Purchasing an NTSC VCR for NTSC playback in PAL territory

[Berrysense]

Recently learnt the hard way that I am unable to use the PAL VCRs that are meant to output NTSC to actually capture NTSC signal. As a possible solution. I am highly considering purchasing a JVC SR-V10U which is currently for sale in the US. As it is on the recommended list of NTSC VCRs.

Is this VCR still a good option?

And should I have any additional concerns in attempting to operate a VCR like this, in a PAL territory (Australia) ?Thanks.

[davexnet]

And should I have any additional concerns in attempting to operate a VCR like this, in a PAL territory (Australia) ?Thanks.

A rather obvious one - the voltage requirements. Do you have a step down transformer to provide the 110-120 V @ 60Hz?

[Berrysense]

I don't yet no. But I have ordered one! 😊

[davexnet]

I think you should be OK. I assume your capure device is NTSC capable?

[Berrysense]

I'm using the Hauppage USB live 2 currently. I believe that will be fine.

[DB83]

But if you are using that device with a PAL VCR capable of NTSC playback, there is no obvious reason why your current equipment will not work.

You do not select PAL or even NTSC for the capture mode but PAL60. Then you get a NTSC video 720*480/29.97 fps but with PAL colour. Sure its not pure NTSC but its the standard method to do this. And I do have this capture device and have done this.

[Berrysense]

So, that's what I'd thought and tried with absolutely 0 luck. I've been using a JVC HR-665EA. Which has the ability to output NTSC 3.58 & 4.43. and I'd made sure to have been outputting the image as such. But the best image I got from PAL60 left me with a green bar at the bottom of the screen. monochrome video with green and purple highlights. And heavy flickering. I'd tried previously with other capture cards and have gotten the same results.

[lollo]

But if you are using that device with a PAL VCR capable of NTSC playback, there is no obvious reason why your current equipment will not work.

The problem is that with PAL60 or PAL -> NTSC transcoding you may loose TBC functionality, depending which VCR model the OP owns

[DB83]

^^ Agreed.

As for the 'green bar' I only saw that if I selected PAL as the capture mode (the height of the bar is the difference between 576 lines PAL and 480 lines NTSC). But then I never attempted to use a TBC (maybe I was lucky in that regard) and that could screw things up. And for your VCR it would be NTSC 3.58.

[Berrysense]

I'm going to try capture as has been described. And show my results.

[dellsam34]

If your VCR is capable of NTSC 3.58 I don't see why it shouldn't be picked up by the capture card? I'm afraid it is only NTSC 4.43 or PAL 60.

[The_Doman]

But the best image I got from PAL60 left me with a green bar at the bottom of the screen. monochrome video with green and purple highlights. And heavy flickering. I'd tried previously with other capture cards and have gotten the same results.

Yes , i have the same situation here in my country with PAL60 playback.
Only a few unimportant tapes from a friend, so not worth to invest in other equipment but interesting to solve the capturing problem.
Regular capture equipment (Panasonic DVDR, Firewire capture unit/camcorder) won't accept it or gets confused giving me a kind of "frankenstein" 50Hz PAL/NTSC capture with garbage on the bottom.
Cropping the bottom garbage then results in a correct NTSC size/color picture but with choppy/missing frames in 50 Hz.

But after some experimenting with a Dazzle DVC100 card i had success by starting capturing in regular NTSC (BW picture) and then changing the capture settings "on the fly" with another capture tool (AMCap) to SECAM B.
Possible you can accomplish the same with your capture card(s)?


[Attachment 78362 - Click to enlarge]

[lordsmurf]

JVC SR-V10U
Is this VCR still a good option?

Yes.

Just be careful who/where you buy from. Not eBay. Most eBay sellers package like crap, and it will arrived destroyed. Careful packing needed for international shipping. A few users have some here.

[Berrysense]

Thankyou so much for your assistance everyone! I made one last ditch attempt and I figured it out. I reinstalled the drivers for the Hauppage. I also reinstalled Virtualdub. Low and behold it is now working! Not entirely sure I understand why that was the issue. But it is at least saving me some money

[rgr]

Thankyou so much for your assistance everyone! I made one last ditch attempt and I figured it out. I reinstalled the drivers for the Hauppage. I also reinstalled Virtualdub. Low and behold it is now working! Not entirely sure I understand why that was the issue. But it is at least saving me some money

Did you succeed using the VCR in NTSC 3.58 mode?