Will a Time Base Corrector help my Beta video tapes?

[hschen]

I am new to this forum. I am in the process of transferring my near 20 years old Betamax homemovie tapes to DVD recorder. Some tapes play fine and some have problem showing pictures. But if I press FastForward, I can see the picture fast forwarding show up on TV. Back to normal play, the picture disappeared again. It looks like a sync problem. In this case, can a time base corrector (TBC) help restore the sync? I plan to buy a TVOne TBC for around $220 (the cheapest I can find) and place it between my Betamax VCR and my DVD recorder. Will it work? Anyone has the experience to help.

Thank you for your reply.

[Barnabas]

A TBC is always a good thing to have when converting from video tape, but I doubt it would help your problem, which sounds more like it's a problem with the VCR.

[hschen]

A TBC is always a good thing to have when converting from video tape, but I doubt it would help your problem, which sounds more like it's a problem with the VCR.

VCR tracking issue, you meant? But there are some tapes it play well. And of the same tape that has problem, not the entire tape is not watchable. Some jittering, certain sections picture disappear and then reappear after a few minutes or even a few seconds. Adjusting tracking doesn't help. When picture appears, the picture quality is very good. If TBC won't help, the only option is to send these tapes to the restoration service. Other suggestion?

Thanks.

[hschen]

I started to search on eBay for time base corrector. Since I am not a video expert, these TBC on eBay are all rack-mount professional equipment which I have no knowledge of. I notice the photos of these equipment all have a separate external reference sync input. To correct/restore the sync of my old tape from Beta VCR, do I need to connect external reference? If must, where and how? Do I need to buy a separate sync generator? Sorry, I am new here.

[guns1inger]

Have a look at something like the TBC-1000, a stand alone unit with a single input and 3 outputs (S-video and standard composite)

[hschen]

Have a look at something like the TBC-1000, a stand alone unit with a single input and 3 outputs (S-video and standard composite)

TBC-1000? What brand? Where to buy?
Thanks.

[guns1inger]

Datavideo make the TBC-1000. Try these guys -> http://videoguys.com/

or you could just google like the rest of us. It works.

[ntscuser]

I am new to this forum. I am in the process of transferring my near 20 years old Betamax homemovie tapes to DVD recorder. Some tapes play fine and some have problem showing pictures. But if I press FastForward, I can see the picture fast forwarding show up on TV. Back to normal play, the picture disappeared again. It looks like a sync problem. In this case, can a time base corrector (TBC) help restore the sync?

No. A TBC only works on the output signal from your VCR, it can't do anything about the signal before it reaches that stage. The money would be better spent on an overhaul of the Betamax or the purchase of a reconditioned machine (preferably Super Betamax).

[hschen]

[No. A TBC only works on the output signal from your VCR, it can't do anything about the signal before it reaches that stage. The money would be better spent on an overhaul of the Betamax or the purchase of a reconditioned machine (preferably Super Betamax).

I already have a re-conditioned Sony SuperBeta VCR bought from eBay. Most of my tapes play well and color is great. A few will jitter but not the entire tape. Some will drop frames (no picture for a few seconds or few minutes then came back). If the SuperBeta VCR is having trouble sync'ing with the tape and thus output no video to my DVD recorder, how come I can see video during fast forwarding?

Thanks,

[ntscuser]

[No. A TBC only works on the output signal from your VCR, it can't do anything about the signal before it reaches that stage. The money would be better spent on an overhaul of the Betamax or the purchase of a reconditioned machine (preferably Super Betamax).

I already have a re-conditioned Sony SuperBeta VCR bought from eBay. Most of my tapes play well and color is great. A few will jitter but not the entire tape. Some will drop frames (no picture for a few seconds or few minutes then came back). If the SuperBeta VCR is having trouble sync'ing with the tape and thus output no video to my DVD recorder, how come I can see video during fast forwarding?

Thanks,

Your SuperBeta VCR is only displaying intermittent frames during fastforward, not the full recording. Nothing you do to the signal once it has left the VCR can compensate for tracking errors inside the machine.