Distortion from my TBC-1000!

[ESPY]

A few days ago, I wrote on the Capturing forum about being haunted by “ghostly white vertical wave-like electronic patterns” when going from VHS to MPEG-2.

After some futzing around, I’ve pinpointed the source of the problem to be my brand new DataVideo TBC-1000.

Sometimes the interference is there, sometimes not. And when it is, I have to do a lot of turning on, turning off, unplugging, plugging in, and smacking around (ouch!) to get a noise-free picture. It can happen, but it's a total drag getting there.

I’m wondering if anyone else has had this problem, or had similar distortion issues, with a TBC-1000 before, what a good cure might be, or if I should just give up and send this sucker back to DataVideo. I had figured on this being a pretty hardy piece of equipment, so I’m kinda in shock that a bad one ended up at my doorstep.

Thanks,

[VideoJockey2002]

Others are reporting your same problem with those vertical lines in the DataVideo TBC-1000.

Those same artifacts are seen in the Cypress CTB-100 (same as the AVToolBox AVT-8710 in the USA).

One poster in these forums owns both the AVToolbox (Cypress) AVT-8710 and the DataVideo TBC-1000 and reports those very same artifacts resulting from both devices.

See the thread: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.phpp=491957&highlight=avt8710#491957 This thread has disappeared or has been moved since the original posting

Then, see my post at: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=837510#837510

I think that I may have discovered that there could quite possibly be some of the same components used in both the DataVideo and the AVToolbox(Cypress) product.

Therefore, I believe you might presume that exchanging the product a hundred times won't relieve the problem because it just seems to be a flaw of the chips used in each of these products.

I use a DataVideo DAC-100 analog to DV converter. It seems to work okay. I'm now in the market for a TBC. I'm watching these forums. DVDRHelp is the greatest thing ever was!

I may end up buying one of the two products we speak of here because the price is attractive even though the price seems to be offset by the artifacting of which you speak. Most TBC's run in the thousands of dollars. But, I'll still keep searching.

One other option is the Canopus ADVC-300 at about $550 US Dollars. It is an analog to DV converter with TBC and signal processor all in one unit. If posters in these forums report beautiful video images without any of the artifacting we have discussed (or other problems), I may go for the Canopus product. It's new on the market, however, and I'm a bit wary. Like you, I've been burned many times by problems inherent in an electronic device that were never mentioned in the manufacturer's pre-sales hype. (Note that the ADVC-300 absolutely adheres to copy protection schemes, and, so far, no one has found a way around it.)

--vj2k