JVC SR-V10u to Panny ES-10 to Philips 3575 for some Black Level Control

[KeepItSimple]

I know this has been done to death but here's how I deal with black levels now:

The image from some 80's portable vcr/video camera footage I have (before camcorders!) is SO bright something had to be done.

I'm now running the signal from a JVC SR-V10U vcr through the Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder to the Phillips 3575 to record on the hard drive (i haven't burned a disc yet ).

By doing this not only can I use the great video input filtering this particular Panasonic model has (Lordsmurf approved) but I can also choose from 3 different black levels.
You can choose either "Lighter" or "Darker" on both the input and output for composite/s-video. That's 4 possible settings when using as a pass-through:

"LOW" setting = Darker/Darker
"MEDIUM" setting = Lighter/Darker or Darker/Lighter (same diff)
"HIGH" setting = Lighter/Lighter

My point being is that even if your recordings are usually ok and not too light (like some say with JVC), you might still want some control because of the source or personal taste. I know I do.

As stated in so many other posts you should probably go to the time, trouble and some expense to get this vhs-to-dvd thing right if you want good results. Things don't have to get crazy expensive or complicated though. A separate TBC unit with it's full skills & powers (for hundreds of clams) would be great for ultimate tweaking, but often just a little lighter or darker is all you need to make it look really good. The Philips 3575 (with no composite/svideo black level controls I can find) records the "correct" brightness for my tastes and normally will be fine, but that old video camera put out such a bright picture that it had to be fixed. I used the Darker/Darker black level setting on the ES10 for those tapes and they look great now.

[wabjxo]

The only darkness control for the 3575 is on the HDMI output, in the RGB Range setting for "contrast." Normal is lighter and Enhanced is darker. Someone else said this is an IRE setting.

[KeepItSimple]

Oh ok thanks wabjxo I didn't think so but I've only had the 3575 for 6 days so I wasn't sure. I found a way lol.

[wabjxo]

Yes, you did, a simple but clever workaround. I plan to point people to your post if they have a similar darkness problem.

[KeepItSimple]

Thanks wabjxo. Actually I would be using the panny es10 for recording if it weren't for those awful timecode errors I get when trying to edit on my mac.
I'm so hoping that when I finally record onto a disc (just hard drive so far) that the VOB files will be editable using Mpeg Streamclip with NO timecode errors. Have you done any of that wabjxo?

[wabjxo]

Sorry, I don't PC-edit but I've read of people who do and no mention of time-code problems... actually, no problems of any kind except a slightly different file structure cuz of Philips +VR rec. std... an extra folder or something like that.

Here's a post that has some good info on what you'll see for editing.

[lordsmurf]

I'm sure it'll be fine.
Panasonic errors are related to their crappy AC3 encoder.

[KeepItSimple]

Oh great thanks for the reassurance.
I guess I should burn a disc and see how it works since the hard drive is 1/2 full with VHS footage now.
I would have by now but I'm out.

[wabjxo]

Don't let your HDD get more than ~80% full and do some editing. A coupld of people so far have tried some dividing and deleting with full HDDs and ran into many problems. One is reformed after he cleaned his drive off and started fresh... no more problems.

The 3575 HDD has a small cache, 2MB, so "keep it simple".

[oldfart13]

I don't want to get into a spitting match with PC vs. Macs but I don't seem to get these (alleged) AC3 errors when using DVD-RAM discs from my Panasonic E80H to the PC for editing/authoring. What exactly is the problem you have run into?

[lordsmurf]

I've run into Panasonic AC3 errors as long as Panasonic has made machines, in any software, on any platform.

The AC3 files are prone to going out of sync, or parts of the files will go mute on you. They are flooded with errors and warnings when analyzing in audio software. Even the freebie AC3 encoders are better.

This has been confirmed by many other users out there, so it's a legitimate issue.

The E80H is one such machine. The ones based off Panasonic encoders were worse than the LSI based machines, but both still did it.

[LCSHG]

I had found this thread interesting in its topic and comments
I don’t have a 3575 but have a friend that does, likes it very much and when placed in line with an older liteon/ilo unit does very well Both He and I have filled the HDD to about 96%, Him on the 3575 me on a 5045 or RHD04 and we edit With the units and no poblems

What has all that got to do with the original post and its issues -- > [ I think NOTHING ] <. Especially when the Info is pretty bad

I gather the 3575 is generly well liked

[KeepItSimple]

Yeah it generly is.