Posted by David Matthew Wood on 06/11/06 01:02

> I bought 4 different players and had to return each as every time I
> changed the settings either I got no sound or intermittent sound
> playback. Each time I tried this I played them back and made sure the
> cables weren't loose. I just wonder if this is all due to the fact that
> I am using RCA jacks to try and retreive the audio and video from these
> tapes. I am concerned that I may get other recordings like this from
> Mini DV tapes in the future, and that the tapes may not be able to be
> played back because this is a problem with Mini DV technology.
>
> I have camcorder equipment that can playback 8mm, Digital 8 tapes and
> even VHS C, but I have only experienced this problem with Mini DV. I
> will try the firewire option as someone suggested. I guess it is time I
> got with the times. One thing I noticed is that several camera manuals
> indicate that you can only playback 16 bit audio recordings in 12 bit
> audio mode.In many cases when I tried to change the settings on most of
> these cameras they would not let me change the Audio to 16 bit.

Sorry for the late reply.....

There is so such "problem" with Mini DV technology. We have been using
miniDV ever since the VX-1000s came out YEARS ago. Since then, we have
used DSR-300s (also cameras), and also several different decks including
DSR-80s, DSR-11s, DSR-45s, and DSR-50s. Not one of these decks has had
any compatibility issue with any tape whether it was recorded in 12bit
or 16bit mode. Plus, for what we use them for, we only use channels 1
and 2 anyway so if there ever is a tape that got recorded in 12bit audio
mode, it was purely by accident.

The fact that you bought 4 different players and none of them work,
indicates that either you missing a setting, or the recordings you are
getting are defective. The fact that you are getting audio from 12-bit
recordings and not 16-bit recordings indicates that maybe your player is
set to play only channels 3 and 4. In 16bit mode however, there is only
audio on channels 1 and 2. Go in and look for such settings. Put it on
"mix" and see what happens.

Yes, firewire is best if you are going into a PC to do some non linear
editing or if you are making a dub or what not, but the camera should
still be able to output sound through the analog RCA jacks as well if
everything is set up correctly.

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