Video "stabilizers" and TBCs? Any good?

[IJM]

Hi,

I am going to be starting a project to restore some rather old footage stored on PAL VHS. I intend to capture it using my Canopus ADVC-100, restore the image as best as possible using post-capture processing (Virtualdub Filtering), and put it on DVD.

Now, some of this video has degraded somewhat and there are various problems with colour and signal stability. I wish to evaluate the worth of using a device between the VCR and the Canopus ADVC-100 to help stabilize and/or clean up the video signal prior to capture.

There seem to be various devices on the market to help do this, but I want some guidance as to their worth and effectiveness.

At the bottom end of the market there seem to be "Video Copy Maker" boxes that claim to "enhance" the image and stabilize the video signals. These typically cost around 30 to 40 GBP. I have also seen "Video Stabilizers" and "Synchronizers" which claim to correct or restore missing or erroneous sync information. These seem to range from 50 to 200 GBP. When some of these boxes get to the 150 to 200 GBP mark, they usually acquire additional features like colour correction.

But utter the magic words "Timebase Correction" and suddenly these things get ridiculously expensive. They start at 200 GBP for the most basic of models and go on up to the price of a small planet. Check the description of what they do... and they re-generate the sync signals.

So how is what they do different to the 30 GBP Video Stabilisers? What are the differences between these devices? Are TBCs worth the extra dosh or will one of the cheaper boxes suffice? Can you recommend any particular product? Is it worth spending money on these at all? What kind of quality can I expect, for instance: is it better to spend money on a high end "Stabilizer" or a really basic Timebase Corrector?

I also understand that they can create audio sync issues if they don't have a facility to delay the audio signal. But that'll be easy to fix post-capture in the computer.

So many questions, but I hope you can help.

Many thanks in advance.

Ian.

[Gazorgan]

Most of those products are aimed at defeating Macrovision and/or stablizing signals from hacked cable TV units (older technology used sync-supression to scramble).

TBC's are a different animal. They are aimed (in your case) to deal with tapes that have stretched from use. You can get some interesting effects from this, to say the least.

I reccomend a good local store with a liberal return policy. Take it home and see if it fixes the problem, if not return it. This assumes you have a problem in the first place. Fixed color correction isn't too hard to do (constant washed color). Changing color problems (shifting over time) usually requires hardware to correct before captruing.

[Marco33]

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=165763

[wwaag]

There are also a number of JVC VCRs that have a built-in TBC, plus noise reduction. I have a couple and they work reasonably well. Don't know how they compare with stand-alone TBC units.

wwaag