TBC for capturing Beta/VHS?
 

Wanting to buy a TBC that will help transfer old home movies over to digital... Reason for the TBC is to avoid blanking "no video signal" over bad parts and dropouts in video tapes.. Don't want anything that's going add other errors in the video such as flickering, color streaks or bars etc..

I have a feeling that TBCs will get really hard to acquire for the rest of this year.

BTW, don't get sticker shock. Remember: buy it, use it, resell it.
FYI, I currently have a unit in the marketplace.

No thankyou.. Thanks for the advice.. Not worth the life savings, and not worth trying to resell after copying a few tapes... Looking for something I would like to keep around as I like to record other tapes I come across with old commercials etc.. It's already way out of my price range for something that's not going to make any profit.. They can continue to keep going up for all I care.. I suspect at some point they will be worth -neg value pretty like much any other old technology these days.. I'll wait until something else comes out, even if it's another decade or more.. For right now, I'll except the results as they are without a TBC..

Your generality isn't true of all technology. Also, this isn't "old" technology, but rather legacy technology. Old isn't used, legacy is. A TBC isn't a Zip disk. Certain items not only retain value, but rise in value due to continued scarcity. Functioning Betamax decks are a perfect example of this.

You're not buying a TBC for pocket change -- unless it's junk (flawed, broadcast rackmounts, etc).

With the attitude of "cheap good TBC or nothing", then it's probably going to be nothing.

However, there are some quasi-TBC aka TBC(ish) workarounds, namely using an ES10/15. But it's not a TBC, and merely has some TBC-like functionality. Whether it works heavily depends on source -- namely that it must be homemade, not retail tapes, and in excellent SP quality. Part of the ES10/15 signal is passed without correction, and generally needs (again) actual frame TBC. The ES10/15 has some negatives, namely posterization, aggressive NR, and (for PAL) some potential luma issues.

Remember, a TBC isn't a "forever cost", but rather a project cost. Buy it, use it, resell it.

Betamax has collector value.. And I've seen higher end and/or more rarer Betamax decks that were $2000 10 and 20 years ago going for hundreds now.. There's no collector value in a TBC, and when something else comes out that replaces the technology, or they've been passed around enough, There will be a bunch sitting on eBay between $50-$200 or even they'll be worth no more than dumpster food.. A very bad investment in something that will lose it's value at any giving time, and the value is based on what one is willing to spend on it, they maybe going for $1875, a year from now they could go for alot more, but they could also go for alot less, and that bubble is going to burst at some point, and I'm not going to be stuck with the hot potato that really isn't worth all that money.. I may go that route buying an ES10/15, Im hearing people talk about that in numerous of places.. Or I may go with nothing, and continue the transfers without a TBC...

Betamax is not more collectible than VHS. And your valuation of used video gear are simply wrong.

BTW, that ES10 that you "heard" people talking about ... I discovered that anti-tearing TBC(ish) feature back in 2005, right after the unit came out. I reported on it here, VH, AVS, and several other places. It spread from there. I was expecting it to be quick DVD recorder test/review, and return it, as I'd done with so many other units in the 2000s. But I still have that first ES10.

I've done an incredible amount of TBC research in the past 20 years. I could have given you lots of advice on TBCs, but due to continual rudeness you're gotten yourself banned. What a shame.

As a former Betaphile, I agree that they're largely not collectible because of practicality, but some machines are very collectible, especially the top of the line units like the SL-HF2100, the SL-HF1000 and the EDV-9000 which when available can go for $2000+. If I had the money, I'd buy all three just for collectible status and reliving my Betaphile years. *SIGH* :depressed:

And there are those rare W-VHS Japanese decks. Rare, desired, but maybe not useful compared to the JR-S9800 or AG-1980P.

I'm with you. Want vs. need. I want to try those Betamax decks, best LD players, W-VHS. But there is no need whatsoever, cannot justify expense, even temporary. Nor have time for it anyway.

Are you missing the 80s and 90s, too? :o

If I can go back to the 80's and take my today's money with me to buy every gadget came out back then and enjoy it in its hay day I would! Not so much to enjoy with today's technology, 4K, HDR, OLED TV's, smart phones .... etc. I guess when someone is young the taste is different.

I definitely miss the mid-80's for pure electronics excess, after the mid 90's no, as some bad things happened.

My now ex-girlfriend (who finally left in the mid 90's), indulged my Sony craze*. She offered to buy me the incredible 20th Anniversary Trinitron. Massive for the time, 30" CRT, solid rosewood cabinet, limited to 1000 worldwide. http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif We had two in Hawaii one at each Shirokiya, a Japan based store chain. I'd drool over it everything I'd go to the store, sometimes going just to see it. I don't know how much the other one sold for, but eventually it was marked down to half price. $5,000! I'd joke about what a bargain it was, and several times when she'd see me drooling over it, she'd say what she always did..."If you really want it, I'll buy it and we'll figure out how to pay it off." "Practicality" prevented me from accepting the offer, but a few years later, I did agree to let her buy a PVM-2530 for the bargain price of $1300 ($1800 discounted for video pros) because I knew someone who worked at Sony. Everyone at the Sony warehouse, most of whom knew me because I brought in so many of VCRs for repairs, stared as it was wheeled out to my car. Even they never saw anyone buy one for their house! :eek:

*If we had a son, one of his middle names would have been Sony. Thank goodness we never had a child given Sony's reputation today.

Edit: If I recall correctly, the serial numbers on the TVs I saw were #50 and #51. Shirokiya, because of its Japanese roots a was premier Sony Dealership, often getting new Betamax machines before anyone else in Hawaii or the U.S. I remember going there at least weekly and every once in a while I'd see a new Betamax and be told it's real, but would be the only one there is for months.