TBC-1000 Before and after pics?

[lordsmurf]

The other issue is some people don't have the same requirements for quality as others do. Some people expect video to be more sub-standard than it really needs to be.

I represent the opposite side of the spectrum. Anything that is technologically possible (within a reasonable budget) is what I will strive to accomplish. The TBC is an essential piece of equipment in my repetoire.

I've seen many, many, many tapes that were transferred, very often using Panasonic DVD and other recorders (or cheap capture cards or flawed capture software, etc), with quality people swearing up and down is A+ 10/10 perfect studio pro-quality ... but I consider it pure crap. Just a really amateur job.

On the other hand, I've seen people with perfect luck, they've never experienced a real error a day in their life, as it relates to video. Some of them, by some miracle, "get it right" the first time too, with zero experience, just a lot of decent guessing or accidental buying of good stuff.

And others, the simplest thing seems to implode without warning, bad luck like none other. Hardware, software, nothing works right. It's like these people are cursed.

Where somebody fits in is only left to guess when we are online and unable to share physical results (although clips and stills do help this somewhat).

However, for the most part, most people find TBC's a basic necessity for high quality video work.

[Capmaster]

I have tons of multi generational tapes that I have transferred over to dvd now without any severe or acute synch errors and I did not use a full frame tbc.

There are so many variables involved there. Mechanical slop in the VCR, mechanical slop in the tape cassette, tape stretch, head azimuth, tracking adjustment, VCR built on a Wednesday instead of a Friday afternoon or Monday morning, relative humidity and temperature, etc., etc. The list is long.

The fact you have "lucked out" is anecdotal and can't really offer someone else the same success.

The professionals all use TBCs. They do it for a living. Suggest to a pro that they don't need a TBC "because I had good luck without one" will get you shown to the door amidst stifled snickering

[racerxnet]

They are also subject to distorting the signal because, for example, tapes are made of mylar, which is a plastic, and will stretch. In order for the helical head to read the magnetic imprint on the tape, it must be in intimate contact with it. That means pulling the tape tightly across the head.

The tape tension is but a few grams as measured with a Tentel guage. The tape actually floats on a cushion of air where as the Ferrite tips protrude about .0015 thousandths of an inch. The tips are offset -6 / +6 degrees. Tip protusion is significant to tape playback quality as many other things are as Cap has stated. If the tape had contact with the head or there were stiction, you would have a big pile of spaghetti inside the VCR. If I am not mistaken, the head rotates at 1,800 RPM.

MAK

[V20]

This thread needs to be a 'sticky' as the pictures posted show very clearly what a 'full frame' TBC will and will not do, and what a 'line' TBC built into the JVC VCR's does differently.

[davideck]

CaZeek -

Your TBC is probably fine.

In order to remove timebase errors, a TBC must first extract the sync information from the source and derive a sampling clock that tracks the source's timing errors. This is not a trivial task, and some TBCs are better at it than others.

The internal JVC TBCs are exceptional at removing timing instability from horizontal line to horizontal line. The DataVideo TBCs are not very good at it.

If the output of your TBC-1000 looks OK with good quality first generation tapes, then it is fine. The disturbances in your photos are the result of significant timing disturbances that exceed the frequency response and/or the magnitude limits of the sampling clock synthesizer within the TBC.

[lordsmurf]

This thread needs to be a 'sticky' as the pictures posted show very clearly what a 'full frame' TBC will and will not do, and what a 'line' TBC built into the JVC VCR's does differently.

This is one of those things that simple images cannot adequately show. Motion errors are a large part of this, and those can only be shown on non-web formats and then burned to a RW disc for show on a tv. Such things would require TOO MUCH bandwidth, or the sale of sample discs (note to all: see forum rules before getting any bright ideas, not allowed).

[thecoalman]

Arise form the dead I command Ye...

Oops wrong thread.....

[CaZeek]

Hey, leave my thread alone!

[CCEncoder]

my AG-1980 with TBC on improves moving objects at least 25% in uniformity. The previous example somebody put, need to be of the same frame to make something more clear out of it.

I compared my ag-1980 tbc on and off and detail, norm and edit modes
and compared it with my slv-r1000 with apc on.
The slv seems to produce better stills but it doesn't in my view... it just rounds everything up... the ag-1980 shows the image as is with sharp borders...
On this tape The AG produces better quality in norm then in detail mode the expressions look more human. The manual doesn't go into detail about these features. So I will need more information to tweak my tapes.

[Chunking]

I had a similar problem with a particular tape. It was bent at the top as in the samples. I had a conexant capture card. When I ran my VCR thru the capture card it straightened my picture out perfectly. The only thing was that I could only capture at the smallest size 320x240. When I went to convert it DVD the picture was straight but the quality of the picture was degraded because of the capture size. The card didn’t have any passthru so I had no way of capturing the video at a larger DVD size capture. So I’m still stuck at this same spot. The card straightens it out nicely but I cannot capture at DVD quality size. If the card had passthru through would run it to my DVD recorder.