I am trying to transfer video from camcorder to VHS from my Hitachi camcorder. Some of the tapes (recorded on a Sanyo camera in the 90's) transfers fine but some go into 'fast forward' mode and will not play normally. The material is precious kids stuff and I would dearly love to save it. Any idea how I can get it play properly? Some start off fine and then go into fast forward half way thorugh. Please help. Thank you.
If you really value the material, then the best thing is to transfer it to a digital media rather than VHS. various digital media can be almost indestructible, whereas vhs tapes will eventually die, depending on the quality of the tape and the temperature / humidity in which they are stored. There are a few options for doing this. If you have a PC (or Mac) then there are numerous analog to digital video converting devices and software. First you need a video input/capture card in the computer, then software often comes with these. Otherwise windows movie maker, which I believe is bundled with windows XP service pack 2, apparently works for basic procedures. Have a look at this link - I haven't tried the item myself but it looks good for the money and has had good reviews; http://www.amazon.com/ADS-Tech-Video-Xpress-USBAV-191-EF/dp/B0009UDABW But there are many different ones. Another option is to use a professional studio to digitize your tapes - they are normally quite expensive because although the operation is not particularly complicated, it can be very time consuming. http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/hughes/194 check this link for more ideas. As to the fast-forwarding issue, I have no real solution, but you should be able to edit this digitally easily enough. I suspect a fault with the camera, probably an overheating issue, but maybe as simple as a worn internal switch. tape faults are also a possibility. The age of the camcorder would suggest that it is probably not worth fixing, if you would like to try though please post again. My advice - go digital, get a studio to do it, use a good one and your footage will be preserved for ever in near perfect quality. The longer you leave it, the worse the tapes may become. else if you want to do it yourself, follow the first link and hunt around for other hardware - any problems please ask. Hope this helps :)
Posted on Mar 26, 2007
Did you manage to try the tapes in another camera?
if they work then the problem is with yours, maybe easiest to just try and borrow one to do your transfer.
Hope you get some luck with your camera though from the other guys
:)
You're welcome
please let us know what happens - someone else might have the same going on.
:)
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Thank you for that Noggin. I'm afraid I'm not techy enough at the moment to transfer them myself but will look into getting them done eventually. I have about 20 8mm tapes though so would have to get them done a few at a time due to the expense. I would just like to find out why the 'fast forward' thing is happening on parts of the tapes. You can see and hear what is going on, only very fast like it's been taped in 'long play' and I am trying to play it on 'SP'. I will have a look tonight to see if it is an overheating problem, but I think it is more to do with the tapes. Would a studio be able to sort that out?
I have just looked on Amazon.co.uk and the digital tranfer hardware you were talking about wasn't available in the UK?
Again. many thanks for replying to my post.
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