How to best fix this tearing at the top of the screen?
 

Here is a video that I transferred from an old VHS tape from a Sharp DV-RW550, using a Diamond Video Capture device on a MacBook Pro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGsW...ature=youtu.be

I have many old VHS tapes (mostly recorded on family camcorder) and they seem to have that same issue.

Will a TBC-1000 fix this?

Will upgrading to a better VCR fix this?

Is it simply a matter of cleaning the VCR's head? Adjusting tracking?

Before I invest in this endeavor, I'd like to know the correct tool to solve this particular issue.

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Some googling seems to indicate that a Panasonic ES-10 might solve this problem. Will an ES-10 also satisfy the need for a TBC? Are they the same thing (when the ES-10 is used as a passthru device)?

You have more than just tearing going on. There are obvious timing issues all over the image. You can easily see the wiggling letters, the shaking box, etc. A better VCR will likely fix it, yes.

However, if the tearing is too significant, only an ES10/15 will work.
Note: Realize that "significant" is not something you can see. A tearing error can appear tiny, yet even an ES10 can sometimes fail to correct too much signal damage.

You should start with a better VCR. Odds are, yes, it fixes your issue.

(PM me, I still have a good model JVC Pro available. I'm also about to let go of a Panasonic AG-1980, and for best results it needs to be paired with green AVT-8710 that I'm letting go with it. That latter one would probably work best for you.)

TBC-1000 will only correct the signal, not anything visual. Do note, however, that a capture card almost always balks at impure signals. That's why any good workflow is S-VHS VCR with internal TBC (clean image) > external TBC (clean signal) > and then the good capture card that retain all the detail and signal quality of the tape (ie, not a cheapo EZcap/EZcrap).

You can't clean your current VCR for this. That will do nothing.

An ES10/15 is NOT a TBC, and will fail to correct some of the same issues found in true TBCs. The bigger issues is the ES10/15 has side effects, that will degrade your image. It is something to use only when all other methods of truly fixing it have failed. The ES10 is a tradeoff. You lose tearing/unstable, but gain issues in color, posterization/ghosting, etc.