Help with tranfering old Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan VHS Tapes

[mrmonarch]

I have a ton of old Chicago Bulls VHS tapes from the 90's, and a lot of them are transferring pretty good in my opinion.

I am however having some issues with certain tapes. I'm using a Panasonic DMR-EZ48V into a capture card.

I'm getting a lot of jump and jitter in the output on certain tapes. I'll attach a video link showing what I mean.

I often have strong vertical jump. While adjusting tracking, I can get less vertical jump at the cost of introducing noise on the bottom of the screen. If I use tracking to reduce the noise on the bottom, I get more vertical jump. There is also clearly horizontal jitter as well.

I'm outputting with S/VHS.

Do I need a different VCR? Have this one "repaired/cleaned"? I don't think it's inherent to the tape, as I do have a Sony RDR VX530 which has a more stable video output but with an electronic buzz in the audio.

I could probably capture the audio from one and the video from the other, and combine them in Adobe Premiere, but that's a last resort.

Please excuse any terms I've used incorrectly, and if a mod wants to move this thread somewhere more appropriate, have at it.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Panasonic DMR-EZ48V clip - https://youtu.be/gProgUuNdLQ

[rgr]

Characteristic for a worn head.

Edit: cheap capture card?

[Alwyn]

Yikes! I have an EZ48V (PAL), admittedly brand new, but it is rock-solid on the tracking. It's TBC qualities are on the same level as the famed ES-15. In fact I often use it instead of the ES-15.

I suspect that yours needs some work, judging by the wobbly picture, although as RGR says, it could be the capture device.

[mrmonarch]

Capture device is El Gato (I know I know) but I don't think that's the issue as I've transferred some tapes and get some good results.

If it's a worn head, or the vcr needs work, what's my next move? Look for people who service vcr's locally? I'm in Chicago so I suspect I can find someone.

Thanks for the feedback btw.

[rgr]

The new head is unlikely to be available. At least at a price that will be profitable.
It will probably be cheaper to look for a "new" VCR.