video editing

[dillon]

I am trying to add a bit of footage on to a video tape from my camcorder but there's always a gap of about 5 seconds between the end of the new recording and the original recording. The gap is a blue screen with the message 'No Signal'. How can I avoid this?

[smorodina]

If you are trying to copy a piece of video into the middle of an existing recording, then this is caused by the erase head which leaves a few seconds of blank tape at the end of every recording. The only way around this is to re-record all the sections you want in order onto a new tape. Some of the older recorders had an edit button which turned off the erase head to enable adding video in the middle, but I haven't seen this on a recorder for years.

[Headtime]

Have you looked at the previous footage prior to making your new recording? It could be that you have played or fast forwarded the tape a few seconds beyond what you had previously recorded. Thus creating a 'gap' of unrecorded tape.

My Sony Camcorder shows a blue screen when playing a blank section of tape.

Either pause the camera actually over the last few seconds of picture and then go into record. Or your Camcorder may, like mine, have a 'tape end search' button. This will automatically 'park' the record head on the last frame of previously recorded material, so that when you record your next footage there will be no 'blue' gap. Hope this helps