Playing around with a JVC BR-S525U (or: why I hate DNR)

[vaporeon800]

These aren't exactly fair comparisons, as I changed more than one setting between the two captures. After I did the first "DNR On" capture, I noticed that whites were clipping in several scenes, so I lowered the Contrast control of the ATI 600 USB from 32 down to 25. This was actually an overcorrection, so I have more captures in my future...

But hopefully it shows the clumpy, unnatural look and weird horizontal streaks that result with the DNR of this particular JVC model.

Capture chain:
JVC BR-S525U VHS player (no TBC card)
[7-pin to 4-pin S-Video cable]
Panasonic DMR-E20 DVD recorder (for TBC)
[S-Video cable]
ATI TV Wonder 600 USB

Capture A settings:
DNR On
Norm mode
Brightness 110, Contrast 32, Sharpness 0, rest default

Capture B settings:
DNR Off
Edit Mode
Brightness 110, Contrast 25, Sharpness 0, rest default




More junk to come later in this thread.

[vaporeon800]

Here are all of the Menu options. Other settings are only available via front-panel switches and knobs.

Unfortunately the Image Upload form reordered them for some reason, and it's too much of a hassle to fix the order.

[vaporeon800]

Way back at the end of 2005, gshelley61 posted some captures of the retail Titanic VHS playing on a JVC SR-W5U.

I picked up a former rental copy of the release from someone on Craigslist to use for comparison to this "best case scenario" VHS capture.



I shifted my capture 4 pixels to the right using AddBorders(4,0,0,0).Crop(0,0,-4,-0) so that it matched. The distortion at the bottom of the frame may be caused by Macrovision, which causes numerous induced errors with the ATI 600. Unfortunately my DVD recorder passthrough doesn't correct for that.

I was amazed by the quality when I saw his screenshots, until I made this comparison. I feel that mine retains more detail (and more noise). The only part that I see being worse is the right side of the gold stick where there appears to be a black halo.