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  1. Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
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    United Kingdom
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    Hi

    I’m a UK based VJ – a “newbie” to the forum and this is my first post. I am most impressed by the extent of knowledge and experience of forum members but the more I read, the more confused I get about which are the right UK PAL models to look out for.

    MY REQUIREMENTS

    I have material on old PAL VHS and S-VHS tapes I want to digitise (convert to DVD). This includes material recorded in SP (mostly) and LP (some) modes on a variety of machines (not all mine!).
    While I want to convert a few entire tapes, most of what I want to digitise are shorter sections and clips (anything from 10 secs to 10 mins) for use in VJ mashups. In my VJ performances I “mash” archive footage with 3D graphics and animation.
    The quality of these VHS source tapes is variable, with lots of tracking problems, and some other noise and dropouts.
    I want to find one (or maybe two) machines with S-Video outputs and some facilities for manual tracking, TBC and noise reduction.
    The digitised material will all need to be compatible with the UK PAL format for use with vision mixers (such as Edirol V-4) in PAL mode fed by (PAL) DVD output (Pioneer DVJ-X1s).


    EXISTING KIT

    The VHS /S-VHS machines I own are mostly of the domestic variety and unsuitable for my purposes. They are either worn out or have no manual tracking, TBC or NR or have no S-video outputs.

    The options for digitising are either via my Canopus AVDC-110 or using a Sony GV-HD700E.

    The material will then typically be assembled / edited in Sony Vegas before burning to DVD.


    OPTIONS

    Based on advice on this forum in other threads I have been considering some combination of these machines:
    JVC SR-V10E (or SR-V101 ?)
    Panasonic NV-FS200 (or NV-SV121 ?)
    A D-VHS machine like the HM-DR10000EK or relevant clone.

    I have discounted the older, larger JVC pro-studio VHS machines. Despite the many recommendations I’m no engineer and I don’t want the headache of buying a “dud” or ending up with huge machines I can’t maintain or get cost-effectively serviced.
    I have discounted the Mitsubishi D-VHS HS-HD2000U as I think it’s NTSC only.

    CONFUSION

    My confusion is mostly in making sure I get the right machine(s) for UK PAL. Unless you correct me I ideally true PAL (PAL 50) machines. So, from my shortlist above:

    Would the JVC SRV10E be suitable (or is this not UK PAL). What about the SR-V101?

    Is the NV-FS200 the “true PAL” equivalent of the AG-1980P? (I’d bid for the one on eBay today but the owner has posted problems with it on this forum).

    Is the JVC HM-DR10000EK the right model? Would the HM-DR10000EU work equally well? Would any of the badged clones work (Philips VR-20D) (or Thompson DVH-8090 which I think might be PAL-60)


    HELP

    I’m outside my comfort zone here, so any advice you can offer would be welcome.

    You may even suggest given the circumstances, that I buy no machines at all, but get a recommended UK conversion service to do the digitising for me, using all the tracking, TBC and noise reduction facilities they have (in which case, recommendations please).

    Lastly, sorry about the length of this post, but I wanted to avoid just saying “what PAL VHS / S-VHS machines do you recommend?” only for the first reply to read “what are you going to use it for?”.

    Cheers

    Paul
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  2. Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Portugal
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    You mean me ? Actually, believe it or not, this is the 3rd machine I got. I didn't say that on eBay cause it would make the impression that I was getting rid of the worst one, which is defenitly not true.
    Hey, I can post a pic with all 3 if you want

    I also didn't post my finding because noone seemed to bother. I basically discovered the 3rd machine to be identical to the 2nd (better colors and a little more noise), even rewinding times. The 1st one has bit less noise but colors are a bit unsaturated and rewinding times (a method I thought could evaluate the use of the machine) are a bit higher, like more 7 seconds on a 180m tape.

