JVC HR-S3900 picture cuts in and out on all tapes?
 

Hey all,

Just bought one of these machines because I read they were the best for digitizing old tapes. I'm working my way through thousands of tapes.

I used this machine for about a week and now every tape I put in rolls the tracking every 5-10 seconds into a blank blue screen for 1-2 seconds, and then the picture is back to looking great. Is this a dirty heads situation?

That could very well be your problem, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuP4hTfZ36s

so to sum up:
Problem: blue screen = drum servo / capstan servo issue
The signal is missing part of the references pulses due to either faulty or dirty Audio Control track Head

Solution: clean the audio control track head (with isopropyl alcohol + qtip) . If it don't get better might -> need a swap parts

Here’s video of the issue— this happens with every tape.

They may have been "the best" when all machines were new and in good working order. VCR's are now old. Like used cars, current condition is very important, but it's harder to evaluate, and these days it's much harder to find parts and the techs to repair VCR's. Let's hope a little cleaning fixes the problem.

If you have thousands of tapes then you need to spend some cash and get the proper equipment. PERIOD.
What is your ENTIRE hardware workflow? ALL of it. Capture card, VCR, cabling, etc.
Capture software? OS?
Do you have any Time Base Correction?
Line TBC? Frame TBC?
Take a deep breath as you enter the rabbit hole.

1000s of tapes? That is a lot.

As you work through this keep in mind the manufacturers recommended maintenance schedule for VCRs. It is found in the factory Service Manual. For example Panasonic recommends upper cylinder replacement every 1000 hours for best results with the AG-1970/80. (Other makes/models may have different intervals.) That assumes using decent tape in a reasonably clean environment. Other service and component replacements are recommends as well.

Remaining life of any given used VCR is anyone's guess given that detailed use and service records are rarely maintained. Only professional gear had elapsed use time clocks to aid in maintenance schedules. You will likely need and go through several VCR's based on the quantity of tapes, and the likely variation among the tapes that will cause some to work better in one VCR than another.

But at $20 per tape for paid-for transfer you have a substantial cost avoidance-based budget with which to work.

Success to your project! :salute:

I was under the impression this VCR had TBC built into it and that was why it was good for digitizing.

I use a EyeTV Plus 2.5 capture card that doesn't put the memory strain on my laptop at all, it's all hardware based. I used to use a Hauppage card but it was using so much memory I couldn't do anything while digitizing. I have a Macbook Pro 15-inch 2019 model using Mojave OS because that's the last OS that works with this capture card, which was recommended to me by someone who does a lot of digitizing.

I didn't realize cabling was important! I just use standard RGB cables from the VCR into the capture card.

Thanks for all the help!

The S3900U is an sVHS deck so has s-video out (good) but it does not have the built-in digital processing stuff (line-TBC, etc.) that is more recommended for digitizing.

Here's the forum's digitizing VCR buyers' guide. It's best to avoid the JVC's with the "Dynamic Drum" since those are or have already failed. For NTSC decks, I believe the DD decks would include the S7500, S7600, S9500, S9600, S9800, S9900.

Another useful reference is lordsmurf's treatise on TBC's.

BW37

You read wrong info, the 3900 is low end S-VHS, and one of the worse EOL prosumer models. Or you watched bad info from a Youtuber hack, too many of those, they don't know their ass from their elbow video-wise.

That deck has head damage (at worst), or non-guide align issues (at best). The worst case is likely here. It's usually not just alignment.