Is my standard VCR better than S-VHS one?

[Krazern]

This thread is kind of a follow-up to this one: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/410062-Which-capture-of-my-old-VHS-looks-the-best

I got other family VHS tapes to transfer and trying to decide which VCR gives me the best output. Fortunately tapes are in much better state than the one i dealt with before.

I used two JVCs (PAL)- HR-S7500 and HR-J668 + DMR-ES10 + Hauppauge Live 2 USB + Amarec. Both VCRs were in EDIT mode. For me HR-J668 looks much better. Is S-Video connection a real advantage in this situation compared to composite (scart) in HR-J668? I also used histogram to adjust levels in virtualdub with HR-J668 and i'm not really sure if i did it correctly (adujsted levels by looking at histogram only because preview didnt work while using it). The HR-S7500 capture histogram seemed just fine after cropping the sides.

Is it bad to have some blank spaces in the histogram? I suppose it's better than having levels outside its range.

[Cornucopia]

All other things being equal, S-VHS has higher bandwidth (so better resolvability) and (usually) better luma/chroma separation than VHS. But...ARE all other things equal?


Scott

[rgr]

Ładny groszkowy Polonez

Video from the HRS7500 is just darker and better for me.

[Alwyn]

I also used histogram to adjust levels in virtualdub with HR-J668 and i'm not really sure if i did it correctly (adujsted levels by looking at histogram only because preview didnt work while using it).

Yes, a dog's breakfast. I got the Histo and the Preview to display together (USBLive2) by putting the Preview Acceleration onto Interlaced Frames.

To get access to the proc amp while the Preview and Histo are visible, set up GraphStudio as per my guide here.

I've got 3 "normal" VCRs here and they are all as good as my one S-VHS VCR.

[Krazern]

I also used histogram to adjust levels in virtualdub with HR-J668 and i'm not really sure if i did it correctly (adujsted levels by looking at histogram only because preview didnt work while using it).

Yes, a dog's breakfast. I got the Histo and the Preview to display together (USBLive2) by putting the Preview Acceleration onto Interlaced Frames.

To get access to the proc amp while the Preview and Histo are visible, set up GraphStudio as per my guide here.

I've got 3 "normal" VCRs here and they are all as good as my one S-VHS VCR.

I tried my best to get levels right this time. Now i adjusted them, recorded and watched histogram with cropped sides in vdub for a few times. What do you think? Leaving aside the levels, which one gives better picture quality for you? I see some dot crawl in previous sample because of composite but overall it seems more detailed and with less artefacts like rainbows and little lines on the HR-S7500 (used default levels like before).

I didn't get the preview to display in Virtualdub, it didn't work with any acceleration option- it would either freeze or show green screen.

[oln]

The models are 1 year apart and a lot of the ICs and mechanics were shared between the SVHS and non-svhs hi-fi models of those lineups so wouldn't expect them to look massively different, especially in EDIT mode.

The SVHS variants with TBC/DNR does have some always-on DNR from what I've seen so they will differ a little bit more even with TBC off. SVHS ones also have some added chroma NR but that won't be on in EDIT mode. SVHS ones also have an added tape stabilizer thingy but not sure how much difference those make in practice.

The Y/C (brightness/color) separation of whatever is receiving the composite signal from the VCR will have some impact on the final result, S-Video will avoid dot crawl artifacts but can sometimes not look quite right either or have more rainbows/color artifact remnants or what not so you be the judge.

[themaster1]

sometimes the "Norm" mode in a s-vhs vcr is better for certain tapes, try that