A VHS question for LS or Gshelly

[Dasun]

Gentlemen,

The problem is:

I am capturing some 25+ year old VHS tapes though a datavideo DAC-100 DV converter and I am very happy with the results. But - is there not always one - the tapes were shot on a late 1970's portapak and it crash cuts between scenes and sometimes the datavideo unit will loose 5 to 7 seconds of video resynching which is rather annoying.

The question is:

Will one of the JVC SVHS decks with TBC cure my crash cut problem or do I need to shell out bucks on a TBC.

Thanks in advance.

Finally, if anyone cares - I think the DAC 100 is a very good unit for capturing analogue video, but it is still possible to have audio synch issues although I use mainconcept for capture and I have no audio issues.

[lordsmurf]

I think you'll need a full TBC. I can record snow and jibberish with a TBC in the chain.

[vhelp]

@ Dasun

I think that you may have short-changed yourself with the dac-100
device.

-->

I know.., I know.. you were told everything is the same as the advc-100
and there's no point in loosing the $100 or so bucks for it, if you instead
got the dac-100 device. well.., all until you hit up against something
like this situation. Lets face it. It was a gamble.., right ?

Anyways.

Now, you have to shell out for a TBC. I think you may have lost in
this brief battle. you should have gotten the advc-100 .. just my OP

In a recent capture from an EP recorded VHS tape, there were several
areas in the movie (home footage from 8mm cam) where the tape blanked out
with a blue screen in one scene for instance, and in another, snow. It
was like someone had cut the tape off, and the tape kept taping footage
anyways. To my surprise, the advc-100 did not drop any frames, and just
kept capturing everything weather there were video frames to
capture or not. That's what I love about this toy. It just locks onto
anything, even dead air (as in the above) and keeps it all synced with
the audio too
.
FWIW.., when I played that video source in vdub's time-line, everything
was there, including those several dead air recordings too.

Well, its a gamble. DAC-100 is cheaper, but can't hold its breath longer
under water (or deaper water) than the ADVC-100 device. And having ben
there, I can safely say it with pride.

... Back on target ...

To TBC or not ...

If you do get the TBC, expect that same issue you just mentioned to be
there. I got a huntch that it will still be there. But, if not, consider
yourself one of the lucky ones'. But I'm gonna go out on a limb and expect
that a TBC won't cut it for your 'dead air' or 'gap' ('s) in your video.
.
It's kind of funny, you know. Cause, I remember the days, when I used
my ATI-TV Wonder (pci) card, and it used to act much like my ADVC-100
on certain sources like yours and mine. It was a die-hard card, (I did
have it fine-tuned in my system setup) but in the end, I gave it up
(shelfed it) due to the Line Noise in its capture video. Other times,
I did drop frames, but not much. But, for me, one is too much.

Good luck in your situation,
-vhelp 3119

[lordsmurf]

The ADVC probably would have crashed too, it always does at a certain point. It is not a TBC replacement, not even close.

[Dasun]

Thanks for the info/help fellow denizens of the net.

I was rather hoping to hear that the JVC SVHS deck with a line TBC would solve my problems and then I would have a really good excuse to buy a high end VHS VCR before they become extinct.

For the curious:

A crash cut is about a half second or so of picture breakup because early portapaks could not determine where one recording started and another ended, so they just started recording wherever the tape hit the headdrum. The interesting part is that the datavideo unit handles longer breaks better than these glitches, which is not what I expected. Again thanks for the help.