Hi, I'm new here, came across this great website before while researching and now wondering if someone here might be able to help.
When I was young, my dad used to carry his video camera everywhere. The thing was pretty much attached to his body... Not long after I left our remote small town to go to college/university he unfortunately died of cancer. Now, 25 years later, I'm finally able to spend some significant time with my mom and we decided to get the boxes of tapes out. Many in our large family would love to see the tapes. My elderly mother has asked me if it would be possible to digitize them.
Today we tried to play a couple of the tapes and both had some weird black bar at the top. I deactivated the auto calibration and tried manual tracking and that didn't help. I'll attach both a screenshot and short video that shows the issue.
Originally I believe the camera was able to record s-vhs format into the small vhsc tapes though I'm not sure all the tapes were s-vhs. The two tapes I tried playing were regular VHS tapes my dad had transferred the footage to. I had a look at the tapes and cannot see any damage. My mom doesn't appear to have a commercial videotape I could try, unfortunately.
I can see the issue on both the TV and connected to the PC through the little USB dongle we're planning to use to for capture.
Any ideas with regard to what might be causing this? Bad VCR? Or maybe it was recorded this way? I'll ask the family if they have another VCR I could try in the mean time.... I have a feeling very few still have one.
I should perhaps clarify that I quickly hooked up the usb dongle to record the short video. I wanted to show the black bar at the top but you might also notice some other artifacts, I believe the flickering of the video comes from the dongle capture... not 100% sure. I haven't had a chance to go over virtualdub's settings, I just installed it and selected the capture device.
Ok, I would like to add that I found a tape of a recording of a TV program my mom had made using that VCR before she got her digital box. The video plays very clearly, no black bar at the top or other artefact (see attached). My guess is that the issue has to do with the tapes... perhaps recorded like this? Or because it was recorded on a different VCR? Any idea if that is something that could be fixed?
Without knowing what hardware you are using to capture and playback the tapes it's hard to help. Do you still have access to the original compact tapes? what camcorder model #?
The USB dongle probably sucks. It certainly isn't helping matters. Having said that, even the best capture devices won't cope well with this error directly.
The usual solution is to buy a used Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder and "pass through" the signal. You're not using it as a DVD recorder in this case, just a signal processor. Other models can also work, but this particular unit is said to be the best for this issue.
EDIT: As latreche is getting at, if the original VHS-C / S-VHS-C tapes still exist, transferring from those would produce much better results. The flagging may still be present, but you'll avoid a generation of analog loss.
I'm afraid it is baked in during recording the VHC-C to a regular VHS, that's why I needed more info.
Have you encountered this? In my experience, it would only be baked-in if the VHS-C camera had a TBC turned on during playback. (There were S-VHS-C camcorders with line TBC, so this is a possibility.)
Without knowing what hardware you are using to capture and playback the tapes it's hard to help. Do you still have access to the original compact tapes? what camcorder model #?
According to what I found online I believe the camcorder was the JVC GR-S77… or GR-S77E/GR-S77U or one that looked just like it. It was sold with my parent movie rental business in the early 90’s.
We do have a bunch of small VHS-C and SVHS-C still but I’m pretty sure my dad recorded over them a few times so hard to know if I’d be able to find what’s on those VHS tapes on one of them. I haven’t tried them. In theory the VCR could read the sVHS format (SQPB) but I don’t have a way to get the sVHS quality. The camcorder is long gone and I can’t imagine I’d be able to find a sVHS reader in our small town…
The VCR is a HR-VP673U
Regarding buying a used Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder and "pass through" the signal. Is this the only Panasonic model that supports this?
I’m pretty sure I won’t find one of these recorder locally and I’m only here for another couple weeks… and probably won’t be able to visit again until next year…
I understand that the USB gizmo isn’t going to give us the best quality but that’s all we have and a laptop. I confirmed that the artifact is also visible on a TV so that’s not related to the USB device.
For now all I think I can do is try another VCR…. Right?
Regarding buying a used Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder and "pass through" the signal. Is this the only Panasonic model that supports this?