    I should also inform you that this is all in the extreme nitpicking domain of things, as with all things in this site, if you look at some comparisons posted you almost can't see any big difference, my posts were more or less along the same lines.
    All machines are in very good condition and I'll never post one on eBay again with a bad picture or starting at 1£ (that was actually something I forgot to change ...), it's just plain STUPID to overlock those things with such quality equipment as this and in the bad financial situation I'm in.
    If any of you goes to the Algarve I can let you inspect the machines before you buy one, just drop me a PM here 1st.

    Cheers
    José
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  3. The Old One SatStorm's Avatar
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    Aug 2000
    Location
    Hellas (Greece), E.U.
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    Well, since I'm a VJ myself (I used to post some of my tests on www.youtube.com/labrokratisvj but I stopped after my stuff get blocked for viewing through my country) I can understand what you trying to do.

    IMO, get one of this if possible: http://www.gthelectronics.com/featurec.htm
    They are still some on ebay.co.uk I believe. It is more than necessary for what you trying to do. I know, I do the same...

    Regarding VCRs, personally I use a Philips VR 1500 matchline which it seems to be a clone of a JVC HR-S9611. It has a build in linear TBC, but some times, it does more harm than good! Linear TBC is not always necessary, full frame TBC is.

    Your Canopus card is probably the best alternative to capture VHS. I use a AVC100 myself.

    Then, there comes software filtering. It is more than necessary! Neatvideo is your friend on this.

    Finally, the encoding to mpeg2. That's tricky... TMPGenc is good, HC is better, CCE is the best, and Mainconcept have some fans.
    I'm with TMPGenc for years now, but it shows it age and it is slow. For VHS to mpeg2 still a nice alternative though.

    I hope I helped you a bit!
    La Linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli
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  4. Member
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    Spain
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    Originally Posted by SatStorm
    Regarding VCRs, personally I use a Philips VR 1500 matchline which it seems to be a clone of a JVC HR-S9611.
    Does the Philips VR 1500 have TBC/DNR, Digital R3 and Video Stabilizer?
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  5. The Old One SatStorm's Avatar
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    Hellas (Greece), E.U.
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    Linear TBC and Digital 3D denoise yes.
    I don't know what you mean by Video Stabilizer. If you mean advance auto tracking, yes it has.
    La Linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli
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  6. Member
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    Spain
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    Originally Posted by SatStorm
    I don't know what you mean by Video Stabilizer. If you mean advance auto tracking, yes it has.
    This is a feature to help with jitter that the TBC doesn't fix.
    And only the JVC 9XXX series have this feature.

    (Image from www.digitalfaq.com)
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  7. The Old One SatStorm's Avatar
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    The menus are very similar with the one of the picture you provide. But they are not the same:
    My VCR has a feature that says DIGITAL TBC/NR. On some tapes that helps on other tapes it doesn't.
    On the menus, there is something called DSPC (has to do with the tracking), Digital 3R and that Time Scan Audio. It doesn't have something called "Video Stablizer" like the option of this picture.

    As far as I can tell, this Philips VCR is a JVC clone, a rebranded one. I know because I also have a JVC HR S6611 (which doesn't have a TBC) and inside they are both identical (Philips has some more add ons)
    La Linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli
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  8. Member
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    Dec 2011
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    LONDON
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    Guys Merry Christmas to all,

    I am new to Blog, and basically is looking for your guys to give me guidance on buying DVHS machine in UK. I have tried eBay with no luck. Preferable I am fan of JVC, but my budget is not big, I am in SLOUGH near london. Your comments highly appreciated, Thank you Regards 6sunilna
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  9. Member 2Bdecided's Avatar
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    Nov 2007
    Location
    United Kingdom
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    I've never seen one on eBay UK, but there are several on ebay.de
    Far more S-VHS machines over there too. German machines are fine for transferring UK tapes, but not for recording UK broadcasts - if you have any analogue broadcasts left in your area! As I've no interest in recording to VHS, this is no problem.
    Many sellers will ship internationally.
    I enable auto translate in chroma to make navigating ebay.de easier, though you may be lucky enough to speak the language.

    As always, buyer beware.

    Hope this helps.

    Cheers,
    David.
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