VHS to DVD problem

Andy Birkenhead · 19-04-2011, 19:38

I didn't know where to put this really, so I thought I'd put it here :
A friend of a friend of mine transferred some of my home movies onto DVD's for me, but I have just looked at them and they are completely silent

Any idea why this is ?
Mind you, the video tapes are from 1989 and 1995.
There is sound on the tapes, but not on the DVD's

jasonjimbob · 19-04-2011, 20:07

when your friend transferred your VHS to DVD, did he or she, use a combi VCR/DVD (some combi's have a dubbing facility) or 2 seperate units needing a scart lead? If it was the latter a loose scart lead can give pictures ok but no sound. or vice versa,

Andy Birkenhead · 19-04-2011, 20:18

I'm afraid I have no idea.
I gave the tapes to a friend, who gave them to a friend of his, who transferred them onto DVD for me.

chrisjr · 19-04-2011, 20:29

Have you got a VHS player? If you play back the original tapes can you hear sound?

Was the machine they were originally recorded on a VHS HiFi machine? This records the sound track differently to a non HiFi machine. If the machine used to copy the tapes was not also a HiFi machine it may not have picked up the audio.

Andy Birkenhead · 19-04-2011, 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

Have you got a VHS player? If you play back the original tapes can you hear sound?
Yes, and yes.

Was the machine they were originally recorded on a VHS HiFi machine? This records the sound track differently to a non HiFi machine. If the machine used to copy the tapes was not also a HiFi machine it may not have picked up the audio.

No - just an ordinary VHS machine.

knackyknickknoc · 19-04-2011, 20:39

If the tapes did have Hi-Fi sound and the playback machine didn't perhaps the original VCR was faulty on the linear sound .
Its not unknown for that to happen.

I would have thought the guy copying them would have noticed and made an effort to correct it or ensure the tapes really were silent.

chrisjr · 19-04-2011, 20:42

In that case there are only two possibilities. Your DVD player is playing silly games and is not producing any audio. Or the person who copied the tapes cocked up.

If you can play other disks in your player with audio all present and correct then your player might be OK. To be certain try playing the disks on a different player if you can. If they are silent on any player then there is no audio on them.

So option 2, cock up in the transfer comes into play

Andy Birkenhead · 19-04-2011, 20:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

In that case there are only two possibilities. Your DVD player is playing silly games and is not producing any audio. Or the person who copied the tapes cocked up.

If you can play other disks in your player with audio all present and correct then your player might be OK. To be certain try playing the disks on a different player if you can. If they are silent on any player then there is no audio on them.

So option 2, cock up in the transfer comes into play

I have a BluRay player and a DVD player.
These DVD's have no sound on either player.
All other discs play fine.

knackyknickknoc · 19-04-2011, 20:57

So the tapes were not copied correctly.
Had they been commercial discs I would have suggested checking the sound was not MPEG sound but I don't think that applies with home recordings

Andy Birkenhead · 20-04-2011, 05:20

Later on, I put the DVD's in my laptop.
And there was SOUND !

Why are the DVD's silent on my TV, but they are okay on my laptop ??
Before you ask, my telly and both my DVD players work perfectly well with all my other DVD's, but not these ones.
WHY ??

Chris Frost · 20-04-2011, 05:42

It's just a thought, but DVD and Blu-ray can be recorded with several different sound tracks. They use this for multilingual discs.

By default we listen to the English sound tracks. But it's perfectly possible to switch to the other languages. I'm presuming this conversion was done as an amateur job, so is it possible that the sound was recorded on another track rather than the default?

Andy Birkenhead · 20-04-2011, 05:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Frost

It's just a thought, but DVD and Blu-ray can be recorded with several different sound tracks. They use this for multilingual discs.

By default we listen to the English sound tracks. But it's perfectly possible to switch to the other languages. I'm presuming this conversion was done as an amateur job, so is it possible that the sound was recorded on another track rather than the default?

No - there is only one audio track on the DVD's
Or rather, NO audio track in this case

chrisjr · 20-04-2011, 09:01

Just a thought.

If they were recorded as DVD Video disks then they have to conform to a fixed (ish) specification so as to be fully compatible with stand alone DVD players. I therefore wonder whether they have actually been recorded as data disks?

Perhaps whoever did the transfer captured the original video to a PC then converted the result to an AVI file or the like to burn onto the DVD. Many stand alone players can play data disks but tend to be picky about exactly what format of data file they can play. Computers on the other hand tend not to be so restrictive.

Might be worth looking at the disk in My Computer and seeing what files are on the disk. That may give a clue.

