I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and corrected
it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

Dave

"dave" wrote in message
...
I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and taken
on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and corrected
it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

Dave


All the tools and answers you require/need, can/should be found he
http://www.videohelp.com/

--
The man who smiles when things go wrong has
thought of someone to blame it on.

Nitro® wrote:

"dave" wrote in message
...
I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first
3 were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and
corrected it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

Dave


All the tools and answers you require/need, can/should be found he
http://www.videohelp.com/

Thanks for that link, I'll pass it onto him to send with the DVD's when
he posts them to New Zealand. It will be there that they get editted. I
was originally trying to find out what had caused the degredation in
quality, to let him know how to store magnetic media.

Thanks again

Dave

In article ,
dave wrote:
I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Doesn't sound like any tape problem I've ever seen - more like a faulty
transfer.

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and corrected
it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

You can't do much correction on something which originated in composite
video.

--
*Gaffer tape - The Force, light and dark sides - holds the universe together*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Jun 6, 11:41*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article ,
* *dave wrote:

I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.
Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Doesn't sound like any tape problem I've ever seen - more like a faulty
transfer.

I think so too. Think about how the data is recoded on the tape.


NT

NT wrote:
On Jun 6, 11:41 pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:

I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.
Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.
Doesn't sound like any tape problem I've ever seen - more like a faulty
transfer.

I think so too. Think about how the data is recoded on the tape.

My stance was think about how easy it could be to corrupt that data with
poor storage. The other 3 tapes that successfully transferred were kept
in a garage since the mid eighties. The storage location of the last
tape is unknown.

Thanks anyway

Dave

In article ,
dave wrote:
My stance was think about how easy it could be to corrupt that data with
poor storage. The other 3 tapes that successfully transferred were kept
in a garage since the mid eighties. The storage location of the last
tape is unknown.

Are you certain the original tape was recorded without faults?

I do quite a bit of 1/4" tape transfers, and it's common to to be told the
original was perfect - when in fact it's been recorded at too low a level
and is covered in hum and hiss. I've also been asked why my transfer is in
mono - when the original was too. ;-) The memory is a fickle thing.

--
*No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:
My stance was think about how easy it could be to corrupt that data with
poor storage. The other 3 tapes that successfully transferred were kept
in a garage since the mid eighties. The storage location of the last
tape is unknown.

Are you certain the original tape was recorded without faults?

I do quite a bit of 1/4" tape transfers, and it's common to to be told the
original was perfect - when in fact it's been recorded at too low a level
and is covered in hum and hiss. I've also been asked why my transfer is in
mono - when the original was too. ;-) The memory is a fickle thing.

Unfortunately, the memory does not come into this equation. The tapes
have been in storage since the early eighties and never viewed since,
until I got them transferred to DVD. The camera work is crap, but 3 of
the films have produced editable history of his g children. It's just
the fourth that was such a let down by poor brightness and the bad
colour casts.

The owner is going to scour his collection cupboards and see if he can
come up with the vital camera interface, to see if I can get a better
copy of the video.

Many thanks for your input

Dave

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
dave wrote:
I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Doesn't sound like any tape problem I've ever seen - more like a faulty
transfer.

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and corrected
it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

You can't do much correction on something which originated in composite
video.


From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_mm_vi...er_for_editing

"8mm tapes should be stored vertically, out of direct sunlight, in a dry,
cool, dust-free environment. As with any media, they will eventually
deteriorate and lose their recorded contents over time, resulting in a
buildup of image noise and dropouts. Tapes more than 15 years old[citation
needed] may start to show signs of degradation. Amongst other problems, they
can become sticky, jamming playback units, or become brittle and snap. Such
problems will normally require professional attention."

Just wondering how this would manifest.
I presume that the brightness and colour balance are encoded in such a way
that they can't be affected without also affecting the other content as
well?

