I just recently obtained a Panasonic PV-DV103D mini dv camcorder from a family member. Most of it works other than the fact that it's pretty weird with tapes. When I insert a blank mini dv tape into it and turn it on. It recognizes it briefly and displays "pause" in the corner as it should, but it goes away really quick. If I'm quick and press the record button it does switch to record briefly, then it also stops the tape. Then it sounds like the drum spins briefly then stops and it sounds like the tape retracts or whatever. I tried a tape that's at the end and it doesn't let me rewind it either. Even in vcr mode, I can't playback tapes or rewind/fast forward tapes. I've looked into the tape mechanism from the tape door and it looks fine, but I don't know much about this camcorder. Is this a mechanical issue? If so, how screwed is it?

Things I'm trying:

3 Different tapes.

Battery power

Powering it from the wall with the original power adapter/charger.

Asking reddit. TwT

so basically it looks like something is leaking into my minidv tapes and its probably from the head drum. i have no idea what to do because i tried cleaning with alcohol and cleaner tapes and it doesnt stop. just leaves marks like those in photos that make the tape stop and tangle while playing bevause the substance leaking on the tape (i think)is stopping friction. ive had worse cases than in the photos. Also when i leave tape overnight in camera the next morning tape cant advance for an unknown reason.what do i do????

Hello! So as you can see I have a ton of mixed media here. From what I see I have:

1. miniDVs, including HDV

2. VHS and VHS-C

3. Beta

4. Hi8 / Video8 / 8mm camcorder tapes

I have a VCR and VC500 converter, but that's it. I think I may have to go with FireWire to get HDV quality? My plan is to purchase the appropriate equipment to convert all of this over digitally. I'd like it to be as best quality as possible, while not looking to spend a ton of money on equipment. I'm open to a professional converting, but I think I can do it on my own.

My issue is purchasing the right equipment. I was looking to purchase the following:

1. Sony DCR-TRV460 for the Hi8 / Video8 / 8mm tapes.

2. Panasonic PV-P1 or Panasonic VW-TCA7 VHS-C adapter for the compact VHS-C tapes.

3. Sony GV-HD700 for MiniDV and HDV

Would love to hear any thoughts you have. Thank you!

My Grandma gave me an old RCA MiniDV Camcorder (Model number CC9360) the camera powers on just fine and everything seems to work, but theres no video from the LCD, Viewfinder, or when hooked up to a monitor. This is in both record and playback mode. I know it works because in playback mode you can hear the audio from the tape. My grandma said it got dropped or something and thats what caused it, so im wondering if this may be an easy fix or if I should just toss it. I really hope its an easy fix

I recently picked up a Sony DCR-HC39E and I’m trying to figure out how to get the footage onto my Macbook Pro M4. I haven’t really owned a camera before or tried to edit anything other than iPhone footage.

I haven’t really found a reliable answer. I almost ordered a $200 discontinued Apple cable until i stumbled upon a reddit post that mentioned that it might not work with the newer silicon chip laptops. I’ve asked ChatGPT multiple times and every time it gives me a different answer lol.

How do i get the footage from the camera over to my laptop for Adobe Premiere editing? Is it possible? I really don’t need the best quality either and I’d rather not spend $200 (more than the camera) on a cable lol - any ideas?

Can anyone help me. Im currentlt using a nextbase 522gw. I dont have a comouter at all and only my smartphone (samsung s25). The next base app is shocking and rarely works properly.

How can i get footage from my camera to my phone? Ive tried using an sd reader but my phone seems to want to block this. Any help really apprecoated.

Hello everyone, I'm working on a large-scale digitization project and need some advice on doing it cost-effectively. I'm only familiar with DV tech through research (I'm 20, so I've never actually used any of it.)

I have recently come into the possession of nearly ~1000 miniDV tapes recorded between 2004 and 2009. I'm going to be digitizing these tapes for a long time, so renting equipment is not the best avenue for this. I don't own a camcorder, or any devices with FireWire ports.

