Anyone ever tried this for capturing?

[saggitarius]

I have some old VHS movies I am trying to copy (kids movies I got off Ebay) I am beginning to think I need a TBC, but am not absolutely sure.

Here is my setup.

JVC VHS/DVD combo unit BRAND NEW
using coaxial out to TV for viewing
composite outs.
Video into SIMA SCC with RCA, out with S Video to capture card
- Sharpness and brightness setting applied via SIMA SCC
Audio thru 20 band equalizer to tweak sound, if neccesary
Leadtek WINFAST TV TUNER expert edition with all latest drivers and software
Virtual Dub to capture
AMD AthlonXP 3200
1 G (2x512) DDR 400 Kingston Value RAM
ASUS A7N8X E deluxe mobo
dedicated 160G SATA drive for capture

What is getting me is the fact that a few of the tapes I am trying to capture are giving me some tearing images and also horizontal issue where the picture travels horizontally in my capture window while previewing the image. However, this phenomena is not apparent on the viewing television, why is this anyhow? The tapes are Macrovision protected, but when I captured these tapes months ago I didn't have this problem, using cheaper equipment. I purchased the newer eauipment when the tapes began the current problem.

I am trying, presently, to use the compostie outs from the TV as my source, and so far, it seems to be working better, I only had the flagging issues at the beginning of the tape.

Can anyone explain what may be happening here and if I should start surfing Ebay for a TBC?

Thanks

[aiw9800proman]

I have tried just about everything out there and have learned some valuable lessons:

A permanently damaged tape is a permanently damaged tape.
An old tape can be fine 1 day and ruined the next, especially after playing and editing.
No 2 tbc's are the same.
Results can vary drastically from cheap equipment to expensive equipment, and that means varying both ways - cheap equipment can give great results and also garbage results, expensive equipment can give great results and also garbage results.

If you dont have a tbc then you need one but dont ask which one is best because there is no answer to that question.

Every tape I have ever touched has performed differently on every single piece of equipment I have ever tried, its the most 'hit and miss' area I have ever dealt with.

Hope that doesnt put you off

[saggitarius]

OK, some very disconcerting news. Lovely.

One thing I really don't understand is how these picture problems are not at all apparent on the television I am viewing the VHS tape onto. Why is it that the problem is happening on my capture system? Is it the analog to digital thing?

[Steve Stepoway]

My experience has been that consumer TVs will sync to and display anything that even vaguely approximates a broadcast video signal. But if you have a crappy signal (an old tape w/ no TBC), better equipment will have more trouble with it.

Steve

[FulciLives]

It definately sounds like you would benefit from having a Full Frame TBC device.

These devices can be very expensive but there are two models that are very popular due to the fact that they are the only two that are somewhat reasonable in price.

The AVT-8710 can be bought for around $190 - $200 US Dollars

The DataVideo TBC-1000 can be bought for around $300 US Dollars

Both have been discussed here many times and both do work but it has also been known that sometimes one works better than the other ... depending on the tape. Some tapes will give the AVT-8710 trouble whereas the TBC-1000 has no trouble ... yet some tapes do the opposite ... they will be OK with the AVT-8710 but cause trouble for the TBC-1000

The main benefit of a Full Frame TBC is that it should reduce the type of errors you are getting as it re-syncs the video which makes for a stable video signal ... as a side bonus all forms of copy protection will be filtered out.

There are a variety of on-line websites that sell these TBC devices but to get you started I would look at the B&H PHOTO AND VIDEO website as they are a well known and trusted seller of consumer/prosumer/professional A/V equipment.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[aiw9800proman]

Saggitarius,

My apologies for such an 'off-putting' post. It was a bit heavy and was just a reflection of my experiences in the past couple of years of video conversion.

Steves right about the tv screen synching up to just about anything, but your problem sounds like either the macrovision affect your pc card or maybe the pc card is very sensitive to the video signal from your player anyway. Vhs signals can do all sorts of weird things to pc cards but the most stable cards so far have been the ati aiw's which appear to 'like' the vhs signal.

If your going to capture anything with macrovision on a pc you are going to need a device in the chain to strip the macrovision first.

Hope this helps and good luck

[saggitarius]

Thanks for the replies.

aiw9800proman

I thought the Sima SCC WAS supposed to take the Macrovision out of it. Part of the reason I opted for this unit rather than the simpler passthrough unit that is also available. Perhaps mine isn't working quite right. I will agree that perhaps my capture card is the root cause of my issue. Unless my eyes betray me, I believe I have seen the flagging phenomena in VirtualDub when simply viewing a TV channel. It appears only briefly, but yet I do believe I happened to see it on a few occasions just today. All along I thought it was because I was using a cheap Sears VCR and got rid of my other Video Stabilizer I had owned for about 10 or more years! I had first captured a whole bunch of these videos a few months ago and they all looked fine, but before I had a chance to output them to DVD, my storage drive foo-foo-ed on me and I lost everything. Then all this crap started to happen, first I thought the stablizer was no longer working, got the SIMA. That didn't correct the problem, figured the cheapo heads on my VHS were shot, got a new player (although not a recommended one from what I have read here) Now I am using S video cables etc etc and still getting CRAP!

Where might I be able to take this Color Correction unit to be serviced, if this is part of the issue, or should I bite the bullet and go for an AIW? I think I want one of these anyways, just gotta convince the wife to let me spend yet more $$$ on this endeavour! Too bad I don't know anyone with an AIW I could borrow, to test this theory. Ah well.

Don't you just LOVE computers?