Panasonic AG1970 or AG1980 for home movie conversion?
 

I am looking to convert my old VHS home movies into digital format. I am using a black magic intensity shuttle thunderbolt and I also have a working panasonic ag1970 s-vcr and a non-working ag1980 s-vcr. Ive read that the ag1980 is superior to the ag1970 but im wondering how much of a difference there truly is between the two. :question:

I guess I could get the ag1980 repaired. But I am not sure if it would be worth my time and money if the visible difference is very small.

Has anyone done a side by side test?

I'm still a noob here with all the information that gets passed around here (only joined the site about 2-3 months ago), but what I do know is that the 1980 is leaps and bounds better than the 1970 for one reason in particular: the Time Based Corrector, or TBC for short. The 1970's TBC is either far weaker than the 1980's TBC, or the 1970 doesn't even have a TBC at all (can't remember which).

the 1970 does have TBC , but it is nowhere near as good as the 1980.

No contest. The AG-1980 is a much newer and more modern unit.

I think the TBC advantage is because the AG-1980 has a "full field" (multi-line) TBC, while the 1970 only has a line TBC.
But noting the JVC line TBC is superior to the Panasonic full-field TBC, in several ways.

Could you explain LS? I have a JVC HR-S7800U and am curious how it compares to the infamous panny 1980, in terms of TBC.

it really depends on your tapes - i have tapes that freak out a normal JVC TBC but play perfect on a 1980 or a W5U