Gusto Brunt · 20-04-2011, 09:08

The simple way to copy VHS to VHS, or VHS to DVD is this:

Scart socket from VCR to DVD/HD recorder. I record on the HD first, then when I'm happy I then put that on disc. Once on disc it can be converted (on your computer) to an avi file for, maybe, uploading on YouTube.

It isn't rocket science.

mike1948 · 20-04-2011, 09:50

I had this problem after I bought a Toshiba PVR with VHS/DVD and hard disk built in. The VHS tapes I wanted to copy on to
DVD had been recorded on a Panasonic machine but there was no sound when I transferred them to the HD as an intermediary step.

I complained to Toshiba who arranged for the PVR to be inspected to see if there was a fault but there was nothing wrong.

In the end I had to buy a second PVR - a Panasonic - and that did the job perfectly. There is sound on the DVDs now.

PlayerUK · 20-04-2011, 12:35

As you can see the video from the DVD then the discs must be in a format that your DVD player understands. In which case it is the audio track that has been encoded in a format that your player can't decode.

As it plays on your PC ok, play it in VLC media player. When it is playing click on Tools and then codec information. This will tell what format the audio has been encoded in.

As long as your PC can play it correctly then all is not lost. Once you know what format the audio is in we can help you re-encode it so that it will play on your normal DVD player.

knackyknickknoc · 20-04-2011, 21:19

Check the audio format .
If its MPEG your players may not be able to play it at all.
My amp won't decode MPEG but my Bluray player has a setting to change MPEG into PCM so that it plays .

Seems an odd problem if the discs were recorded straight from VHS to dvdr- sounds like that was not how it was done

jasonjimbob · 20-04-2011, 21:42

I have copied some of my old video tapes on to dvd, (not Macrovision protected tapes though), I had no problems with the sound or vision, your tapes Andy, Were they Pre Recorded, or were they originally blank tapes you recorded off terrestial or satellite tv? Macrovision can mess up copying, weather sound or vision.

knackyknickknoc · 20-04-2011, 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonjimbob

I have copied some of my old video tapes on to dvd, (not Macrovision protected tapes though), I had no problems with the sound or vision, your tapes Andy, Were they Pre Recorded, or were they originally blank tapes you recorded off terrestial or satellite tv? Macrovision can mess up copying, weather sound or vision.

Macrovision has no effect on audio at all.
It affects the video only ( but is piss easy to bypass) and most dvdr's simply won't record it at all .

VCR to VCR created picture disturbance and this sometimes made the sound break up depending on your VCR and connecting leads.

Are there any Macro encoded tapes left out there of content not available on dvd?

pocatello · 21-04-2011, 02:58

#1 verify dvd playback on another known working player.

Andy Birkenhead · 21-04-2011, 05:20

I took these DVD's round to a friends' yesterday.
They play perfectly on his BluRay player, and also play perfectly on his pc.
I am completely baffled at this (and frustrated).

Sad_BB_Addict · 21-04-2011, 05:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Birkenhead

I took these DVD's round to a friends' yesterday.
They play perfectly on his BluRay player, and also play perfectly on his pc.
I am completely baffled at this (and frustrated).

If they don't play on your DVD player, the DVD player is too old.
If they don't play on your PC, the DVD drive may be too old or may need better software.

Andy Birkenhead · 21-04-2011, 05:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sad_BB_Addict

If they don't play on your DVD player, the DVD player is too old.
If they don't play on your PC, the DVD drive may be too old or may need better software.

I bought my BluRay player about two months ago !

Sad_BB_Addict · 21-04-2011, 05:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Birkenhead

I bought my BluRay player about two months ago !

Hmm - curious. Manufacturers don't liaise over specs enough, but that is surprising (and unlucky!).
How about the BluRay manufacturer's web site, or email their tech support?
You'll need to tell them the name of the software your friend used to encode the DVDs, in case there are any known issues.
Good luck!
PS does it play on your PC?

knackyknickknoc · 21-04-2011, 21:09

This is sounding more like the audio must be recorded with MPEG sound.

If they are then many players wont play them and some amps won't decode them.

Check the audio options of the players and you should see an option to convert MPEG sound to PCM so your amp will play it.

