Old MPE-2000 Pro TBC is still useful?

[Skorbin]

As I recently recovered my old X800 AGP AIW, I started to gather a bit of equipment to finally work on the digitizing project I have been thinking of for quite some time.

Even though I know that the VCR is the most important part, I started with the PC, because that's what I already had.

As I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg (my wife would have minded ), I searched for cheap components. With this task it is a bit of a contradiction, I know.

VCRs are more common then TBCs so I concentrated on them, while also keeping an eye open for the VCR.

First, as intermediate step I aquired an EH-52 as TBC-ish part. Real TBC are scarce to find and the price tend to sky-rocket.
Then I could aquire a Profiko 2099-S rather cheap, so I took it as well.

And here is where I stumbled over some strange beast:

A MPE-2000 Pro from a small german producer, built in 1997. That company filed for bancruptcy in 1998, so didn't produce many of those unit.
It actually is a full video mastering system, which (according to my understanding) also include a full frame tbc on both inputs. I don't have the manual for it (ok, for 50 EUR I can live with that), but I found a french website, which did a review on it:

https://www.transfert-films-dvd.com/gse-mpe-2000-pro/

I received it today and opened the console to get a peak inside: without totally dismantling it I could at least identify a Philips PCB80C552-5-16WP microcontroller, an Altena FLEX and a BT851KPJ video encoder.

So my question is: is this at least partially useful?

Btw, I will get a HR-DVS3U soon, so if it is not a complete dud, I will be covered on the VCR side as well.

[Bogilein]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skorbin

Then I could aquire a Profiko 2099-S rather cheap, so I took it as well.

And here is where I stumbled over some strange beast:

A MPE-2000 Pro from a small german producer, built in 1997.

I have both devices.
The Profiko is a dubbing amplifier and has no TBC and cannot remove Macrovision.
The GSE-MPE 2000 is more of a video mixer and the TBC is not really usable.
Qualitatively, when it comes to jitter correction, you won't get around one of the recommended TBC recorders or an SVHS video recorder with TBC and an external TBC with a good capture card.

[lordsmurf]

I read about the MPE-2000 Pro at some point...

No.
Not a TBC.

The oldest viable TBCs didn't really appear until the early 2000s, due to tape>digital conversions.

I had an option to get one cheap more than once, but the overseas shipping made it "not cheap" anymore. So I just passed. The info I read came from good sources, and I had no reason to doubt it.

[Skorbin]

Thank you for your insights!

I was already aware that a "tbc" that old would not be an equivalent of one of the recommended ones.
But i hope it might help at least in somes instances.

The Profiko was never intended as tbc as I knew it to be just dubbing anhancer. Nevertheless, I heard that also this piece can help in some circumstances. I don't expect miracles and as I paid about 20 EUR, I still consider it as valid additiion to my equipment.
Please bear in mind that I don't intend to do converting as business and I have just about 5 tapes to convert for myself.
So money-wise it would have been better to give it to a professional instead of investing money and time on the project.
It's more or less curiosity how things work and maybe I will do some more tape conversions for friends later, in which case I might consider costlier equipment.
All in all i spent like 150 EUR (including the VCR). This is a low enough investment to justify for some first trials.
What comes later remains to be seen ...