Question about "misaligning" or re-alignment of VCR

[daysaf00]

I have a ton of tapes I'm transferring from the '90s. My stuff from 1992 and 1993 seems to have a tracking line in the same location on ALL tapes. I can't adjust the tracking to clean it up. I end up just moving the line across the screen. The best I can get is a solid thin snowy line at the bottom 1/4th of the screen.

This appears in the same location on pretty much all vcr's I have tried (a number of brands and models). Some make it worse/better than others. My Sharp gives the best of them, which you can see below. I assume that theses tapes were recorded on a mis-aligned vcr twenty years ago. I no longer have that VCR unfortunately, but am wondering if anyone can tell me if I can take one of my Sharp or Panasonic VCR's I have laying around and have a technician actually "mis-align" it to match the tapes to get a perfect/better tracking?

The tapes are in excellent condition, and play just fine, but for transferring I'd like to get rid of the tracking line. They have also all been stored in a guest bedroom in the same house, so my only conclusion is a vcr out of alignment was used (unbeknownst to me at the time) to record daily programming.

I have posted pics below, which give an idea of what I'm talking about. Also if anyone can tell me where or who I could pay to re-align a vcr for me? I don't need the VCR once I'm finished dubbing.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Megahurts]

Aligning the video heads is usually done with an oscilloscope observing the output wave form but can be done watching the tape being played. Your old tapes are not that far off.

There are two guides that rap the tape around the heads. The guide on the left is the entry and the right is the exit guide. Both have an allen set screw on the bottom. Loosen the set screws so there is a drag when adjusting the guide with a screwdriver at the top of the guide.

With your tapes I would start with adjusting the exit guide while observing the video. It shouldn't take more than a quarter of a turn either way. It may take an adjustment of both guides. There is interaction between both guides and tracking. When done, eject the tape and tighten the set screws.

[lordsmurf]

Both have an allen set screw on the bottom..

Not necessarily.
The JVC 3800 S-VHS VCRs, for example, have flathead screw slats on top.
These are the decks I (ab)use most often for this sort of work.

Always adjust by a quarter turn at most.

[sanlyn]

On any VCR there will always be a few pixels of non-image distortion along the bottom border. One of my VCR's has 12 pixels down there, another has 4, others have only 2 pixels of noise. This is head-switching noise that appears on all tapes. The overscan area of CRT's and many HDTV's normally wouldn't display this, but many set their HDTV's today to show the entire image. Head-switching noise at the bottom can be cropped off and black borders added.

[hech54]

Since we are on the subject....could I adjust these lines out?

...or would I just make it worse?

[sanlyn]

Head-switching noise is always there. There are ways to mask it with hardware during capture (I can't afford one of those!), but most people do this in software. A typical Avisynth routine would remove the noise at the bottom, then use borders to center the image vertically:

Crop(0,0,0,-8)
AddBorders(0,4,0,4)

In VirtualDub you can use the BorderControl plugin to cover the bottom with a masking border (black by default, but you can set whatever color you want).

[handyguy]

But you are playing analog on a digital tv, so would that also effect it?

[sanlyn]

The code removes some pixels from one edge of the image and places new (black) pixels on an opposite border, so the playback image is the same size as before. This isn't done during playback, it's done with software on a computer.

Your analog video, once converted to DVD, is a digital source. Whether the source is analog or digital, all images are ultimately converted by your "digital" TV into analog output. Your eyes can't see digits.

[hech54]

n VirtualDub you can use the BorderControl plugin to cover the bottom with a masking border (black by default, but you can set whatever color you want).

That is my usual trick....BorderControl is fantastic. I normally capture and HIGH bitrate MPEG2/LPCM audio, add BorderControl in VDub, then frameserve over to MainConcept Reference (old version) at a normal, human bitrate suitable for VHS.