Yes, some form of TBC is required.
Using TBC has nothing to do with the misplaced idea of "archival" vs. "home user". It's really the same concept as eating out vs. eating at home. Regardless of location, you probably need plates and utensils. The food might be more exciting, but the tools to eat it are boring and the same. Well, TBCs are the boring tools for the task of transferring video -- regardless of if you're at home or in Hollywood.
Yes, there are types of TBC.
- line TBC cleans the image
- frame TBC cleans the single
You need both.
If you want to skimp somewhere, a non-TBC frame sync clocks to itself, to avoid the worst frame timing issues.
Now, the JVC 365 deck is low-end, even if S-VHS. Lack of TBC is a problem. Both for image quality, or for stability of the signal (thus allowing it to transfer without problems, such as dropped frames and/or loss of audio sync). The 365 is simply "better low end". But I'd personally still suggest JVC HR-S4800 or 590x instead of 365.
And eBay is a terrible place to buy gear, as it's almost never as the seller describes --- because 99%+ of them know nothing about video gear. They're just resellers ("flippers") with garage sale type finds. So "tested" and "working" is rarely
properly working.
You have two choices now:
(1) Using that JVC 365, adding Panasonic ES10/15 (for its strong+crippled line TBC, with non-TBC frame sync), and just "deael with it" for lingering quality problems (brightness jumping aka AGC, posterization, various image compression noises from the recorder).
(2) Realizing you made a mistake with the JVC S365, upgrading to a with-TBC recommended JVC deck, and then at minimum adding a TBC(ish) frame sync (which is less costly than true external frame TBCs).
In both cases, quality capture card is needed. The quality of a capture card becomes even more important when taking shortcuts on workflow quality. You can't buy
Amazon/eBay "specials" (Easycaps, Elgatos, ClearClicks, HDMI junk etc), and expect quality results, or even any results.
OBS is also not proper capturing software. It was made for streaming digital recording, which is not the same. It essentially grabs frames from a preview display layer, and that's a problem with analog tape capture. Direct card access is required for signal integrity/continuity. Use
VirtualDub 1.9.x instead. Sometimes VirtualDub2, sometimes AmarecTV, but rarely. (Any immediate
VirtualDub issues tend to be wrong timing settings, and that's all.)
Capture cards are cheap these days (under $200). When you try to buy anything under $100, you're making a mistake, it'll be Chinese USB junk (even if rebadged by a "brand name"). I try to always have a few available in the marketplace, and do now as well. The choice of capture card depends on OS used. So what are you using? Noting WinXP and Win7 best, but Win8/10/11 have options.
Essentially, yes, there are ways to control costs, by cutting the right corners -- and the right
combination of corners.
