Toshiba RD-XS34 bad TBC, shaking image?
 

Hi, I'm using a Toshiba RD-XS34 as a "TBC" pass-through to my Intensity Shuttle USB. It works fine with good VHS, but sometimes I get a worse one that causes this shaking on my Toshiba RD-XS34. I recently got a cheap Datavideo SE-500 video switcher from thrift store that should also have TBC and yes it works fine, no shaking but notice the green/pink line at the top, what could be causing this? I use a quality s-video cable to the Datavideo SE-500, if I switch the AV input to the set top box on the VHS player, it does not make the line, could it be a problem in the Datavideo SE-500 or does it also have a bad TBC? I'm thinking of buying a Panasonic DMR-ES15, would that solve the shaking problem?

I'm attaching a short example.

A Panasonic DMR-es15 (or other panasonic dvd-recorder since I presume it's PAL?) would likely handle it better yeah. The jitter and color tint could indicate that there is some issue with the non-visible part of the video signal that the XS34 and datavideo are struggling to handle properly. Also seeing some noise popping up in the image, so maybe there was some tracking or alignment issue with the tape (if other tapes work fine it's not likely to be the playback vcr).

There are some Toshiba dvd-recorders that can do a decent job at stabilizing jitter and such but Toshiba kept changing around what chipsets and hardware were used in the models with their brand so it seems to vary. This one might be one of the models that don't work all that well, I have the simpler XS24 from the same year, and it does have some tbc/stabilizing capability (same NEC chipset as used in pioneer dvd-recorders and acts similarly though certain things causes it to freak out that may be an issue with mine or may be a design flaw), but the PAL XS34 looks to be a bit different judging by service manual and the video.

Thanks for the reply, yes it is PAL and and yes, it's only a problem with these bad VHS tapes, others play fine. I have 2 VCRs (no TBC) Panasonic NV-FJ628 and GPX VRC 9929 Y and this one VHS tape is problematic for both.

Toshiba really does nothing, in terms of passthrough, for either line or frame TBC. Claims have been made online in the past, but I've never seen much of anything, especially not the XS models.

i'd say check your P2/P3 guides on the vcr, the alignment is not perfect imo (or the tape was recorded with misaligned guides) . The shaking is likely due to small fields timings issues, the tint issue is caused by the tbc.

One of the clues for the misalignment is the garble at the bottom of the picture you can see a black portion it should be centered more to the left imo . I played recently with old tapes and had similar issues, everything went ok after a guides check


in any case your solution is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUY7cFP9zw
of course there are some risks

i can confirm that the datavideo 500 is not handling very well analog signals from VCR...
the red/green top bar can be fixed using as player an S-VIDEO VCR... like PHILIPS VR1000 (that i don't like because it do some correction that can't be disabled on VHS)

Philips VR1000+DATAvideo SE-500 .. very well stabilized signal... BUT the final quality... not so good.