EH57 cropping Hi8 frame, will ES10/15 also ?

[23fps]

hi people

I have a Panasonic EH57 which I'm using as a pass through. It's doing a pretty good job with my dodgy old Hi8 tapes but is cropping/blanking apx 7-8 pixels off the left hand side of the frame.

I'm wondering if anyone could tell me whether an ES10/15 will crop less (or the same) ?

I realise 7-8 pixels isn't huge but I'm about to begin an epic home movie digitization marathon and just want to know I'm capturing everything I possibly can...

I've attached a pic to illustrate.

top: first attempt using a TRV480 with DV output, not great but good for being able to see what I assume is most of the frame.
middle: using a Hi8 cam with direct connection via S-video to an AJA LHe+ , seeing most of the frame but no TBC is a problem for wobbles and sync
bottom: going through the EH57, great for wobbles and sync but cropping 7-8 pixels

[hodgey]

Yeah the ES10 does this too, in fact most things that digitize and convert back to analog in some way, including dvd-recorders, standalone TBC units, and built-in vcr/camcorder TBCs tend blank some of the pixels on the left and right edges. (Some intentionally create a soft border to avoid ringing but not these). For the PAL (not sure if there is a north american version of the EH57 and I know some of the US dvd-recorders don't output interlaced over HDMI) you can avoid the edge blanking by capturing from the HDMI output. That does require using a HDMI splitter (or something else) that can work around HDCP copy protection though.

The DCR-TRV480 does have analog outputs too and TBC/DNR, but on this (and the other models of this last 8mm tape camcorder lineups) they dropped the S-Video output for whatever reason so you only get composite out.

[latreche34]

It could be due to using composite. If you are anal about quality you should be using a camcorder with line TBC/DNR via S-Video that's more important than losing 7 pixels.

[23fps]

Hi hodgey

Thanks for the info. That is pretty much what I suspected. Kind of a bummer but I guess it's the price I'm going to have to pay for the stabilisation. It does kill me though, knowing there is info being discarded.

It's also interesting that the TRV480 doesn't blank those pixels with its AD conversion, pity about the rubbish TBC and nightmare of DV related capture issues.

[23fps]

Hi Latreche34

there's no composite anywhere in the mix, the pipeline is currently
Hi8 Camcorder > S-video > EH57 > Component > LHe+

I haven't tried a Hi8 cam with S-Video/Stereo output that has a TBC/DNR, can you recommend a model ?
As Hodegy said, the TRV480 only has composite out and I'm pretty sure the Canon UC-X10 I'm using doesn't have any TBC.

[Bogilein]

In my experience, the picture on most DVD recorders (PAL) via the analogue outputs at 720x576 is only 704x576 + black borders on the right and left.
I have only 2 units in my DVD-recorder collection (20 different units from Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, JVC, Philips) where the output via composite, Y/C at the resolution 720x576 is without the black borders.

JVC DR-MH10, Pioneer DVR-630

I would take a look at them. Both have jitter correction, but not as good as the Panasonics. With good tapes, however, they are definitely an alternative.

But you should never forget that the capture card should also be able to record in 720x576. Many cards only record in 704x576.