Transferring Hi8 tapes on Mac - Dismantled video input

[drejer96]

Hi all,

I am trying to digitalize all of my family's old Hi8 tapes, and I am following the guide below on Youtube. However, I run into a problem that I can't find that others have had. When adding my video capture device (the old family sony handycam) it previews the video dismantled into 4 different blocks (see attached image), and the problem continues even when I press record. I've searched around for a solution but I haven't been able to find others that run into this same problem. Maybe someone on here knows what is happening, and how I can fix it?

To give you all the necessary information, I am using;
SONY Handycam Video 8 - CCD-TR580E PAL
USB2.0 Video Grabber
OBS

- YouTube

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[AaronD]

You lost sync. OBS doesn't do that. Your capture card is giving you what OBS shows.

It could be that the camera doesn't generate a good sync, and a TV is better at figuring that out. Or it could be that your capture card is broken.

A possible fix is to put a VCR in between that doesn't just pass the signal through as most do, but tries to make sense of it and output "a more sensible version", whatever that means. Try to avoid recording to VHS and then playing that back to capture, as the consumer-grade generational loss is atrocious, but just see if you can get something in between to "clean it up".

Otherwise, you're looking at replacing either the camera or the capture card.

 

[drejer96]

Thank you so much for your reply.

I am very new to this, so just to make sure I follow you - when you say capture card, are you then referring to the “Video Grabber” (I’ve put a link to the exact one below)?

Thank you for your recommendations on possible fixes. I don’t have a VCR at my disposal so I will start by trying the change my capture card.

Next, you state that I should avoid recording to VHS and then playing it back to capture. I am a film student and would like to use Hi8 and thereby my handycam in some of my projects to give them a more retro look - do you have any recommendation on what work process/structure I should work with then?

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[AaronD]

when you say capture card, are you then referring to the “Video Grabber” (I’ve put a link to the exact one below)?

Yep. "Capture card" is the generic term, even for USB ones.

Next, you state that I should avoid recording to VHS and then playing it back to capture. I am a film student and would like to use Hi8 and thereby my handycam in some of my projects to give them a more retro look - do you have any recommendation on what work process/structure I should work with then?

Well, if the generational loss gives you the effect that you want, then go for it! One of the primary rules of art is that you can break any rule you want, so long as you know what the rule is, why you normally do follow the rule, and why you're breaking it now.

Generally though, any analog format, which includes Hi-8, VHS, Betamax, etc., is subject to generational loss, where each copy is worse than the original and you can't undo any of that. Digital is theoretically immortal, except for the lossy encoding that we often use, that intentionally throws away information to get a smaller file size or bitrate. That's generational loss too.