Welcome.
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Originally Posted by pdfman
Here's footage I have of it from earlier off of a capture card i have running off the Palmcorder. It displays normally without the glitches on the Palmcorder's screen, but like this on the TV and capture card.
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With that attached clip, it is 100% obvious:
(1) the recording is misaligned, and will not track
(2) the violent shakes back-and-forth is due to an unstable timebase, aka no TBC in use
You need
(1) better VCR -- and not the one you asked about
(2) a decent TBC
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdfman
Here's footage I have of it from earlier off of a capture card
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What capture card? That may be junk as well.
Now, responding to the rest of the thread (which I'd actually started to answer before the last reply)...
Replying as I read...
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Originally Posted by pdfman
The common issue is that when looking at this footage on a TV or my capture card, whether through the camera's AV out or my Toshiba VCR, whenever I moved around the camera in the video, the signal gets very jumpy, making some of the footage on it very hard to watch.
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The tapes were likely recorded misaligned. "All you need to do" (which isn't that easy) is "break"/misalign a VCR to match the alignment.
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I've been educating myself on methods to make this better, and what I've been finding is that I need a TBC.
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You need a TBC, but not for the reasons you currently think, (Don't worry, that will come later, if you don't add one now with a proper VCR.)
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I only have a basic understanding of them at this point, and it seems that all the ones that would work are upwards of $1K. I'd rather forget about it than spend that kind of money.
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TBCs are boring tools for a task (video capture), not any different from a refrigerator, dishwasher, clotheswasher, or a lawnmower. And yet, nobody ever complains about those online. In fact, most people automatically understand that are $1k+ because they've seen the costs all their life. But video is new to them, so "oh no, money!" You have to overcome this backwards thinking.
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However, I looked on Facebook Marketplace, and it looks like someone near me is selling a JVC HR-FC100u for $250, reputable seller too, and the best part is, it includes a proprietary VHS-C player.
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Not worth it, terrible price, low-end unit.
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My thought is the signal won't be so jumpy since it's proprietary VHS-C,
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No, you think wrong.
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and my Palmcorder plays it without issues.
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It's misaligned.
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But like I said, I just started getting into this stuff, so I figure it's better to ask people who know more than me.
The question: would it be a good idea to purchase this? I'm not looking for super crisp capture. Just something that's watchable.
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No.
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Originally Posted by aramkolt
Generally I've seen those JVC HR-FC100U's and similar machines as more of a gimmick.
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Yes.
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He puts a physically obviously wrinkled VHS-C tape in there and it handles it pretty well.
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Wrinkles don't matter the way you seem to think they do ... until they do. (It's too complicated for this post.) Wrinkles are never good, but only some wrinkles can devastate the image. The quality of the VCR does play a part, but that's not the entire story.
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The vertical jitter still there with there with the TBC on
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There is no (line) TBC inside. It's an ancient composite-only VCR, and JVC TBCs need s-video. Easy tell.
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could be due to the camera itself shaking at the time of the recording rather than typical timebase errors as well.
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Highly doubt it. In fact, I'm just go to outright say "no" here.
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Pros:
(If has TBC option installed) - Built-in line/frame TBC
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It does not.
Beware Google searches for it.
AI is an idiot:
"An "HR-FC100u" is a model of a time base corrector (TBC) manufactured by Hitachi," (WRONG!) 
NOTE: Be careful with advice like "may have TBC" -- don't do that. If you don't know, don't guess. That can mislead people, and you can be the cause of them wasting money. Then, to them, you're an a-hole with bad advice. We get enough of that crap from Reddit and Youtube, people that don't know what they don't know.
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(If has TBC option installed) - Component video output
(If has TBC option installed) - Built-in proc amp including YC delay as part of the TBC
Directly accepts regular VHS and VHS-C without adapters
Can get rid of macrovision all by itself - I've never seen another VCR series that can do this
Has a tape signal strength meter with manual tracking knob
Has balanced audio outputs (both a pro and a con) but a pro if your capture setup supports it
Has a drum hours meter in the menu so you know just how used it actually is before you buy.
Has a gold-plated mode switch, so that doesn't require cleaning as it cannot oxidize.
Both tape hubs are direct drive with their own capstan-like motor.
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None of that really matters here. Most of those are what people would/should considered "bells and whistles" (and I truly hate the term, because it's misused too much).
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Unlikely to work if it has never been refurbished
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Yep.
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If it was me, I wouldn't buy the FC100U either though.
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Same.
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On a budget I'd probably stick with the VCR you have
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No. Upgrade to a non-TBC JVC S-VHS, and certain models can be realigned without too much effort (HR-S59xx, maybe 29xx). I keep SR-V101 for realignment, essentially the with-TBC version of the 59xx.
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and add a Panasonic ES10 or ES15.
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Yes, for the strong+crippled line TBC, and non-TBC frame sync. It's very obviously needed here.
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Problem with those can be that they can have bad capacitors as well.
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Yes, and all sorts of other quality-reducing issues, such as posterization, semi-aggressive AGC, luma gain, etc. It's not a transparent tool, not a TBC, not a "TBC replacement", but better than nothing. That's it: better than nothing. To use a crass analogy, it's essentially wrapping your junk in Saran wrap because you're out condoms.
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it's also possible to put VHS C tapes onto regular VHS spools
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That's a lot of work for not much gain. Just get a quality JVC CP7U type -C adapter.
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Usually the adapters are fine if used with a robust enough VCR mechanism like the AG1980.
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Certain JVCs can as well. When the lid of the 59xx is open for realignment, I'd suggest it will work okay. With the lid closed, different story.
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Originally Posted by timtape
A TBC only fixes some visual issues, not every visual issue.
If the palmcorder was not held steadily at time of shooting, making the video jumpy and hard to view there's not much that can be done about this now unfortunately.
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