Does the Panasonic NV-HS950 oversharpen captures?

[Hajker]

I'm looking to buy a VCR to capture many old tapes. I don't have a lot of options to choose from, and I saw a NV-HS950 in a listing. But, my only concern is that I've read the image it produces is oversharpened. https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/11758-panasonic-nv-hs950.html

But then there's these samples which look decent https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/366999-Noise-VHS.

Does anyone know if the VCR produces unnecessary haloing? I don't want to buy a VCR that will ruin captures.

Also does this unit suffer from Hi-Fi head switch crackle? (Don't know if that's a VCR problem or because of a worn tape).

[johnmeyer]

I cannot answer your question about that specific model, but I do own a high-end Panasonic VCR and, as with any VCR, you must defeat the built-in sharpening when you do a transfer. As Lordsmurf stated in that post you linked to, you have to turn down the sharpening. However, on my Panasonic -- and I suspect this is true of the one you are considering, as well as the one discussed in that thread -- the "right" way to ensure that you get zero sharpening is to turn the edit switch "on", rather than adjusting the sharpening level.

Turning the Edit Switch "on" turns the sharpening completely off.

Under no circumstance do you ever want an analog VCR doing sharpening. Most of the circuits are not much more than a peaking capacitor designed to introduce a halo around sharp light/dark transitions. On an NTSC TV, when viewing low-res VHS tapes, the result was, to some people, more pleasing, but it always destroys detail. Always.

If you want to do sharpening, do it using modern digital tools after you have captured. The result will be much, much better.

So, unless someone else has other information about that specific model, I think you can buy it without worrying about over-sharpening.

[Skiller]

The NV-HS950 has an edit switch behind the front door panel.
I agree 100% with what johnmeyer said. Edit=on is a must, in my opinion.