I've tested 4 of my VCRs (2 x Pan, Tosh, JVC)

[rgr]

I've tested 4 of my VCRs and I'm asking for your comments -- which ones to keep and which ones to throw away? 3mins file attached.

1. Panasonic NV-HD630 (top left)
2. Toshiba V642UK (top right)
3. JVC HR-6850 (BEST enabled) (bottom left)
3. Panasonic NV-HD640 (bottom right)

Workflow: VCR -> HD640 -> DMR EH-585 -> recorded on Ferguson (LSI Logic MPEG2), please take it into consideration . On PC yadif and compression with CRF20, YUV444.

[Eric-jan]

Hard to say, the source material may be not a good start to make such a test, all have different flaws.
are all using a composite or s-video connection ? or is this also different per config ?
I guess you should not have any extra features enabled…
Why have the Ferguson recording in the workflow ? a second compression on your PC ? MPEG2 recording isn't already de-interlaced or has it baked in with the PC?

[oln]

The HD630 has the least black streaking on this recording at least. The Toshiba seems to be especially bad in this regard and has a bit of smearing after sharp transitions as well, maybe it has worn heads or capacitor issues or something.

[rgr]

Hard to say, the source material may be not a good start to make such a test, all have different flaws.
are all using a composite or s-video connection ? or is this also different per config ?
I guess you should not have any extra features enabled…
Why have the Ferguson recording in the workflow ? a second compression on your PC ? MPEG2 recording isn't already de-interlaced or has it baked in with the PC?

SCART connection.
In JVC I had to select OUTPUT:VIDEO. S-VIDEO gave me a black and white signal, I would probably have to remove the HD630 from the workflow. The others give no choice.
On PC material recompressed from MPEG2 to H264 and deinterlaced (yadif).

I am pasting the postprocessed material below.
Every file has been denoised, deblocked and sharpened*

*VideoLeftUpper=QTGMC(VideoLeftUpper,preset="slow" ,TR2=2).DeBlock().ASharp(D=2,B=1,hqbf=true)

[dellsam34]

On PC material recompressed from MPEG2 to H264 and deinterlaced (yadif).

Then what's the point of 4:4:4? Comparaisons like these should be done with no devices in the workflow, VCR and capture card only, lossless 4:2:2, no more than one minute.

[Bwaak]

I agree with oln. My preference:

1. Panasonic NV-HD630 (top left)
2. Panasonic NV-HD640 (bottom right)
3. JVC HR-6850 (BEST enabled) (bottom left)
4. Toshiba V642UK (top right)

[rgr]

I agree with oln. My preference:

1. Panasonic NV-HD630 (top left)

I didn't expect HD630 in the first place -- for me it gives the most noisy picture.
Thanks for the replies.

(Yes, I know it's best to record directly from the VCR, but I don't have any capture card other than cheap crap.)

[oln]

Noisyness isn't really measure of how "good" it works though, just how much noise reduction the vcrs does which can also result in loss of detail so it's a tradeoff.

The NV-HD630 producing less black streaks on this tape in particular, which presumably has a not so great recording on it. On most tapes that those really occur at all in a normal-functioning vcr though. Other tapes might work better with another of the VCRs. Newer JVC's are a bit prone to black streaks on bad tapes in my experience but wouldn't have expected the Toshiba (which is really a samsung) to be that affected based on my experience with PAL VCRs.

[rgr]

Yes, Toshiba performed surprisingly poorly -- I suspect the heads are either dirty or worn out. I will clean it, I will still do a test for the HDMI capture card.

[rgr]

I noticed that the JVC burns out the colors the least.


[Attachment 71223 - Click to enlarge]

[rgr]

xx