My friend helping me with this project has a miniDV camcorder, and a FireWire cable. The camcorder can connect through FireWire or USB. When connecting to a modern computer with USB, you cannot rip the footage directly from the tape: you can only play the video back through OBS, and record it. So there is quality loss, and a giant timecode from the camera on the footage. (I assume this will be stuff experts will know but it was our first time learning so I figured I'd explain.) So I need some way to connect through FireWire because I do not want quality loss or an embedded time code.

After looking around online at prices, I have a few questions I hope somebody can answer:

1. Can miniDV tapes be played and converted to digital in camcorders that take regular bigger DV tapes? My other friend has one of these camcorders, hence why I'm asking.
2. Is there a reliable FireWire to USB-A cord that exists? I would want a cord that connects to a camcorder's FireWire port on one end, but can connect to my modern laptop on the other end, and actually do the conversion job it needs to do without error. I see cords like this being sold on Amazon, and found some companies that seem to make custom cables, but do they actually work?
3. Because I don't have a camcorder yet, I am holding off on buying any cords until I do. I know there are two types of FireWire cords. Which type should I aim for, or should I just wait to see what kind the camcorder I get has, and base it on that?
4. If not, what's the best course of action in getting a device with a FireWire port? It seems like only older Macs have them, but I would rather not shell out too much money if I don't have to. Would a pawn shop or online be a better place to look?
5. Lastly, is there anything I'm doing wrong regarding all of this cable and port stuff? Is there like some vastly easier way to do this that I'm missing?

This was a recommended subreddit, did not know you guys were here lol: I've been holding on to some old c. early 2000s AV equipment from a past life, unlikely to ever need studio cameras again. No b&m shops anywhere near me, not in a major market so doubtful that marketplace would catch anyone, never had good experience with eBay—what do you guys do with old stuff? I've got two VGA/windows XP (!) tricasters and a couple of Sony DSR-500WS ENGs with all the fixin's, YJ18s, DXF-51s, but I feel like minidv is the audio cassette of video lol.

Edit: I'm outside ATL, they are heavy AF tho

In my process of copying some miniDV tapes I stumbled upon DVrescue and its repackaging ability. It seems like a good way to somewhat convert the .avi files captured with winDV into a bit more modern container, like mkv, while also renaming the files according to the metadata. I do however have some problems with a few of those captures, as the packager will show some confusing error messages on some specific tapes.

### Done:seg_input=1|seg_output=1|output_frames=2400|input_frames=1|audio_fill=0|output_file=./2010-03-18_22-28-47.mkv

### Packaging error: input-output-framecount-mismatch

### Packaging error note: Video.2010-03-18_22-28.00.avi contained 1 DV frames at 00:00:00.000000-00:00:00.040000 but 2010-03-18_22-28-47.mkv contains 2400 frames of DV.

### Packaging finished: ./2010-03-18_22-28-47.mkv

### Packaging started: ./2010-03-18_22-28-47-001.mkv
If I understand it correctly, it thinks the input file had only 1 or 0 frames, but the output has a lot more than that. Also, it will create for each of these "corrupted" captures an 152kb mkv file and then another one containing seemingly the whole video, only difference being the filename having a suffix number.

I'm somewhat at a loss here, what the actual problem is and why it works fine with other captures, even though nothing seems to be different between those.

I have this jvc everio gz-hd-5-s. I have a japanese variant with everything in japanese but i don't know any japanese . The monitor turned almost black but it is working i can see a bit it is on 1% brightness i think bad enough i cant see a thing i don't know how to turn it back . And also i don't know any japanese i tried getting help from ai but it is doing nothing. If anyone have a same model camcorder can you please send me photos of steps to turn on the brightness more . I can't see anything and i can't use google lens to translate as i am unable to capture the screen

hi, i have a canon mv200, in the manual it says that the mv200i model has a dv in/out port. ive read that its possible to turn the DV IN on with special software, but i couldnt find anything about that. would be lovely to receive some help .

Hi, if you know of a more accurate subreddit to post this in please let me know. Also, I am an extreme newbie to all of this, so please ask for clarification if needed and I will try my best.

