Toshiba DVR620 - false Macrovision?

[Covetous]

I bought a Toshiba DVR620 to convert a bunch of old VHS and VHS-C tapes, all of which are at least 10 years old and some of which are 20+ years old. These are all "home" videos created with various video cameras and camcorders, i.e. no commercial tapes. I have kept good care of the tapes, and the picture quality when playing them on the DVR620 is excellent.

However, I am having an issue with a flashing or flickering effect on the tapes. Some are worse than others, but they all seem to have it to some degree. Basically I am seeing bright flashes from time to time, sometimes a few seconds or less apart, but not at any regular interval. They are not enough to make the tape unwatchable, but they are very distracting. The best analogy I can give is if you were playing a video on your PC and adjusted the brightness up about 10-15%, then right back to +0% again.

If I connect an old (mid 90s) VCR to the TV and play the tapes, I do not see the flickering effect, but the picture quality is not as good as the DVR620. If I connect the same old VCR to the line in on the DVR620, I DO get the flickering effect (however, I do not get any flickering when playing DVDs on the DVR620).

Most of these tapes look excellent if not for the flashing. No waviness, no noise in the picture. Also, the VHS tapes seem to have much more flickering than the VHS-C tapes.

Could this be false Macrovision, or do you think there is a defect with my DVR620? From what I have read about false Macrovision, it seems like it should only happen with badly degraded tapes, and not all of them like I am seeing. Or, is this due to IRE errors in the unit?

[redwudz]

It does sound a bit like false Macrovision detection. But most times MV causes dark video, not so much light flashes. In general, Macrovision circuits lower the level of the video sync pulses below the video levels and cause sync instability. The cure is usually a TBC (Time Base Corrector $$) or you may find a cheap Macro vision removal adapter for your owned tapes or home recorded ones on the net. They work most times.

But others here may have better information.

And welcome to our forums.

[jjeff]

Newer Toshibas as well as Sony DVDRs tend to be more sensitive to false CP than other brands. As Redwudz said a simple VHS filter may help and the last I saw you could pick some brands up for <$30. A more expensive DVD filter would also work but for your project a VHS filter would be sufficient. I also agree with Redwudz that MV generally causes dark video but other than false MV I really can't think what else it would be.
Note with your combo I don't think you'd be able to install the filter between the VHS and DVDR sections, the only combos that I know had that feature were the earlier Panasonics. This is one reason combos aren't generally suggested, it's much handier to have 2 separate units and this is only one reason.

[Covetous]

That's what I thought as well, that Macrovision would generally darken the picture, and also make it much more unwatchable... I remember seeing it many years ago when I first got a DVD player and ran it through a VCR. Plus, the fact that this happens with every single tape is what makes me wonder if it's a flaw in the unit, or just a defective unit. Either way, I'm thinking about just returning it and getting a new one that isn't so sensitive. Anyone have any recommendations on a brand or specific unit?

I've definitely considered getting separate equipment with a filter in between, but it seems so hard to find dedicated high quality VHS equipment that's in good shape these days. That's why I went with the combo to begin with.

It's very disappointing because everything else about the DVR620 has been solid... the VHS picture quality (other than the flickering) is excellent, the quality of the DVDs it makes at 2 hours or less recording time is very good, and the DVD upconversion to 1080p is also excellent.