I also noted
"It should be noted that some Hi8 VCRs (including the Sony EV-S3000 and
EV-S7000) had the option of adding digital noise reduction (DNR) by applying
a digital comb filter. These VCRs also included a Time Base Corrector (TBC),
which created a more stable image than playing through a camcorder. The
resultant video image produced by using DNR and/or a TBC is different from
playing through a Hi8 camcorder lacking these features. The effect of the
playback device on the image quality may be a consideration for those
transferring Hi8 footage to digital (i.e., a computer or MiniDV) for
archival purposes."

So presumably this is the kind of technology the OP is paying the transfer
service for.
Assuming also that this can be applied to the analogue Video 8 on playback.

Just idle curiosity :-)

Dave R

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

In article ,
David WE Roberts wrote:
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_mm_vi...er_for_editing

"8mm tapes should be stored vertically, out of direct sunlight, in a
dry, cool, dust-free environment. As with any media, they will
eventually deteriorate and lose their recorded contents over time,
resulting in a buildup of image noise and dropouts. Tapes more than 15
years old[citation needed] may start to show signs of degradation.
Amongst other problems, they can become sticky, jamming playback units,
or become brittle and snap. Such problems will normally require
professional attention."

Just wondering how this would manifest. I presume that the brightness
and colour balance are encoded in such a way that they can't be affected
without also affecting the other content as well?

Old tapes usually suffer from some form of oxide shedding first which
results in clogged heads on the playback machine. Usually starting to show
as dropouts. If some form of component recording - ie luminance and colour
signal(s) recorded separately, it could show in other ways.

You'd normally just clean the heads and go back a bit on the tape, then
edit out the faults on the subsequent recording. Perhaps many many times
with a poor tape. Which would be pretty expensive to have done.

--
*Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:
I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first 3
were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Doesn't sound like any tape problem I've ever seen - more like a faulty
transfer.

The person that transferred the other 3 video tapes made a good job of a
badly made video to DVD. Are you sure that it was a bad transfer before
I ask him to try again?

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and corrected
it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

You can't do much correction on something which originated in composite
video.

I didn't think you could. Son did a lot of video editing, but that was
from good footage using Adobe Premier.

Thanks

Dave

dave wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:
I have had some old video 8 camera tapes transfered to DVD. The first
3 were fine, but the final and most precious to him has gone dark and
taken on colour casts.

Is anyone clued up on how this could happen? I suspect that it was a
storgage problem i.e. how close the tape was stored near to magnetic
fields, etc. The first 3 tapes were kept in the camera and case in a
garage, but I don't know about the 4th one.

Doesn't sound like any tape problem I've ever seen - more like a faulty
transfer.

The person that transferred the other 3 video tapes made a good job of a
badly made video to DVD. Are you sure that it was a bad transfer before
I ask him to try again?

I suppose watching the original on a VHS machine is out of the question?

Had they been photos, I would have just fired up PhotoShop and
corrected it, but I have no experience of doing this to video.

You can't do much correction on something which originated in composite
video.

I didn't think you could. Son did a lot of video editing, but that was
from good footage using Adobe Premier.


There are freeware progs you could try e.g.

http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

stuart noble wrote:

Some sinning took place.

No I'll leave that in :-)

Some snipping took place.

I suppose watching the original on a VHS machine is out of the question?

Six months ago, I said to the owner that I would look for a carrier to
make it compatible to VHS, but there is nothing about.

There are freeware progs you could try e.g.

http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

That looks interesting, I'll down load it when I am more awake.

Thanks

Dave

In article ,
dave wrote:
stuart noble wrote:

Some sinning took place.

No I'll leave that in :-)

Some snipping took place.

I suppose watching the original on a VHS machine is out of the question?

Six months ago, I said to the owner that I would look for a carrier to
make it compatible to VHS, but there is nothing about.

There are freeware progs you could try e.g.

http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

That looks interesting, I'll down load it when I am more awake.

I don't *think* video 8 can be played on a VHS. Totally different format.
There was a small VHS tape - C? - which could by using a mechanical
adaptor.

--
*Never kick a cow pat on a hot day *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.