I'm assuming that all your playback devices are connected to an amp so it could be the amp is the problem not the players

19-04-2011, 19:38	#1
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	VHS to DVD problem I didn't know where to put this really, so I thought I'd put it here : A friend of a friend of mine transferred some of my home movies onto DVD's for me, but I have just looked at them and they are completely silent Any idea why this is ? Mind you, the video tapes are from 1989 and 1995. There is sound on the tapes, but not on the DVD's

19-04-2011, 20:07	#2
jasonjimbob Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: South East Wales Posts: 887	when your friend transferred your VHS to DVD, did he or she, use a combi VCR/DVD (some combi's have a dubbing facility) or 2 seperate units needing a scart lead? If it was the latter a loose scart lead can give pictures ok but no sound. or vice versa,

19-04-2011, 20:18	#3
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	I'm afraid I have no idea. I gave the tapes to a friend, who gave them to a friend of his, who transferred them onto DVD for me.

19-04-2011, 20:29	#4
chrisjr Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 27,916	Have you got a VHS player? If you play back the original tapes can you hear sound? Was the machine they were originally recorded on a VHS HiFi machine? This records the sound track differently to a non HiFi machine. If the machine used to copy the tapes was not also a HiFi machine it may not have picked up the audio.

19-04-2011, 20:33	#5
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	Quote: Originally Posted by chrisjr Have you got a VHS player? If you play back the original tapes can you hear sound? Yes, and yes. Was the machine they were originally recorded on a VHS HiFi machine? This records the sound track differently to a non HiFi machine. If the machine used to copy the tapes was not also a HiFi machine it may not have picked up the audio. No - just an ordinary VHS machine.

19-04-2011, 20:39	#6
knackyknickknoc Inactive Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 403	If the tapes did have Hi-Fi sound and the playback machine didn't perhaps the original VCR was faulty on the linear sound . Its not unknown for that to happen. I would have thought the guy copying them would have noticed and made an effort to correct it or ensure the tapes really were silent.

19-04-2011, 20:42	#7
chrisjr Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 27,916	In that case there are only two possibilities. Your DVD player is playing silly games and is not producing any audio. Or the person who copied the tapes cocked up. If you can play other disks in your player with audio all present and correct then your player might be OK. To be certain try playing the disks on a different player if you can. If they are silent on any player then there is no audio on them. So option 2, cock up in the transfer comes into play

19-04-2011, 20:52	#8
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	Quote: Originally Posted by chrisjr In that case there are only two possibilities. Your DVD player is playing silly games and is not producing any audio. Or the person who copied the tapes cocked up. If you can play other disks in your player with audio all present and correct then your player might be OK. To be certain try playing the disks on a different player if you can. If they are silent on any player then there is no audio on them. So option 2, cock up in the transfer comes into play I have a BluRay player and a DVD player. These DVD's have no sound on either player. All other discs play fine.

19-04-2011, 20:57	#9
knackyknickknoc Inactive Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 403	So the tapes were not copied correctly. Had they been commercial discs I would have suggested checking the sound was not MPEG sound but I don't think that applies with home recordings

20-04-2011, 05:20	#10
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	Later on, I put the DVD's in my laptop. And there was SOUND ! Why are the DVD's silent on my TV, but they are okay on my laptop ?? Before you ask, my telly and both my DVD players work perfectly well with all my other DVD's, but not these ones. WHY ??

20-04-2011, 05:42	#11
Chris Frost Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Cheshire Posts: 6,462	It's just a thought, but DVD and Blu-ray can be recorded with several different sound tracks. They use this for multilingual discs. By default we listen to the English sound tracks. But it's perfectly possible to switch to the other languages. I'm presuming this conversion was done as an amateur job, so is it possible that the sound was recorded on another track rather than the default?

20-04-2011, 05:52	#12
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	Quote: Originally Posted by Chris Frost It's just a thought, but DVD and Blu-ray can be recorded with several different sound tracks. They use this for multilingual discs. By default we listen to the English sound tracks. But it's perfectly possible to switch to the other languages. I'm presuming this conversion was done as an amateur job, so is it possible that the sound was recorded on another track rather than the default? No - there is only one audio track on the DVD's Or rather, NO audio track in this case

20-04-2011, 09:01	#13
chrisjr Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 27,916	Just a thought. If they were recorded as DVD Video disks then they have to conform to a fixed (ish) specification so as to be fully compatible with stand alone DVD players. I therefore wonder whether they have actually been recorded as data disks? Perhaps whoever did the transfer captured the original video to a PC then converted the result to an AVI file or the like to burn onto the DVD. Many stand alone players can play data disks but tend to be picky about exactly what format of data file they can play. Computers on the other hand tend not to be so restrictive. Might be worth looking at the disk in My Computer and seeing what files are on the disk. That may give a clue.

