Looking for a VHS converter and Upscaler

[jacatone]

I still use VCRs with analog TVs. Received an older Sony Bravia HD dumb TV and want to try connecting a vcr to it so I need a device that'll enable me to select the older 4:3 and 16:9 and upscale the image. Can anyone give me some recommendations?

[rgr]

I still use VCRs with analog TVs. Received an older Sony Bravia HD dumb TV and want to try connecting a vcr to it so I need a device that'll enable me to select the older 4:3 and 16:9 and upscale the image. Can anyone give me some recommendations?

I think every DVD-Recorder will have these options (Panasonics for sure).

[jacatone]

I'm wanting to play my VHS tapes on the Sony Bravia HD TV not record on DVD.

[dellsam34]

If Your TV has HDMI input look for Gefen upscalers.

[jagabo]

Your Sony TV almost certainly has a composite input and it will upscale the SD signal fed through it.

[dellsam34]

Generally, upscaling functionality from analog sources such as composite is mediocre in TVs, That's why high quality stand alone upscalers existed back in the day, Not clear what video port the OP is trying to upscale from and what's the quality expectation, and what TV model he received.

[rgr]

I'm wanting to play my VHS tapes on the Sony Bravia HD TV not record on DVD.

You don't have to record to DVD. The recorder acts as a device that processes analogue images to HD/FHD. And if your Bravia has a SCART/Composite input, you don't need any device.

And don't believe in any upscaler power -- the quality improvement won't be significant.

IMHO the best way to watch analogue recordings is a plasma TV (you can buy it for pennies).

[dellsam34]

And don't believe in any upscaler power -- the quality improvement won't be significant.

It is significant, I witnessed it myself, TV manufacturers don't care about analog sources anymore, So they are not going to put expensive licensed chips in their TVs when they know 95% or more of the buyers are not going to use it for such purpose.

[Alwyn]

Even 480x360 video looks great on my UHD LED LG TV. Just the same, if not better than on my PC monitor. And my VHS captures also look great. I haven't tried playing a VCR direct to the TV, but upscaling-wise, my TV does it nicely.

And I would think that an semi-modern TV would have controls to set the aspect ratio (not that you'd want to display a 4:3 video to 16:9) and a "fill the screen" type function to display a 4:3 signal at full screen ie vertical fill; no need for a separate box to do that.

[dellsam34]

We're talking about direct physical connection, not playing digital files.

[lollo]

I haven't tried playing a VCR direct to the TV

Then you are out of contest. In OP's use case the TV takes the analog signal, digitize it and then map the screen (deinterlacing, resizing, etc.).

[Alwyn]

In OP's use case the TV takes the analog signal, digitize it and then map the screen (deinterlacing, resizing, etc.).

You mean like this (LG 55SK8500)?


[Attachment 82617 - Click to enlarge]

No deinterlacing of home videos though. Commercial tapes (I assume, PSF) no issues with interlacing. Quality? Same as the unprocessed capture.

The OP does not need an upscaler.

[lollo]

I do see a difference in quality between direct connection with a VCR and the raw (unprocessed capture) on my Samsung UE46F8000SZ or Sony A90J 4K OLED.

According to OP's set-up he may need an additional device.

[rgr]

I do see a difference in quality between direct connection with a VCR and the raw (unprocessed capture) on my Samsung UE46F8000SZ or Sony A90J 4K OLED.

So you have a bad TV
Upscaling from analog source works great on my plasma, I would like to get it right away on my PC...

[lollo]

So you have a bad TV

You must be joking

Upscaling from analog source works great on my plasma, I would like to get it right away on my PC...

I do not have a plasma anymore (my Pioneer Kuro died many years ago), but a more recent OLED (and an old QLED). Being plasma technology older is possible that the old TVs have better analog handling ICs. But I can assure that Sony OLED is much better that the plasma I had (unfotunately I cannot make anymore a direct comparison with SD analog sources as input).

[dellsam34]

When I bought my first OLED TV more than 5 years ago when they were still little expensive I was pissed to find out about the poor handling of its composite input, But I wasn't bothered much since I don't have the need to plug in anything analog to it, I did have for a while a D-VHS deck plugged into it via HDMI and VHS tapes looked way better than with a direct composite connection, Digital video processing on those D-VHS decks is very good over HDMI and component YPbPr.

[lollo]

Same here. When I switch between the TV fed with the VCR output and the same TV fed with the HDMI from my PC (or using the app to play files from PC to TV) playing the same tape captured (digitized) i see the difference. Alwin probably disagrees