Can this U-Matic Capture with Crease be Improved?
 

Hello,

I converted a tape about a decade ago on an u-matic deck but did not have a TBC, so I wanted to send it out again to be converted professionally, where they can bake the tapes etc. When they converted the tape it came out with a solid line across, as can be seen in the attachment. But when I captured it previously the line problem was further down on the scan lines.

The company, which is otherwise good for the price paid, said that there is a crease in the tape and nothing can be done to fix it, as it is like uncreasing aluminum foil. Is this true? Would sending to experts like Spec Bros or video99.co.uk be worth it? I've used the latter in the past and he is very knowledgeable--only problem is that he is in the UK so shipping is a fortune and it has to go through customs, so if Spec Bros has the same expertise I would try them first.

Thanks for any help.

I'm a little surprised the professional transfer is so bad.

Can you physically see the "crease" on the tape itself?

Usually I'll see stuff similar to that with umatic, but it is much lower in the frame and I assume it was the recording device that had the head switching point in the wrong place, but even then, I wouldn't expect the playback to vary from machine as far as where it shows up in the image. A crease should always have the defect in the same place on all playback devices is my understanding.

Anyhow, I've refurbished several Umatic machines in the 9xx0 series as well as a few BVU-9x0's, some with the internal TBC/NR card. Downside to the BVUs with internal TBC is that they process in composite, so the DUB outputs/S-Video mod won't benefit from the TBC card being there. I also have (and recapped) just about every type of DUB-input TBC ever made and I've also modded a few to S-Video output so they can work with more modern TBCs also. Kind of in the process of figuring out what the ideal TBC setup really is for these, but they all tend to perform a little differently.

Here's a sample of one of my transfers, all I did was do a slight crop, deinterlace, and upscale to HD for YouTube bitrate purposes. No color adjustment or filters were applied in post. It was a VO-9800 modified to S-Video output and then passed through a modern TBC that has both line and frame characteristics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51F4...&start_radio=1

Eventually I plan to put out my own Umatic transfer service, but I need more real world examples of difficult tapes as all of the random ones I've gotten on eBay have transferred quite nicely. I'd love to take a crack at a tape at something Specbros have transferred and see if I can do better.

I'll transfer that tape for you for free if you mail it to me (I'm in Michigan) and pay the return shipping since I'm curious what my hardware can do. I wouldn't suggest doing it if you're outside of the USA though. That, and I don't have any PAL Umatic machines, they're all NTSC. PM me if interested.

Thanks--let me get the tape back and I can let you know if I can physically see the crease. Do you have the ability to bake tapes (although they did bake it)?

For FYI, they said they used a 7800, 7850, and BVU-90.

Yep, I can and usually do bake U-Matic tapes, especially ones that are known to have any sort of playback issue. Older tapes that smell like dirty socks or crayons are an automatic bake as well. Since I put so much effort into getting the machines into the best condition they can be, I don't want to damage the machines (or the tapes for that matter). Could be that their BVU's don't have the TBC option installed as they aren't super common and they were something like a $3.5-$4.5K upgrade back when they were new (depending if they also had the noise reduction card). The noise reduction card does require the TBC to be present as they are essentially a daughterboard of the TBC card.

Your picture transfer is obviously superior to the company's work. I'm wondering if before the company made their own transfer, you gave them a short digitised sample of your own transfer as you have uploaded here. I always prefer if people can give me such a sample so that I have some sort of reference point, and my own work can then be judged against that sample.

I've serviced VCR's. I've not encountered it with my own work but it seems possible an apparently creased tape can sometimes be due to a dirty stationary head drum immediately adjacent to the point of loss of picture signal. I know Betamax machines have stationary drums both upper and lower, but not 100% sure about UMatics.

I've seen video and audio recorders where a SSS affected tape has been played at some stage and the deposited muck was never properly cleaned from all the affected surfaces in the machine's tape path. Machine tape path cleanliness is so important especially where SSS tapes are played or have been played in the past.