VHS-C Camcorder vs. adapter playback
Yes, I know this has been brought up before. Here is the situation I am facing. I have 3 TC-30 VHS-C tapes to transfer, and the age old question is coming up. Should I use an adapter and play it back in my JVC SVHS VCR for best quality, or just play it safe and use the camcorder? The camcorder is a JVC GR-AXM17U. It has a "TBC" built in, no clue what it actually does in terms of cleaning up playback (likely not as good as the DigiPure in the SVHS VCR). It of course only has composite video out, and mono audio out (not a problem seems to only record to the linear audio track).
Meanwhile, I borrowed a really nice mid-90s Panasonic VHS PlayPak adapter from a family member. Its motorized and the VHS-C tapes fit perfectly snug in the adapter. I've heard stories that the JVC SVHS units like to eat VHS-C tapes for lunch. I tried playing back a tape in the adapter for a few seconds and the JVC seems to have no problem playing it back in terms of tracking or tape transport (I confirmed that audio was linear while doing this). Are the tape eating problems caused by the turbo rewind on the VCR? If so, I can rewind in the camcorder. Condition wise, the tapes are fairly recent. The earliest is from 2006. I have already captured all 3 tapes using the camcorder. Just wondering if I should do a second capture run off of the HR-S7800U. |
My 2cents,
Try both and see which looks better. Use a test VHS-C tape or the very end of a tape just in case the adaptor is hungry. I tried my VHS-C in an adaptor on a Pan AG-1980 and my JVC VHS-C camcorder (with TBC). I found the 1980 output to be softer and a good picture while the camcorder playback was crisp if not a bit harsh. I sided with the camcorder because you can soften the image in software where sharpening is not really possible. I am also from the school of audio restoration where the original recording device usually trumps any other playback hardware (for analog). |
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Realize I say this having used more than one VCR and one camera. I've tried this on several dozens VCRs (about half of them various JVC models), and several VHS-C/S-VHS-C cameras. This is something that I can easily repeat, if I want to ruin a tape. In fact, I have a "blank" tape (dummy TV episode recording) that I use for testing. EP mode recordings do worse than the SP, because alignment, tracking and speed become that much more important, and compound the issue. Hopefully you have SP mode recordings, which fair a bit better. Quote:
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On the odd case an old VCR (with lousy picture) sounds better, I'll capture the tape twice, and merge the best audio and best video in an editor -- either Adobe Premiere for AVI work, or Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD for MPEG-2 work. |
kpmedia,
You are probabely right about the AG-1080P being too sharp at times. I just remember (over a year ago) perferring the output of the original camcorder. Plus all of my decks at some point ate my VHS-C tapes in the adaptor, so maybe my decession to use the camcorder was sided. Though, the results from the camcorder are very good. Audio cassettes are a different beast. They have no time code. Head alignments, deformations in the head, tape path, and playback speed are all nuances in audio cassette playback. Sometimes tapes recorded on a crappy cassette deck can only be played back well on that deck. I used to keep the door off one of my Sony decks so I could adjust the head during playback with a jewler's screw driver. All my cassettes have been digitized. When I am finished with my analog video I move on to my mountain of MiniDiscs ....................uggggg |
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Similar, yet different. |
I have decided to not go the VHS-C adapter route and just use the captures off of the camcorder. The tapes are not mine, and the owner and I agreed its best to not risk damaging the tapes. The tapes were thankfully all SP speed and the camcorder had no issues playing them back. I of course ran the video through my AVT-8710. Seems the best option for (S)VHS-C tapes would be to re-spool them into standard size VHS shells, but thats certainly a bit of work.
Makes me kinda glad that my family went 8mm. Yeah, so you have to connect the camcorder to the TV to view, but you have to do that with VHS-C most of the time anyway! As a bonus 8mm had longer tapes, automatic tracking, and better audio. |
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Unfortunately, my family chose the other path -- VHS, VHS-C and some S-VHS-C. Many of our tapes from that era have sustained issues. It wasn't until 2003 that we moved to DV, as the cameras dropped into the casual-priced ranges (under $1K for a moderately decent camcorder -- not fancy, but also not cheap low-grade junk). Quote:
There's a good definition already quoted here on a previous post at http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/show...lems-1602.html For convenience, here's a re-quote: Quote:
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Just an update on this project. It is complete and the folks are thrilled with the end product. The DVDs weren't anything fancy. No menus on the discs, just chapters separating the events. Now I'm really comtemplating investing in either a decent SVHS-C camera or a Panasonic AG-1980P for VHS-C playback.
On a related note I did come across a SVHSC camcorder that records Hi-Fi stereo audio. It was an early 90s model from JVC called the GR-SZ1U. There is one up on ebay if anyone is interested. Odd that their late 90s/early 00s SVHS-C models didn't do Hi-Fi. Stereo seemed much more common on the Hi-8 competition. |
Managed to pickup a brand new JVC GR-SXM260U on ebay for cheap. As a bonus, it comes with a C-P7U motorized adapter.
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