VCR tapes

[msns_pet]

Please help. I have several older VHS tapes where the top of the picture is distorted. Is there anything out there that will stabilize the picture so it does not look like the top of someone's head is floating away?

Thank you,

msns_pet

[Will Hay]

That sure is a bugger!!!!!!!
Is it like the top 25% of the screen floats away at 45 degrees to the footage at the bottom?
Someone may correct me but a TBC might be your best bet.
I used to have this with some tapes, but trying them on a different VCR, in most cases, seemed to fix it.
Never understood why.
Look up TBC in the glossary, it does not mean 'to be confirmed', as I once thought
Will

[curryman]

t.b.c.- Tried,....but couldn't

[stiltman]

try them on an old 2 head VCR.

[MrMungus]

Please help. I have several older VHS tapes where the top of the picture is distorted. Is there anything out there that will stabilize the picture so it does not look like the top of someone's head is floating away?

Thank you,

msns_pet

JVC VCRs have a "Video Stabilizer" (in addition to a Video Calibration setting). If you're going to be doing a lot of tape to DVD conversions, you should definitely invest in one -- with TBC.

If you're just doing a few videos, you might look into just renting a JVC for a little while.

However, one thing I have run into myself is that sometimes a tape will be so bad that even with video stabilization and TBC, a file is created that plays fine on your computer (as an MPEG file) but which TMPGEnc DVD Author can't "handle" -- produces a DVD with lost audio synch (the weird part being that other programs, such as DVD MovieFactory CAN create a good DVD from the same file).