VHS to Pioneer DVD 510 problems?

[dstuck]

Hey folks --

I'm crazy about these forums and have finally found a problem I need help with... this one is really driving me nuts.

it involves xfers from VHS to my Pioneer 510... generally this works very well & I've had nothing but success with it. However, I'm now into transfers of very old VHS tapes -- 20 years old or so...

if I play the tape directly to TV (via coax -- this setup is in another room), the tape plays fine.

If I play the tape on the SAME playback machine, now patched to the Pioneer (via RCA cables), the tape appears not to track -- or maybe it's tracking, but the Pioneer doesn't like it -- and can't seem to lock onto a consistent signal. Lot's of blanking and drop out -- too much to properly xfer.

it's like I need a pre-amp for the video signal before it's input into the Pioneer! I thought a time base corrector might help -- but I tried using one of those here at work (TV post production house) and it didn't play back any better here. It only seemed to play back properly via a coax connection to a TV... weird...

Anybody with any ideas out there?

Thanks in advance,
Dave

[ann coates]

Sorry, I can't help, but I have the exact same problem with my Pioneer 520. Tapes play fine, but I receive more than a few drop outs when dubbing through the Pioneer. I ended up using a Panasonic E85 to do my video tape transfers and they came out great. Quite annoyed I can't use the Pioneer though. I think it's simply a problem with the recorder, unfortunately. It's definitely the most fussy recorder I've used for VHS transfers.

[Guitarman]

I have the 420 and have had this happen to me also. I also own an ILO DVDRHD04 and that is the deck I use for all my video transfers and use the Pioneer for all other recording. This combo works great. I have been planning on calling Pioneer to see if they have a fix or upgrade to help with this issue. I will post what I hear.

[dstuck]

That's for the input folks... looks like it's just the Pioneer...

I spoke with a Pioneer tech late last week... he had heard of the problem -- he said it's almost as if the Pioneer thinks it's reading Macrovision protection -- but (as far as he knew) there were no plans for a firmware upgrade.

alas...


Dave

[garretrevels]

if your main use for you recorder is vhs to dvd transfer get a panasonic it has a very good tbc (time base corrector) and that helps alot believe me
there were a few time when i couldnt watch a certain tape through the vcr but when i played it through the panasonis it worked great...........the set back for the panasonics are that after 2 1/2 hours the quality drops off quite a bit compared to the pioneers