Should I invest in an external TBC?
 

Looking for some guidance in deciding if I should invest in an external TBC like the TBC-1000. Right now I have a Panasonic AG-1980p and a JVC HR-S9600u running svideo into a 36” Sony CRT television. My question is will putting a external TBC between the VCR’s and TV improve the picture quality at all or are external TBC’s only useful for capturing analogue to digital?

- Line TBC cleans the image, visuals. Line TBC is intraframe.
- Frame TBC cleans the signal, allows proper capture. Frame TBC is interframe.
You need both.

The AG-1980 and HR-S9600 have line TBC. Now you need the frame TBC.

No reason to buy a frame TBC if you're only viewing on CRT, not capturing.

Is that what the OP is doing? That was never statement explicitly. :hmm:

If so, both the tapes, and the VCR, are on a clock. The AG-1980 will have caps go again eventually, and the tapes will wear and degrade as well. The wise move is to transfer those, using a quality method. And those are definitely quality VCRs.

But getting back to the original question of improving the video visuals. Some external frame TBCs have move advanced filters and proc amps, so technically, those TBCs would improve viewing as well. Not the main reason to own a frame TBC, but a nifty side effect ... again, on some models, not all.

Thank you for the replies!