritating commercials (from TV programs) and other glitches.
Convert to standard DVD format of mpeg2 in iDVD and burn to reliable media like Verbatim DVD-R.
Job done!

IMovie quits importing with gaps in VHS tape

I'm using a Canopus ADVC110 to import old family VHS tapes into iMovie, and the import will quit whenever there are gaps in the VHS tape. Unfortunately there are many gaps, because it was our habit to separate clips that way. Is there an iMovie setting to prevent the import from quitting? I currently have to sit with every tape I'm importing to identify where it quits, and the start a new import, repeatedly, and it's frustrating. I'd rather edit clips once the whole tape has imported. Thanks for advice!

I'm using a Canopus ADVC110 to import old family VHS tapes
The Grassvalley ADVC300 will fix this.
The Grassvalley ADVC300 will "fill in" any missing time codes from tape.
This is a prosumer deck. The time code function is alone worth the price if you have old analog footage. Absolutely NO "Out Of Sync" audio.
I've played around with countless other conversion systems, ranging in price from $79 to $399. Short verison, this is the ONLY unit to own. No dropped frames at all, even with questionable quality tapes, no jitter, great color, excellent sound quality. Zero setup with iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11. ( iMovie HD 06 is the best to import VHS tapes. )
ADVC300 is for anyone who wants to do editing and is concerned about quality of color and speed, for the novice it is an incredible gizmo that will restore VHS tapes to a state close to the original fixing midtones, highlights and shadows on the fly. Not only can you simply convert analog to digital you can actually manipulate the signal going in (if you want to).
A bit pricey but it WORKS.
The ADVC300 has been discontinued by the manufacturer. The included software (which is not really necessary but does enhance performance) is not compatible with OS 10.7 or newer. You can still find the ADVC300 for sale in a few outlets as well as eBay. It will sell between 50% and 100% ABOVE its retail price. Yes, it's that good.
For sale on Amazon and eBay.

Eyetv 250 importing to imovie from vhs tapes

Okay Guys, I need a lot of help.
I am new to mac and I love it. I used to use Pinnacle Studio 10. I have a lot of old camcorder tapes which through the use of a tape adapter I am able to play camcorder tapes in the VCR. Then connect the VCR to elgato eye tv. I use the eye tv VHS assistant and play my movie into elgato.
I want to encode these movies and ultimatly put them on DVD.
So after I did the import I tried to drag the file into IMOVIE.
I got this message..
The file could not be imported: The file “MacBook/Volumes/backup drive/EyeTV Archive/My VHS Tape - 9/10/06 9_21 PM.eyetv” can’t be imported; QuickTime couldn’t parse it: -43
I realized that the problem is the format that was imported was not compatible with imovie. I did more research and realized I that i could export the file to another format. There are several options, MPEG 4, Imovie, IDVD, etc.
What setting do I use to export the files? Also I want to combine several different sections of video. Can I do this. How can I export the section as a clip and drag the clip into imovie.
Any advice would be great.

I just imported my first clip into iMovie today and it was captured from a Hi-8 Camcorder using Eyetv250. I used eyetv2 software's export option and chose "iMovie HD" as the format. I only did this because I thought I had to, knowing that it was going to be imported in iMovie HD6. This however created a 13+gig file from what was originally a 2.5gig file ! So , I don't think that was the right choice. I am going to go back and export using the Quicktime Movie setting toward the bottom of the export format option list (within eyetv2). That setting will produce a video export of the same size as the original.
Another thing I am going to try is to go into the "package" ( a package is basically a folder ) that is created by eyetv2 and try dropping the quicktime file directly into iMovie and see if it will import that way. If you go to the folder where your .eyetv file is placed (Eyetv archive) and right click on that .eyetv file you can choose to "show package contents". When you do that you will find a number of files, including a .mpg file which I assume contains the actual video footage which I would think iMovie can import directly. I'll come back here and post what happens but go ahead and try it.
Mac Mini Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Importing VHS tape into iMovie.

I am importing VHS tapes into either imovie 09 or 06. When I play back in the program, it has good quality. But when I save it, no matter what format: mp4, .avi, .mov, etc. The quality is very poor when played back on DVD player.
Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?

I am importing VHS tapes into either imovie 09 or 06.
Use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09.
iMovie 09 and 11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
Your workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, so iMovie 06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination.

VHS Tape import issue

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