TBC in JVC SVHS VCRs?

[lemmy999]

Does anyone know how well the TBC in the JVC VCRs work? How well does it work compared to the 400-500 stand alone units? If they work as well, then I might as well get a SVHS player out of it too (since I have always wanted one and the cheapest one with TBC can be bought for around $250).

[David4Real]

whoa...that's cheap if you can find it for $250 US dollars...I have a regular jvc super vhs deck (s5900u) & that alone without time based correction ran me $199 US. Even though I noticed that using that S-Vhs ET with a regular vhs blank & using a super vhs blank doesn't have a significant difference in quality. I recorded from a digital cable and both seemed very similar in quality.

[lemmy999]

For the HRS7900U:

ecost: 229.95
PC Mall 244.95
BroadWay Computer 244.95 (in stock)
Crutchfield 299.95 (in stock)
CDW 299.95

[Anonymous65]

I have tied using the JVC with a TBC to clean up poor video that would not capure correctly, BUT it did not work. For some reason, the vertical sync is not regenerated, which is causing frame drops when capturing. I bought a Data Video TBC1000 ($299) which is a full frame TVC, and you can capture anything you want because the TBC will output perfect sync even if you feed the TBC pure noise! No more dropped frames and audio out of sync.

[leebo]

My 2 cents:

True, the TBC's built into the JVC consumer decks are not full frame TBC's, but they seem to work well most of the time. My guess is they are two line TBC's.

The TBC1000 is not exactly the greatest either, at least not on paper. I beleive it's rated at only 50db, which is poor for a TBC. But you can't beat the price.

[lemmy999]

My problem is not the vertical sync but the horizontal "ripping" of the picture. Would the JVC TBC fix this? What is a "2-line" TBC?

[leebo]

NTSC video is made up of 525 horizontal lines. When you hear about "400" lines, or "600" lines, they are talking about vertical lines. Horizontal is ALWAYS 525 lines.

A 2 line TBC corrects for only two lines at a time - good enough for most sync errors (I'm talking about picture sync, not sound sync).

A full frame TBC corrects for 525 lines, which means it can completely replace a full frame of video.

There are other things to consider, but I'm not going to try teaching here.

I don't consider the TBC1000 to be good enough for professional work, which is why I haven't picked one up.
But it will likely tack care of your problem.

Why not take your tape to an electronics store and try it in a JVC deck?

[Anonymous65]

If you're working with VHS tape, the TBC1000 is more than what you need as far as quality goes. Anyhting better will not give better results. Actually, I tried a $2000 TBC, and it wouldn't lock to the VHS VCR as good as the TBC1000 does.

[Anonymous65]

Oh, I forgot, I also had a VHS tape with horizontal tearing because the video was of poor quality and the horizontal sync was compressed during bright video. In my case, the TBC did NOT fix the problem because the TBC could not lock up to the horizontal sync. This will depend on the TBC you are using, some have a wide capture range, and some have a narrow range. In those cases, your capture card might work just as good as a TBC.

Also, the JVC are claiming to have a full frame TBC, which is why I was puzzled when it didn't fix or lock the vertical sync.

[lemmy999]

Thanks for the info. There are two reasons I don't try the tape in a JVC deck at an electronics store:

1) I can't find anyone that carries any of the JVC SVHS VCRs that have TBC in my city.

2) Even my HiFi VHS play decent on TV, it is only when I attempt to capture that it gets really bad (ie, the captured AVI does not look nearly as good as the tape played on the TV).

I think I may get a JVC TBC VCR from crutchfield. They have free return shipping (if you want a return or refund) now and if it doesn't work well, then I will try the TBC100 or TBC1000.