Where to find more equipment

[Tom_n_Jonna]

Guys...

looking to buy a reasonably priced detailer. A vidicraft III or IV, or DR-1000 are the models I'm looking for.

any help would be appreciated.

Cheers...Tom

[lordsmurf]

I don't have anything to offer you, or a link of where to buy one, but I can give you some tips on how I found mine. As well as some other "financial" type advice on buying equipment.

First of all, Vidicraft will all be used. It was made in the 1980s-1990s, all great gear. Most of it is composite only, no s-video. SignVideo is the modern version of what used to be Vidicraft (these newers ones all have s-video), through various mergers and acquisitions that went across international borders. Between being called Vidicraft and SignVideo, they were also known as Studio One (or Studio 1 Productions). This will be important to remember. SignVideo is still in business, and they sell both proc amps and detailers for about $300 USD brand new, and are based out of Portland, Oregon, USA.

Now, I'm going to talk about both proc amps and details here, since so many of the can be found using the same techniques, even in the same place. Sometimes even in a pair together from one seller.

Since most of these are used, you probably want to make sure you buy one that has been tested, and preferably from somebody that knows what they do. Usually you end up buying from the owners, often because they upgraded, got out of the business/hobby, switched to pure digital, etc.

eBay is a great place to buy these things, but you won't get very far by searching for "SignVideo DR-1000" in the search. Let me share my experience...

I bought a "Studio 1 Productions DR-1000 Image Enhancer" (proper name for this model detailer), which is essentially identical to the SignVideo DR-1000. Mine is gray faceplate, the newer ones are black, and that's about the only differences. I found this unit by searching ebay for "image enhancer" and "image processor". Maybe even "video image processor". The detailer I found had NO MENTION of it being SignVideo, Studio 1, or even as being a detailer. The person had a crappy photo on the auction, was very lazy seller, and I could barely make out "DR-1000" and "1 Productions" on the bad image. It is worth at least $100, so I proxy bid $102. The auction closed for $56 shipped, and that's only because one person tried to outbid me and gave up quickly. The owner knew what the device was, but I made a great deal because the seller was super lazy about giving accurate details.

When you shop on eBay, always go for a bid higher. Instead of bidding $10, bid $10.25. Instead of $50, bid $52. You get the picture.

When it came time to buy my proc amp, my "Elite Video Broadcast Video Processor Plus" (the BVP-4), I searched eBay for "Elite Video" and nothing else. Sifting through all the returns, I found 3 auctions from a church, who was selling their analog equipment to upgrade to digital. This auction, like the others, really did not have "Elite Video BVP-4 Plus" written anywhere. It said something like "Elite Video broadcast adjuster used by church" in the title. These units run about $750 new, and the going price at the time was around $500 shipped for a used one. I won it by sniping the auction, and landed the unit for just under $400 shipped. Some months later, another member of CPS got a similar situation, landing his for around $250 total.

Prior to buying these, I owned some Vidicraft equipment, which I bought used for about $75 each shipped. It worked great, but I wanted to upgrade. Another CPS member has these, puts them to good use. At the time, Vidicraft gear was selling for quite a bit more on average.

Contrary to what some people think about supply and demand, the world is backwards on eBay after the first few sales. Because of the popularity of video restoration hardware on a popular video site in the summer of 2004, demand for all this gear went up tremendously. At first, right away, this drive up the prices on gear on auction. Within a month, the buying trend had not stopped, but the selling trend increased probably ten-fold, with plenty of gear to go around with requiring mad bidding wars, so prices really bottomed out for a couple months there. That is when the CPS member grabbed the BVP-4 for o

[joker]

LS, why not the Vidicraft Detailer IV ?

[lordsmurf]

I don't remember anymore. There was something different about it. I believe it did not use dials, which sort of limits the range of detail correction. I'm also not sure if it had all four settings (detail, sharp, core, black). Those settings can have several names, with the first two being the detail enhancement and the last two being noise reduction (NR to remove noise ONLY added by boosting detail). Some devices only have three knobs, which is still suitable, as some aspects really are redundant anyway. I'm sure the IV is still good, just not as desireable as the earlier II/III. Again, I really don't remember the details.

[markatisu]

I have the Detailer IV, it replaced my old II that died. The only downside is the lack of dials, it has sliders which I found if you use something like a pen or paperclip to adjust it works better than just pushing it with your finger (more finer movements I guess)

It also has all the same settings if I remember correctly, main difference I can tell was the change to sliders which can make a huge difference if its your first machine and you are not yet aware of the damage you can do (yes you can ruin video with these pieces as well as fix it)

And just like LS said search ebay for only partial words or misspelled items, it can save you literally hundreds if you hit the right one.

If you look at ebay and prices are too high, just wait. A lot of cheap but good equipment ends early in the morning as well, I am talking about 1a-4am.

[Tom_n_Jonna]

Thanks so much, Guys!

Tom