Best External TBC or Frame Sync for Betamax tapes

[Deter]

Just wondering if anyone around had good luck with any external TBC's for old betamax recordings.

A lot of the tapes that I have, have a lot of errors, like white oxide drop outs, picture tearing and damaged frames, plus in general the video is out of sync of sorts.

Found this on Ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Professional-Video-Time-Base-Corrector-With-Frame-Pulse-And-C...53.m1438.l2649

Which looks like the AVT 8710, which I have, but wondering if anyone has this item or has tried other TBC /Video Sync devices.

If it actually does what the ad says, this is a good unit, but don't trust the ad, cause never found anything that fixes damaged frames or oxide drop outs other than scripting or manually removing them.

Have had problems with the 8710, it is a pretty cheaply made devise, this devise looks the same.

However don't want to buy some rack mount that I don't have the connection parts to even run. So, please help....

[DB83]

But isn't an AVT-8710 a full-frame TBC so next to useless for videotape timing errors beit VHS or Betamax ?

These signals require a line-TBC. Simplest way is place a dvd-recorder between the VCR and the capture device. If you still need the full-frame TBC then that would follow the dvd-recorder.

Drops outs are not fixable with a TBC. Require post-capture work.

BTW not all 8710's were created equally. LordSmurf's guide has the answers there.

[JVRaines]

Best bet is a DVD recorder in passthrough mode (lots of info in the Capturing section). Won't help with dropouts, though; you need dropout compensation in the VCR electronics.

[lordsmurf]

Most DVD recorders
- don't do passthrough
- are NOT true TBCs as per usual definitions (noting that the term "TBC" is very loose, hence why the claim is so freely tossed around)
- still passes errors due to Macrovision being forced
- often introduce errors (posterization, IRE, gamma, luma, etc)

I wish it were as simple as any DVD recorder fixing a menu of flaws, but its just no so.

To address tearing, the DVD recorder needed is specifically the DMR-ES10 or ES15. Not just any old recorder.

The only good AVT-8710 units are green, and are made by Cypress. The unit you linked to on eBay is a current Cypress, same as the black AVT-8710. The black/black and silvery-blue/silver units (ie, ALL available models on eBay/etc) have fatal flaws that cause dropped frames, frame locking, and ghosting. It's a POS. The Smurf-blue/silver Cypress is also good, but those are from the green AVT era, and are even more rare. Beware of stock photos on sites and auctions! The good units have been discontinued for at least 8 years now. (Note: I've been selling off some of my excess gear this past year, and have a few TBCs left. Anything I have is in the digitalFAQ.com marketplace forum.)

I tried so-called "dropout compensators" in the high-end DPS TBC line, but it did nothing. I tried a quick scrub in a TapeChek, but it did nothing. Those were all marketing hooey baloney. The only success I've ever had with dropouts was in recent years, with powerful Avisynth scripts that run at 4fps even on a i7-6700K @ 4ghz+. If you have the CPU, and patience, it can be done.

[JVRaines]

As I wrote, dropout compensation is effective when it's built into the VCR electronics. That's the only place the circuitry knows there is no signal and not just pure black or white or noise. DOC is noticeable to the practiced eye but indispensable with crummy 8 mm tapes, for example.

[Deter]

Lord Smurf,

What do I need to purchase to stabilize with no frame skipping or dub frames to work as a TBC for Betamax machines.