Plantec CRX-9000 as external TBC?
 

So recently I had been looking for a decent setup without spending a ton of money (though most likely will be replaced with time spent servicing) and I turned to Japanese auction websites. I was able to find one of the TBCs recommended by this community which I picked up, but I also stumbled upon and picked up another by a Japanese brand called Plantec.

The particular model seems to be their "Top of the line", and they seemed to be made for enthusiasts instead of professionals, but it seems to be fairly powerful. It's definitely more of an all around unit instead of strictly being for TBC so I'll be interested to see what people think. Here's a google translated link with a ton of information on it.

https://translate.googleusercontent....ny0XAzpvJYTtpw

The main thing I wanted to see is if anyone has any experience with it. I don't know how many people here have dabbled with Japanese equipment, but I'd love some insight. If there isn't any I'll definitely put it to the test and see how it goes.

EDIT: I'm dumb. If a mod can move this to "Restore, Filter, Improve Quality" it would be appreciated.

You must remember that "TBC" is a wide term, and can mean almost anything. As I like to joke, I wonder if my toaster has a TBC! :laugh:

Under section heading "Advanced image quality control", that is literally the same image that's been used for TBCs going back decades. It's apparently a stock image. So that's already a strike against it, not showing actual unit performance in the marketing materials.

And what exactly is a "digital editing machine"? It looks like a DVD recorder with no DVD drive.

Touting "10-bit! 10-bit!" is just desperate marketing, like camera megapixels (hint: glass, not pixels), when you consider that most consumer analog sources are like 6-bit dithered, and 8-bit is more than enough to capture the color palette.

I'm wholly unimpressed. :disagree:

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info! Luckily it was cheap so I’ll still put it through it’s paces just to see. At best it can be an ok backup to the recommended tbc I picked up. At worst, it didn’t hurt the pockets if it serves as a giant paper weight. Thanks again!

If you have any degree of success with it, remember not to knee-jerk react, and proclaim it a TBC replacement. Because most people who do so miss vast swaths of weaknesses and discounting issues. That's what has led to so many disappointing purchases of so much junk (mostly DVD recorders, DV boxes, etc).

But do keep me in the loop on your findings. :)

I'll definitely keep that in mind and try to find any issues I can. And for sure! It might take a while, but I'll definitely be back to let you know what I find.

Did you manage to get any good results with it?

Also @lordsmurf may I ask what you think of prospec DVE TBC devices?
https://translate.google.com/transla...omparison.html

I saw some of them in online auctions for a strangely cheap price...

I also saw a "fuze" branded tbc, here is the inside
https://i.imgur.com/eobNH3X.jpg

Btw, do you happen to have any external tbc for sale? I need something to capture Japense vhs tapes, I already have sony s-vhs vcr with internal line TBC.

Sorry for the late response. I haven't had time to test it yet, but I'll update as soon as I do!

That setup looks similar to the cypress and datavideo TBCs, allthough with a set of AV decoder/encoder chips from a different vendor, no idea how they perform. Not seeing any memory chips but maybe they're on the underside of the board.

From what I've read, it's just a "copy protection remover" (and has a fail rate, like other "removers"), and not a TBC. Those "remover" boxes have always been in the $25 to $99 range, but not worth :2cents:. Lots of reports of color issues, a hallmark of these boxes. The "advanced" units have weak proc amp controls to attempt to compensate, but it still doesn't really help. These items can give you a picture, but not necessarily a good picture. Usually not a good picture, all sorts of luma and chroma instabilities.

An actual standalone TBC has 2x+ chips on it. I have no idea what I'm looking at, but that's not a TBC.

See http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/mark...bc-1000-a.html

There's really nothing special about Japanese VHS -- it's just NTSC, but with PAL black level. Quite a few TBC models can adjust IRE, and have PAL/NTSC.

It's okay, TYT :) Also, I ended up ordering a CRX-7000 so I might come back with a review as well.

I ended up ordering it, we will see how it performs when I get it.

Their website claimed it has TBC, so I'm curious to see what kind of performance the device might actually give.

Hmm, interesting... neither do I xD But I just ordered it anyway so we will see...
If you're interested I can send you samples when I get it. I will be using it either with Hauppauge usb live or a canopus advc-100