Is this a tracking issue with the VCR?

[waxstone]

I've been capturing a lot of Japanese broadcast VHS tapes. There are certain tapes which have a mix of content recorded from Laserdisc and broadcast. In this set of 30 tapes, everytime broadcast footage plays back, it has this bad tracking (as seen in sample) at the bottom which ruins the video and sound.

However I tested on my PAL deck and it looks and sounds fine! I wanted to capture footage to share a sample however I can only view it on the CRT. I've tried many different settings on my GV-USB2 device and Amarec and it can't quite pick it up. On the TV it shows 'NTSC -> PAL'. The standard PAL_I setting, frame rate, etc doesn't seem to work on Amarec.

Main questions:
Is this an issue with my Japanese VCR (Panasonic NV-SVB10 S-VHS) or the recording itself?
Will my PAL deck (JVC HR-S7600) only convert NTSC to PAL, and output to PAL, meaning it should not be used for NTSC captures due to loss of frames?

[waxstone]

I think that it's a tracking issue for certain recorded content. I've used the channel + - buttons to adjust on the Panasonic, however it only fixes temporarily and persists. I'm not sure if it has an auto-tracking feature.

[The_Doman]

However I tested on my PAL deck and it looks and sounds fine! I wanted to capture footage to share a sample however I can only view it on the CRT.

Will my PAL deck (JVC HR-S7600) only convert NTSC to PAL, and output to PAL, meaning it should not be used for NTSC captures due to loss of frames?

If the VCR is not a real Multinorm VCR, it will output a so called PAL60 signal (60Hz with PAL colour) as almost any European VCR (and other video device) does when playing back NTSC content.
Capturing PAL60 can be a challenge as not many devices support this, sometimes with suitable driver and trickery it can work.

Topics here:
Videohelp: PAL60

[waxstone]

However I tested on my PAL deck and it looks and sounds fine! I wanted to capture footage to share a sample however I can only view it on the CRT.

Will my PAL deck (JVC HR-S7600) only convert NTSC to PAL, and output to PAL, meaning it should not be used for NTSC captures due to loss of frames?

If the VCR is not a real Multinorm VCR, it will output a so called PAL60 signal (60Hz with PAL colour) as almost any european VCR (and other video device) does when playing back NTSC content.
Capturing PAL60 can be a challenge as not many devices support this, sometimes with suitable driver and trickery it can work.

Topics here:
Videohelp: PAL60

That's fascinating. I had no idea it was so complicated. I'll just compare by eye for now!

[dellsam34]

Are these SP recordings or low speed? and do you know what VCR have been recorded on? If low speed it could be due to the fact one VCR tolerate low speed better than the other. If you can't capture PAL60 your next best option is to find another VCR that plays them or tweak the P guides.

[timtape]

,,, If you can't capture PAL60 your next best option is to find another VCR that plays them or tweak the P guides.

Yes it looks like a P guide adjustment issue, in which case the way to get all of the picture clear is to adjust the P guide(s).

[dellsam34]

I wouldn't recommend messing the P guides adjustment on a good VCR, maybe try on a low end VCR first and see how it goes.

[timtape]

If the user lacks the aptitude, skill and understanding, I wouldn't recommend they attempt P guide adjustment even on a cheap machine.