I recently started a project using some old, but very good quality 8mm video tapes. I am having issues with the sound going out of sync after a short period of time, say 15-20 mins into each video.

The footage was shot using a different camcorder (no longer available to me) than the one I am using to play them back. I am using a Sony TRV-108 Hi8 camcorder for playback.  I am using a Studio Moviebox USB device to capture to the computer listed in my profile. My system has onboard sound, but as I am capturing through a USB port I do not believe that makes any difference. Also, I do not seem to have this issue with my MiniDV tapes.

There are several places in the 8mm tapes where there is a break in the control track (the shooter did not balck the tapes before recording them). I suspect this is the source of the problem, but I am not sure. Each two hour recording typically shows 5 to 8 dropped frames.

Each recording is about two hours in length. They were shot at the "LP" speed, which probably does not help. The camera has a built in TBC, which I am going to turn off and see if that makes any difference. I am not looking forward to having to stop the capture at every frame drop and restart. I am hoping someone here has a solution!

Thanks.

I personally don't trust those Movie Boxes.

You say you work with mini-dv. Do you have a mini-dv camcorder you can pass the hi-8 through ? When you capture, have you tried "no scene detection" ?

I do a lot of transfer work. Don't get much out of sync audio.

Audio should stick with video.

Are you capturing in AVI ? 

Check out this FAQ, this might help regarding your drop frames problem.

Moved from Studio General Forum to Studio Capture.

I turned off the TBC, and also began stopping the capture anytime Studio reported a dropped frame. The captures now appear to be in sync.

 I have not determined wether the "fix" was turning off the TBC or stopping capture after dropped frames. I will do more testing.

As for the dropped frames, there haven't been many, and as I said, only when there is a break in the control track. I'm pretty sure that is the source, and if so, nothing I can do about it. I haven't tried playingthe 8mm camera into my MiniDV cam, but I'm worried that might complicate things and introduce some other issue.

I turned off the TBC, and also began stopping the capture anytime Studio reported a dropped frame. The captures now appear to be in sync.