Mysterious Stops and Rewinds

[johnneumann]

I've got this odd thing happening that's never happened before. I have the old Kron (4.1c) hooked up to a digital VCR (Sony DVCAM DSR-11). The Kron allows me to control the VCR from the Kron.

I'm trying to load some footage off the DVCAM tapes into the Kron and everything is cool until there is a cut in the scene. At each cut, the VCR stops and starts rewinding. The Kron also auto-stops recording.

I'm quite sure it has to be the Kron that's reading the scene cut and initiating the stop/rewind in the VCR. As far as I know, the digital VCR doesn't know when it's playing over a scene-break.

How can I get this to not happen? I need to load the whole length of the tape as one long scene, cuts and all.

-JOHN

[MichaelD]

Hi John,

First thing I'd try is a different DV lead.

[johnneumann]

What is a DV lead? Never heard the term.

-JOHN

[Walter]

1. Try a new connection between the camera and the Kron, i.e. new firewire cable. Possibly even unplugging and repositioning the existing cable.

2. Try using the onboard camera controls and then hitting record on the Kron.

3. You can always record the segment before the break and record the segment after the break, place both of these new scenes on the storyboard, and then make a scene of the two of them.

[johnneumann]

A wire would cause that? Sounds kind of odd, but I have no other advice to go on right now.

Kind of a drag, because a good Firewire cable can be upwards of $40+.

Now there's something else going on, too. When I load video in, I get that unpleasant digital gargle sound for a second or two at a time at various spots. That sound like when you vibrate your tongue to the top of your mouth ... BRRRRRRR.

Strangely, it doesn't happen in the exact same spot on the tape every time, but it happens in roughly the same place.

Ugh. I hate vague problems. I would prefer a $200 DVD burner just burn out and need replacing than wondering and having to try this and that and the other.

I'll try your suggestion on the new cable. There goes a whole morning.



JOHN

[johnneumann]

Well, I picked up at $35 six foot firewire cable just now at Best Buy. No luck. Still the gargly digital noise spots in the same places. Like I said, oddly enough, it's not in the exact same spot. But each time I play the scene, in the same general neighborhood (within a second or two) I get the digital noise rattle.

I haven't gotten to a scene cut yet (I'm loading an hour long scene) but I imagine I'm going to get the same weird symptom of the Kron shutting off the VCR and kicking in the rewind.

I'm still scratching for suggestions, guys.

-JOHN

[PaulBusta]

I use DVCAM full size tapes and the only thing I can think of is you hit a bad portion of tape and the sync signal went away. Can you play the tape back on the camcorder it was shot with?

[TimKennelly]

John,

Well befor I'd bother to go out and buy a cable (course, too late now) I'd simply disconnect the firewire cable (with the units off) and play back the tape in the VCR and see if it rewinds when it crosses one of these cut points.

If it does you have nailed your problem down to the VCR.

If it plays fine through the cut point then you know it's something the Kron or cable is causing (although not likely the cable).

I would try inputting to a different Project as well.

You can always input analog (YC) and that would certainly bypass this problem if the Kron is causing it.

I don't know of any setting in our machines that would cause this on purpose.

Anything is possible with a glitch of course although I have never heard of this before.

As for the noise, could the audio be overmodulating at those points?

Digital audio is very intolerate of overmodulation and distorts harshly when pushed.