Random vertical jitter on JVC HR-S9600 VCR?
 

I have seen a few random threads about this over the years, but I am realizing that it is my VCR and not the tapes causing vertical jitter issues at the moment.

Is this common over time? Is there an easy fix?

Is it all tapes, or just some tapes?

The JVC TBCs can cause jitter. Any TBC can cause jitter. But it's not because the TBC is bad, but because the tape signal is massively screwed up. That's still the tape's fault. There are some workarounds -- notably and old 2-head VCR and/or Panasnoc ES10 DVD recorder as passthrough.

The JVC can also go out of alignment. All VCRs can. We live on earth. That's gravity for you! All VCRs should be realigned every 5-10 years or earlier. I've had some last a decade, others only 2-3 years.

I just got my new 1980 and it shows jitter in the same places so I am assuming it is the tape. In playing around with the unit, I was finally able to get manual tracking to work, so I can at least potentially pull new captures of the troublesome spots and throw them in later.

Just for reference, besides VCR issues, what would the primary cause of vertical jitter be?

I'm not so sure if it's the tapes fault. I have a JVC HR-S7600EU with lots of vertical jitter when the TBC is turned on. I also have a Panasonic NV-HS-1000 with similar jitter problem on the same tapes. But my Panasonic NV-HS-960 plays most of them without any signs of jitter at all. Strange, isn't it?

Very, my ag1980 will show some but it usually represents the quality of the source.

Yes, it's probably related to the quality of the tapes. But some VCR's can handle those "bad tapes" better than others. In my case, I belive the TBC on my Panasonic NV-HS960 is very different from the Panasonic NV-HS1000 and the JVC HR-S7600. The TBC on the Panasonic NV-HS960 seems "weaker" in a way... and that's a very good thing for some of my tapes :rolleyes:

Vertical "jitter" (non-technical jitter, aka not a timing error) can be a tracking or recording alignment issue.