Participating Frequently

Answered

Audio Sync Issue on MiniDV Tape Capture

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
July 12, 2018
7 replies
7876 views

I have several MiniDV tapes I am trying to capture from a Panasonic DVX100 into latest version of Premiere CC, I have also tried in Premiere 2017. I am on the latest iMac with the newest version of OSX. I am doing a log and capture method in the shortest scene by scene capture that I can, but it seems the longer I try to capture the more the audio slowly begins to drift out of sync. The tapes are all 16 bit 48K audio, 24p, and my project reflects that. I found another 3rd party app called Vidi that captures the entire tape perfectly with no sync issues the entire time, but it can only do so in the .dv file format which is not supported by the latest version of Premiere or DaVinci Resolve and I don’t want to convert them to MOV because I’m trying to do a lossless workflow for archive purposes. Surely there has got to be a way to capture in premiere as back in the day I have captured over 1000 hours using this exact same method, camera, tapes! I feel like it’s maybe some type of time code issue or setting I have incorrectly that is causing this. Any suggestions or advice someone can help me with would be a lifesaver. I have about 50 tapes I need to capture. Thank you in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer John V Knowles

UPDATE:

Thank you SAFEHARBOR11 for your suggestion – the audio on my tape was indeed recorded at 12-bit 32K; I hadn't used my deck in so long that I forgot to double-check the recording options.

Apparently the newer versions of Premiere don't play nice with 12-bit audio; it used to be back in CS6 that you had actual "project settings" where you would set up the DV audio options. In CC19 (and probably 18 as well) the only capture options are DV or HDV, with no audio settings. So the captured 12-bit audio is drifting out of sync with picture (even when using a 12-bit DV sequence preset).

My solution thus far is to convert the DV footage with iMovie, which has become my go-to tool for weird audio and frame rate issues. I captured using Quicktime X and then dropped the file into iMovie and "Shared" as a ProRes clip. It's large but it works in Premiere and the audio stays in sync. I tried using Compressor to convert the QT recording but the audio was all slowed down like a a bad tape recorder. I'll try capturing directly into iMovie next to see if I can do everything in that program.

There may be other apps that can handle the 12-to-16 bit conversion and output a clean file, but this method works and you get the ProRes option on export. HTH for anyone else who has run into this!

JVK

A

Aaron268653298r0g

Participating Frequently

I am having then same problem, I am capturing Digital8 tapes, recorded in 16bit 48khz, and I have the exact same issue; that is audio is in sync at the start and as time goes on, come hour and half, the audio is just out of sync, but mere split seconds most may not notice, by as an aspie, I certainly do, whats the cause, and how do I fix this? the tape in camera is perfect, but once captured, it goes out... still not got to the bottom of it with 2023 technology f-fs...

J

John V Knowles

Correct answer

Community Expert

UPDATE:

Thank you SAFEHARBOR11 for your suggestion – the audio on my tape was indeed recorded at 12-bit 32K; I hadn't used my deck in so long that I forgot to double-check the recording options.

Apparently the newer versions of Premiere don't play nice with 12-bit audio; it used to be back in CS6 that you had actual "project settings" where you would set up the DV audio options. In CC19 (and probably 18 as well) the only capture options are DV or HDV, with no audio settings. So the captured 12-bit audio is drifting out of sync with picture (even when using a 12-bit DV sequence preset).

My solution thus far is to convert the DV footage with iMovie, which has become my go-to tool for weird audio and frame rate issues. I captured using Quicktime X and then dropped the file into iMovie and "Shared" as a ProRes clip. It's large but it works in Premiere and the audio stays in sync. I tried using Compressor to convert the QT recording but the audio was all slowed down like a a bad tape recorder. I'll try capturing directly into iMovie next to see if I can do everything in that program.

There may be other apps that can handle the 12-to-16 bit conversion and output a clean file, but this method works and you get the ProRes option on export. HTH for anyone else who has run into this!

JVK

-------------------------------------------------------------------------JVK | Editor/Designer/Software Instructor. Pr, Ae, Ch, Ps, Ai, Id

J

jordanwalkertAuthor

Participating Frequently

Unfortunately, doing tape capture with scene detection resulted in the same out of sync issue. Any other suggestions and I'm all ears but there is obviously something very weird happening here.

M

Meg The Dog

Inspiring

Did you try QuickTime 10?

MtD

M

Meg The Dog

Inspiring

Try making a test capture using QuickTime X and see if the sync holds there.

MtD

J

jordanwalkertAuthor

Participating Frequently

I've been working with DSLR and raw footage recorded onto cards these days, the only reason I am re-visiting these tapes is because a friend passed away and I have taken the liberty of putting together a small documentary for the family. So it has been a very long time since I've had to do anything with tapes and I realize a lot of changed in Premiere as well as Macs, Operating Systems, etc.

What is most frustrating to me is that this used to work perfectly this way and I guess I just don't understand what has changed or what I'm doing wrong at the moment. I really like organization and capturing specific sections or clips to log myself, but it seems that trying a whole tape capture with scene detection seems to be the only solution to try at the moment. The only downside to that is if there were camera start/stops but it all took place within the same scene or if you wanted it all in one clip and it splits it up, but I suppose if that's the only way it will work at this point- it's worth giving a shot. I will try this method and report back if it at least fixes any synching issues. Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I really appreciate it.

Ann Bens

Community Expert

I would capture the entire tape in Premiere with scene detection on.

Then delete the clips you dont want from the hdd.

Driftng might be due to blank/dropped video frames.

J

jordanwalkertAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hmm, interesting idea. I have not tried scene detection yet. Does it split up clips based on time code changes? I prefer to decide when I start and stop the capture on my clips and have never trusted scene detection before. Is there any particular reason it would fix the syncing issue that a manual capture would not?

Ann Bens

Community Expert

I have always done full tape with scene detection on.

Found this batch capture rather a strain on the camera/tape.

start - capture - stop - FF - stop - etc.

And also these tapes might have been laying on the shelf for some time.

Did you wind and rewind the tape before capture?

Might want to give it a go.

M

Meg The Dog

Inspiring

jordanwalkert wrote
I am doing a log and capture method in the shortest scene by scene capture that I can, but it seems the longer I try to capture the more the audio slowly begins to drift out of sync.

Do you see this out of sync condition when capturing?

When you review a captured clip, is the out of sync condition still there in the captured file?

MtD

J

jordanwalkertAuthor

Participating Frequently

I should clarify, the capture starts out in sync and slowly drifts out of sync as time goes on. So when I begin to capture, everything looks normal on screen and then after awhile I will notice that they are no longer in sync together. This is both as I'm watching live and also in the captured file. The captured file is out of sync regardless of whether it's in a premiere timeline or played back in various apps.

M

Meg The Dog

Inspiring

Are there any camera start/stops within the area you are capturing? This will throw the audio out of sync during dv capture. The more camera start/stops, the more it will drift out of sync.

MtD

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded