Is it normal for a TBC to be unable to display the blue screen of a VCR?

[digicube]

I just got a TV One 1T-TBC-GL, it cannot display the blue screen of a VCR but once the VCR starts playing a tape, it will show picture fine.

This TBC doesn't have a power off switch, is it safe to leave it on 24/7?

[hdfills]

i have a AVT-8710 and that shows the blue screen of my vcr, mine also doesnt have a power switch or anything but when not in use i power it down ...

[JVRaines]

Menu/blue screens are sometimes generated in a "cheap" way that doesn't meet NTSC/PAL specification but which televisions, with their forgiving circuitry, will display. Some TBCs and converters are unable to process these nonstandard signals.

Don't leave your TBC on all the time. Why waste electricity and wear down the hardware?

[Skiller]

VCRs often if not always display their menu in a slightly off-standard way where the signal is altered so that it makes the electron gun of a CRT draw the lines of both fields onto the same physical place (on top of one another) instead of alternating positions for top/bottom fields which would be standard interlaced scan. So that means it's actually progressive scan but at only 240p/288p because it uses the same amount of bandwith. Old video game consoles do the same. It's done because it completely eliminates line twitter which would otherwise be very pronounced with low res sources where the vertical resolution does not exceed the lines count of a field.


So to make it short: It's normal, it just means your TBC cannot handle this type of slightly off-standard signal but this isn't going to be an issue unless you want to capture footage of old game consoles or the VCR menu.

[jagabo]

Use a power bar that automatically switches power to the slave outlets when the master device is turned on/off. For example:

https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Strip-SCG-3M-Autoswitching-Technology/dp/B000P1QJXQ/

Then it will automatically be switched off when the VCR (or whatever you have plugged into the master outlet) is off.

[digicube]

Thanks for all the responses.

[hech54]

I can't even view the VCR's menu through my capture device(Hauppauge USB|2).....this is no surprise to me unfortunately.