Distortion at the top of the screen with VHS capture

[Ninjafish]

Hi guys. I'm using a Dazzle DVD recorder to try and put some old VHS tapes on DVD. But even though the picture quality is fine when I'm watching it on TV, the quality isn't coming out nearly as good when I capture it on my PC. For one thing, the picture at the top of the screen is coming out slanted to the right for some reason.

The top line of the screen looks like this.
///////////////////////////////////////////

It looks horrible.

There's also big black vertical lines on the sides of the picture.

Does anyone know what causes it to look like this or how I can fix it?

[Richard_G]

The top line or lines often look like that and you may also see distortion at the bottom too. This is how the picture is, it's just that on a TV you can't see it due to overscan. The black lines at the side are normal too, again, they aren't seen on a TV.

[edDV]

A slant or bend at the top may indicate a VCR tape tension error for the recording or playback VCR. Try a different player.

A TBC usually corrects this type of error.

[lordsmurf]

A standalone TBC rarely fixes this error. The ones embedded into VCRs and sometime DVD recorders WILL however. So can other synchronization filters (not actually TBCs).

JVC S-VHS series (high end only, with TBC) might
JVC S-VHS series, any one, with stabilization turned on might (less likely)
Panasonic ES10 DVD recorder will
Panasonic AG-1980P S-VHS VCR probably will

Normal VCR won't cut it.

[edDV]

Yes, I was thinking more along the lines of the AG Panasonic TBC's.
I havn't used many of the newer consumer TBCs.

[SLK001]

Does anyone know what causes it to look like this or how I can fix it?

It is a loss of high frequency information in the horizontal sync pulse. Most (if not all) digital recorders require a proper sync to initiate recording of a particular "line". A very good TBC will strip out all sync pulses and replace then with pulses that meet the broadcast standard, so you will get a good recording.

[Ninjafish]

I see. I actually have a DVD recorder connected to the TV that fixes the overscan line at the top. The thing is that the overall quality is pretty bad compared to the oniginal or the quality I get from the capture device. That's the reason I bought the capture device. I guess I bought the wrong thing.


Made with a GoVideo DVD Recorder


Made with Dazzle

Hmm... Is this what I need? http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMR-ES10K-DVD-Recorder-Black/dp/B0007WKB0U/ref=sr_1_1?...6566718&sr=8-1 Or is that too cheap?

Maybe I could just crop all of that out instead. Is there a program that can capture and automatically zoom or crop the picture as it displays?

Also, is recording from a VHS straight to stand alone DVD recorder supposed to be as poor as the quality of the first picture is? Look at the blurry box score.

Thanks for all the help.

[lordsmurf]

The Panasonic has sucky recording quality. I only use it to pass a signal from VCR to ES10 to another recording device that looks good (JVC recorder, ATI AIW card, Matrox card, etc).