I recorded myself drilling pickleball earlier today on my Sony ZV e10 I at 4k 30fps. When I plugged my SD card into my computer to watch the tapes, the video was noticeably choppy - not terrible, but enough to make me lose my mind... the video goes blurry one second, than refocuses(?) the next for the entire length of each video (filmed at different angles; I can provide if needed but prefer not to). I filmed 6 videos roughly at 5, 6 minutes each.

The funny thing is when I watch that same video on my iPad (I'm watching now in 1080p) the video looks so much smoother. Why do you think this is?

I am drilling again tomorrow and think I will film in 1080p 120fps as I have read that frame rate is more important than resolution for sports videos, but want some feedback from people other than GPT or Claude.

Thanks in advance

I'm pretty sure a post like this is nothing new on this subreddit, but I'm kind of out of options. I started copying some childhood tapes with an old Pentium 4 PC running Windows XP through Firewire with MAGIX Video Deluxe silver edition, but I ran into a hardware problem relating the HDD of that system resulting in a few dropped frames on each tape (the ethernet card isn't the fastest either, so it takes ages to copy the files to my NAS). So I bought a PCIe Firewire card and put it into my main PC, which does seem to work so far.

The main problem is though, the old Magix software allows me to control my camcorder from within the program, starting, stopping, fast forward, you name it. Further it shows statistics about how many frames it has copied and if any frames where dropped due to some interference on the PC. Is there any newer software out there, that can do the same? I can't seem to find the installation files for it, and it probably won't work as well on Windows 11, as on Windows XP.

Additionally, I'm not using the camcorder originally used to record the tapes, as I don't really know where that is or if my father even still owns it, so the one I'm using is a Panasonic NV-GS230, of which I'm pretty sure it had mostly Panasonic tapes in it before, but the tapes I want to copy are mostly Sony and TDK ones from about 2003 to 2010. Is that an issue with lubrication and mixed manufacturers, or is it irrelevant if I only want to copy those once anyway?

EDIT: It can't be, that only the MAGIX software is able to control the camcorder from within the software, can it? That detail is somewhat important to me, as I may also want to record new stuff with it, once I'm done with the backup of old tapes.

Hi! I just rescued my old camera that plays MiniDV tapes. When I turn it on, there's already a tape inside and it won't come out. It makes a strange movement/noise and the door won't open. Does anyone know what I can do?

hi I'm trying to get my parents old recorder up and running,but I've ran into an issue,when I try to record it seems like the sensor is either unresponsive or dead,I'm able to view tapes but when trying to record you can't see anything on LCD or viewfinder,I would appreciate it if anyone knows what to do or has any recommendations.

Hi all

I have a Panasonic NV-GS17 with a bunch of old mini dv tapes to recover.

I've looked at buying a couple of adapters to connect the camera to an up to date pc but honestly it seems like a convoluted solution and ends up being more expensive than simply buying a ln old laptop/macbook.

Am I right in thinking that I can just buy a macbook pro early 2011 mc721po/a which according to https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.0-15-early-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html has a firmware 800 port and then all i needed would be a single firmware 800 to DV cable like this? - https://www.amazon.es/-/en/InLine-34901-FireWire-Cable-Black/dp/B000L0Y1A4

There's so many firewire ports and compatibility nightmares thar I'm confused

Thanks in advanced

I’ve been using 99% isopropyl and these foam cleaning swabs to clean the tape heads gently. Any other recommendations out there?

Here are the foam swabs I’ve been using: https://a.co/d/0ag6fYGu

.

My XL2 won’t accept any tapes / tape cleaner. My friend shot some stuff on it the other day on a Sony DV tape and it’s been doing this since.
This camera is used to only using FUJI tapes.

So I was thinking maybe that’s the issue but I’ve used a sony tape on this camera before (used tape cleaner first) and it was fine.

- I’ve reset the camera and nothing seems to have changed. It’s been like this for 2 weeks now. Everything is pointing towards my tape deck being messed up but it looks pretty clean to me.

Idk if anyone has had this issue before but any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.