Big Voodoo TBC

[abbymat]

anyone have any idea about this and whether it can be used for VHS recorders ?

http://www.rlmediasystems.com/kw8tbc.htm

[FulciLives]

It even says it can be used with VHS and then goes on to say it has S-Video and composite video inputs/outputs. So you can use it with any video device that has S-Video and/or composite output. That does of course include VHS.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[lordsmurf]

How much and where?

[abbymat]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...TBC_Frame.html

[FulciLives]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/196120-REG/Keywest_BVTBC8_BVTBC8_TBC_Frame.html

Ouch !!!

At $849.95 US Dollars that is not very cheap.

The DataVideo TBC-1000 is much cheaper.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Video Head]

Says it has a Genlock. That term gets used for Key Overlay/Video Mixer function sometimes or could be a true studio timing Genlock. That would explain the price...and then you have to ask if you really need a studio Genlock...

VH

[Seeker47]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/196120-REG/Keywest_BVTBC8_BVTBC8_TBC_Frame.html

Ouch !!!

At $849.95 US Dollars that is not very cheap.

The DataVideo TBC-1000 is much cheaper.
- John "FulciLives" Coleman

I've seen "Key West TBCs" listed on Ebay with some regularity (used, at notably lower cost than this), and wondered about them. But I did not inquire any further, because I intended to get the TBC-1000. That one seems to be able to do what I wanted it for, which the Sima CT-200 could not.

[Plarocks]

I have a BVTBC unit. It is the year 2000 model that I scored new on E-bay last year for around $350.

The Good:

The image is better than the old IDEN unit I was using, until the IDEN started kicking out a jittery picture.
The old Idens are famous for the capacitors wearing out after 10 years or so. That is what causes this problem.

The BVTBC really cleans up the image of a well recorded tape. I have even noticed an improvement with my Master S-VHS tapes recorded from DirecTV. The edges are cleaned up extremely well.

The bleeding red that came out of my JVC 9911 was corrected by adjusting the chorma setting down to .85 from 1.28.

However, now that I have upgraded to a HM DT-100 D-VHS deck, I have the chroma set back to the default of 1.28 as I find the VHS color to come out of this machine the most balanced that I have ever seen.

This Voodoo still provides improvement to my master S-VHS tapes coming out of this deck. (And VHS tapes too)

The Comb and Notch filters work the best for VHS at their default settings: Notch Filter "Off" and Comb Filter to "On", but you can play with the On/Off settings to try and obtain a better picture.

The Bad:

I get this video artifact that shows up on near black screens, and also when I have just a black screen going through it.
It looks like these light diagonal lines through the picture that look similar to the old interference we used to see in old broadcast TV, but you can not see it in brighter scenes. Plus in the dark scenes, I catch it because I am "looking" for it.


I don't see this all of the time, but the improvements out-weigh the artifacts. I still use it for my VHS to DVD transfers, and when I can not record an OTA broadcast onto DVD without it.

Also, if I put some highly generated tapes through the Voodoo, it kind of "goes nuts" and the picture gets worse.
I notice most TBC's work this way though.

I have wanted to try a BVTBC10 for signal cleanup, but I have not been able to find one on E-bay for a while. They are REALLY expensive when purchased new, over $1000. For that price I would expect the diagonal line artifacts to disappear, but this may be a simple grounding problem on my end.

As for the BVTBC, it ain't worth $1000, but it is still a useful tool for me.

Peter

[chadd]

I just found one of these used, but it didn't come with the 5v power supply. Can anyone with one of these tell me if the power connector is center positive or center negative?

Thanks,
Chadd

[lordsmurf]

It's -- C +

And the model does have known problems.
Plarocks lists it out pretty well.

[chadd]

Thanks for the heads-up. When the power supply arrives next week, I'll find out if it the BVTBC works. If it does, I'll keep an eye open for diagonal lines in dark scenes.

[chadd]

Oh well. It powers up and passes a signal, but it introduces ghosting, blocky color artifacts, and horizontal white streaks. I get much better results just connecting the composite output of my Panasonic consumer VCR directly to my DVD recorder.