As I said: "Other models can also work, but this particular unit is said to be the best for this issue."
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For now all I think I can do is try another VCR…. Right?
I assign the probability of another VCR fixing your issue at 0.1%. It's technically possible for flagging to be caused solely by mismatch between recorder and player, but past experience (myself and other forum posts) has shown that it's far more likely to be a bad recording on the tape when we're talking about 2nd-gen dubs as you have here.
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I’m pretty sure I won’t find one of these recorder locally and I’m only here for another couple weeks… and probably won’t be able to visit again until next year…
I understand that the USB gizmo isn’t going to give us the best quality but that’s all we have and a laptop.
Some opposition to online shopping?
Search local listings on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. If the DMR-ES10 isn't available, list us some Panasonic models that are available in your area so we can suggest which one to pick up. The most common alternative is DMR-ES15, but supposedly it's slightly less powerful at correcting flagging. Models to avoid include DMR-ES20 and the entire DMR-EZ series in the US.
Thank you so much for the information! My mom lives in a very small and remote place in northern Quebec; It’s unlikely I’ll be able to get the gear needed here before I leave next week.
I’ll see if I can take the tapes back with me to Vancouver, BC where I live. It’s perhaps more likely I’ll find something on Craigslist at home. Alternatively I’m guessing many places might be able to digitize them for me... I’d assume they’d know how to deal with this issue.
The main incentive to do it myself is that there are quite a few tapes (I guess that’s relative…) and we’re not quite sure what’s on most of them… we assume a lot of it is probably not worth spending money on… we figured once digitized a few of us could go through them whenever we have time to flag any interesting segments and edit out the “garbage”. I was then thinking I might try to “enhance” and perhaps upscale any gems worth keeping. I’m no expert but back at home I have a powerful PC and a subscription to the full adobe suite. We understood the USB capture device might not be the best… but it was cheap and looked “good enough” to do the job. We just didn’t expect we’d run into this issue.
Thank you so much for the information! My mom lives in a very small and remote place in northern Quebec; It’s unlikely I’ll be able to get the gear needed here before I leave next week.
That makes sense. I assumed you were in the US. Shipping to remote Canadian areas in a timely manner can be near-impossible even if money is no object.
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Originally Posted by biojack
I’ll see if I can take the tapes back with me to Vancouver, BC where I live.
The main incentive to do it myself is that there are quite a few tapes (I guess that’s relative…) and we’re not quite sure what’s on most of them… we assume a lot of it is probably not worth spending money on… we figured once digitized a few of us could go through them whenever we have time to flag any interesting segments and edit out the “garbage”.
If you are able to bring the tapes with you, I'd be happy to assist. I don't have a DMR-ES10, but do have an ES15 that I could lend out (for a deposit of course) if you want to DIY. Alternatively, we could discuss me transferring them for you using whichever one of my VCRs works best with your tapes.
Is this just a hobby or is this something most folks here do for a living? I’m amazed by the quality of the knowledge shared and by the generosity of this community.
I’ll see if there is a way I can take the tapes back with me in a checked bag. Unless something has changed I believe these tapes should be safe to go through airport scanners. And if I do check them, I’ll make sure to label the box/suitcase in a way that even if it gets “lost” air Canada won’t have any issues figuring out that it is mine.
In the meantime I’ll also reach out to the local “Community TV station”. Their studio is a short drive away and I’m told they used to have a lending program years ago for equipment to duplicate VHS tapes… I’m curious to see if they’d be able to help.
I wouldn't expect the community TV station to still be hanging onto their VHS equipment. Probably dumped it years ago. But doesn't hurt to find out. This New Brunswick YouTuber uses equipment at/from the local community TV station: https://www.youtube.com/c/themaritimegirl/about
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Originally Posted by biojack
Is this just a hobby or is this something most folks here do for a living?
There are a handful of people here who transfer tapes as a business, including the site founder. Not me, though.
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lordsmurf (05-29-2022)
Some opposition to online shopping?
