JVC Video Stabilizer Option

[BruceSD]

I hope this is not a dumb question, but I have always wondered, what does the Video Stabilizer option on my JVC SR9911U machine for? I have always left it off, but recently I was transferring a tape which was a multi-gen dub (probably 5th or 6th generation, of various TV programs.) The tape had some excessive horizontal jitter throughout, and one of the programs on the tape had some sort of weird picture "twisting" in the picture. Turning on the video stabilizer solved the annoying twisting (and I found using it with the line TBC/NR removed most of the excessive horizontal jitter also.)

I played the same program with the twisting on the same tape in my Panasonic Omnivision a long time ago before it died (which I made the dub on a very long time ago) and there was no twisting (but there was excessive horizontal jitter.)

At any rate, what is the Video Stabilizer do, and should I normally have it on, or just turn it on when needed? Does using it cause any artifacts or strange playback behavior?

[lordsmurf]

The stabilizer attempts to lock onto the signal to steady the image. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. That's not so much a statement about the VCR as it is about the tape, however.

Only turn it on when you need it. The stabilizer can sometimes cause more errors than it fixes, at the fault of the tape. Be sure to monitor the transfer too, do not just assume the stabilizer works. Common side effects include inducing more jitter and adding top-screen image tearing.

This filter is commonly needed on multi-generation tapes or tape made in cheap VCRs.

Leave the calibration off too.

Once in a great while, EDIT mode will help alleviate tape jitters. The tape is so volatile that any image cleaning induces unwanted side effects.

Aren't VHS tapes fun?

[BruceSD]

Thanks for the advice lordsmurf, I though you would be able to help with this one. The tape was a multi-gen copy, with the copies made on cheap VCRs (the material was from the late 80s and I am sure recorded on cheap mono 2 head machines common at the time.)

If I may ask a followup question, I normally have the calibration off, and the picture control set to "normal". Should I default to "edit", or leave it as "normal"?