20-04-2011, 09:08	#14
Gusto Brunt Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 11,525	The simple way to copy VHS to VHS, or VHS to DVD is this: Scart socket from VCR to DVD/HD recorder. I record on the HD first, then when I'm happy I then put that on disc. Once on disc it can be converted (on your computer) to an avi file for, maybe, uploading on YouTube. It isn't rocket science.

20-04-2011, 09:50	#15
mike1948 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 2,060	I had this problem after I bought a Toshiba PVR with VHS/DVD and hard disk built in. The VHS tapes I wanted to copy on to DVD had been recorded on a Panasonic machine but there was no sound when I transferred them to the HD as an intermediary step. I complained to Toshiba who arranged for the PVR to be inspected to see if there was a fault but there was nothing wrong. In the end I had to buy a second PVR - a Panasonic - and that did the job perfectly. There is sound on the DVDs now.

20-04-2011, 12:35	#16
PlayerUK Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 702	As you can see the video from the DVD then the discs must be in a format that your DVD player understands. In which case it is the audio track that has been encoded in a format that your player can't decode. As it plays on your PC ok, play it in VLC media player. When it is playing click on Tools and then codec information. This will tell what format the audio has been encoded in. As long as your PC can play it correctly then all is not lost. Once you know what format the audio is in we can help you re-encode it so that it will play on your normal DVD player.

20-04-2011, 21:19	#17
knackyknickknoc Inactive Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 403	Check the audio format . If its MPEG your players may not be able to play it at all. My amp won't decode MPEG but my Bluray player has a setting to change MPEG into PCM so that it plays . Seems an odd problem if the discs were recorded straight from VHS to dvdr- sounds like that was not how it was done

20-04-2011, 21:42	#18
jasonjimbob Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: South East Wales Posts: 887	I have copied some of my old video tapes on to dvd, (not Macrovision protected tapes though), I had no problems with the sound or vision, your tapes Andy, Were they Pre Recorded, or were they originally blank tapes you recorded off terrestial or satellite tv? Macrovision can mess up copying, weather sound or vision.

20-04-2011, 22:48	#19
knackyknickknoc Inactive Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 403	Quote: Originally Posted by jasonjimbob I have copied some of my old video tapes on to dvd, (not Macrovision protected tapes though), I had no problems with the sound or vision, your tapes Andy, Were they Pre Recorded, or were they originally blank tapes you recorded off terrestial or satellite tv? Macrovision can mess up copying, weather sound or vision. Macrovision has no effect on audio at all. It affects the video only ( but is piss easy to bypass) and most dvdr's simply won't record it at all . VCR to VCR created picture disturbance and this sometimes made the sound break up depending on your VCR and connecting leads. Are there any Macro encoded tapes left out there of content not available on dvd?

21-04-2011, 02:58	#20
pocatello Inactive Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 8,622	#1 verify dvd playback on another known working player.

DS Forums

VHS to DVD problem

21-04-2011, 05:20	#21
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	I took these DVD's round to a friends' yesterday. They play perfectly on his BluRay player, and also play perfectly on his pc. I am completely baffled at this (and frustrated).

21-04-2011, 05:28	#22
Sad_BB_Addict Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Essex Posts: 86,769	Quote: Originally Posted by Andy Birkenhead I took these DVD's round to a friends' yesterday. They play perfectly on his BluRay player, and also play perfectly on his pc. I am completely baffled at this (and frustrated). If they don't play on your DVD player, the DVD player is too old. If they don't play on your PC, the DVD drive may be too old or may need better software.

21-04-2011, 05:39	#23
Andy Birkenhead Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Birkenhead, Merseyside. Posts: 9,712	Quote: Originally Posted by Sad_BB_Addict If they don't play on your DVD player, the DVD player is too old. If they don't play on your PC, the DVD drive may be too old or may need better software. I bought my BluRay player about two months ago !

21-04-2011, 05:45	#24
Sad_BB_Addict Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Essex Posts: 86,769	Quote: Originally Posted by Andy Birkenhead I bought my BluRay player about two months ago ! Hmm - curious. Manufacturers don't liaise over specs enough, but that is surprising (and unlucky!). How about the BluRay manufacturer's web site, or email their tech support? You'll need to tell them the name of the software your friend used to encode the DVDs, in case there are any known issues. Good luck! PS does it play on your PC?

21-04-2011, 21:09	#25
knackyknickknoc Inactive Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 403	This is sounding more like the audio must be recorded with MPEG sound. If they are then many players wont play them and some amps won't decode them. Check the audio options of the players and you should see an option to convert MPEG sound to PCM so your amp will play it. I'm assuming that all your playback devices are connected to an amp so it could be the amp is the problem not the players