How do i make that huge line on my tv go away on my video camera?

Question

whenever i aim my video camera at my tv, there is this huge black line on the tv that slowly moves up or down the screen (it appears that way on the video camera.) how do i get a clean picture?

Answer 1

if you are using a video camera (not a camcorder), then you need to run a sample of the TV picture video to the Genlock input. this will synchronize the camera scan with the scan on the TV set and should eliminate the rolling bars.

if you are using a digital still camera, then the bars will show in the viewer always. set the shutter for 1/30 sec or even better 1/15 sec when taking the picture. while that will make it hard to hold the camera steady, the resulting picture should be bar free.

if you are using a camcorder, then you need to go to special options. if your camera offers "clear scan shutter" try that. if your camera has a special low light setting that keeps the shutter open for more than one frame, try that.

if all you want is to capture the TV picture, then do that without the camcorder. get a usb TV tuner card and you can capture directly in the computer as a video file.ala TIVO.

Answer 2

I would just try shooting the TV wehn it's off, then in your editor (life Final Cut) just grab some footage or a picture and place it in front of the screen.

Or try shooting a progressive LCD screen

Answer 3

Your TV is displaying at a slower frame rate than your camcorder is recording.  In tech terms, your television is displaying out of phase from your camcorder's recording.  Hence the reason why these black regions or 'bars' are sometimes called phase lines.

Your TV is probably displaying 30 frames per a second (fps) and most camcorders have a default setting of 60 fps.  If you can, change your recording frame rate to 30.  You might have to go as slow as 24.

... If you want to record something on TV, there are much better and efficient ways