Tear at the top of VHS video?

[ChibiBoi]

Can someone tell me what's causing this huge tear at the top of the video? I don't know if that's what it's actually called. It appears on both my VHS players, though on my second VHS player that includes TBC, when I turn on TBC the tear is gone, but the rest of my video becomes wavy and squiggly like fish swimming in the ocean.... It's so annoying.

This is a brand new tape from retail, so it's not because of damage or anything. Is it because of copyright?

[mike20021969]

(I'm interested to know what this is too - as back in 1994, I bought a brand new Sanyo VHS machine that had this exact symptom out of the box. It went straight back to the shop and was exchanged for a Philips instead. I put it down to either faulty head drum or some sort of tape path misalignment).

[ronmaz]

Have you tried adjusting the tracking control on the VCR?

[hech54]

(I'm interested to know what this is too - as back in 1994, I bought a brand new Sanyo VHS machine that had this exact symptom out of the box. It went straight back to the shop and was exchanged for a Philips instead. I put it down to either faulty head drum or some sort of tape path misalignment).

That's a lovely story. Too bad we are talking about a brand new tape, not a brand new VCR.

[mike20021969]

That's a lovely story. Too bad we are talking about a brand new tape

Isn't it just

As the same sympton is showing on 2 VHS machines, then obviously the tape at fault. In which case he needs to exchange it for another as the one he has "could have" been recorded on a dodgy machine.

[jagabo]

It's often called flagging or tearing. It's a time base error. Could be the VCR, the tape, or a combination of the two.

[ChibiBoi]

I forgot to mention that I actually bought a brand new version of this tape because I have another version of the tape, also retail, which had the exact same tear at the top of the video! It was an older tape and I thought it was due to improper care. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that a brand new factory sealed version of this tape also had this stupid tear!!

[sanlyn]

It's possible that there's a glitch in the mastering of that edition. More than likely, though, all copies of that VHS have been sitting in closets for years. Tape degenerates over time, even when it remains sealed. I've had the same experience.

[ChibiBoi]

After reading a bit more on the subject, I BELIEVE this tear at the top may be due to anti-copy protection on the VHS tape since it's occurring on both editions of the tape I have. It makes me really sad because I have two VHS players, the second one I bought SPECIFICALLY because of it's built-in TBC feature, which seems to get rid of the tear but the video quality sucks and gives me squiggly lines everywhere.

This is the article that lead me to the conclusion:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/189455-How-to-address-anti-copy-%28Macrovision%29-errors

However, a majority of the links on that page which leads to digital video stabilizers to correct the problem are dead! So now I'm trying to find one over the internet somehow. The reviews for the $20 ones are pretty bad, and then there are $80 ones which I really don't know if I'm willing to spend that much money on.....

[sanlyn]

The AVT8710 is a decent shop-level full frame TBC for just over $200, sometimes you find it for less elsewhere (but beware of cheap spinoff copies with poor quality control and no service). B&H Photo Pro Video division tracks quality on the product and is buyer-friendly. Cheap TBC's are just that -- cheap junk, and useless.

[robjv1]

If you can get your hands on one, try a Panasonic ES-10/ES-15/ES-20 DVD recorder with the TBC off on the VCR and see if that solves the problem.

[jagabo]

If you can get your hands on one, try a Panasonic ES-10/ES-15/ES-20 DVD recorder with the TBC off on the VCR and see if that solves the problem.

Further info: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/319420-Who-uses-a-DVD-recorder-as-a-line-TBC-and-what-do-you-use

[ChibiBoi]

If you can get your hands on one, try a Panasonic ES-10/ES-15/ES-20 DVD recorder with the TBC off on the VCR and see if that solves the problem.

Well, I've been trying to avoid capturing onto DVD, since with my last DVD recorder, the results weren't as clear and detailed as when I were to capture using my capture card with VirtualVCR

[lordsmurf]

The technical term is "tearing"
You can fix this with an ES10.

Read more:
http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/video-capture/2196-fixing-vhs-tearing.html
http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/video-restore/2313-vhs-tearing-even.html

[jagabo]

If you can get your hands on one, try a Panasonic ES-10/ES-15/ES-20 DVD recorder with the TBC off on the VCR and see if that solves the problem.

Well, I've been trying to avoid capturing onto DVD, since with my last DVD recorder

You don't capture to DVD. You use the DVD recorder's pass-through capability (analog in, analog out) and capture with your current capture device. The picture is stabilized but not MPEG encoded by the DVD recorder.

[sanlyn]

The Panasonic machnes mentioned for pass-thru work pretty well, except for the ES-220 -- the latter won't accomplish much. I had a similar problem with a "brand-new", sealed retail VHS as well as a beat-up home VHS a while back. The Toshiba RD and RD-XS series have a decent tbc pass-thru and a less "processed" output image. Comparison using two example tapes, here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/331681-s-video-artifacts?p=2141386&viewfull=1#post2141386

[jagabo]

Remember to turn off any noise filters in the DVD recorder.

[sanlyn]

@jagabo, yes, good point. The NR in the DVD machines mentioned is less than ideal . Usually overkill IMO .

[robjv1]

Yes, you're right, ES10/ES15, but not the ES20. I can never remember which are the models in that series with the capability and which are without it.

There are other more expensive options in addition to the others mentioned in this thread, but at $50-$70, that's probably the cheapest. There are other VCRs that will fix it as well.

[Baldrick]

I'm moving you to our restoration forum section.

[sanlyn]

Yes, you're right, ES10/ES15, but not the ES20. I can never remember which are the models in that series with the capability and which are without it.

The ES20 does have pass-thru tbc capability, it's just not as much tbc power as the other two. My Toshiba's do a dance around my old ES20 for pass-thru tbc, without trying to juice up the color or contrast. I had an ES10 sometime back, but it just plain died after four tapes and I couldn't disable its DNR (for some tapes it was OK, but for others it was overkill). Never tried another ES10 after that.

[robjv1]

I have an ES10 and an ES15 (I think) and as I recall, both perform similarly. I use the ES-10 quite a bit with tapes that won't play well in my main deck and need to be run though a plain VHS deck, it really does work wonders despite its faults.