I have to start by saying: LordSmurf, you're going to blow a gasket, and I'll take my lumps. You've been super clear all over this forum for years underscoring how--let's be gentle, unwise--it is to buy gear on eBay, especially VCR decks. You've mentioned, and I agree, it's a lottery ticket at best. They're going to be junk, untested or barely tested by liquidators or flippers who don't know or care about what they're doing. Even in a best-case scenario, they may still need regrease, realignment, etc even with new, old stock sitting in storage over time.
Having been sufficiently warned, I was growing to hate the S5400U so much that I decided it was worth a gamble, and I did it anyway. I bought a "for parts or not working" SR-MV45U on eBay from a university liquidator listed as "VHS works, DVD throws 'disc unreadable' error". $103 after shipping. Not a "deal" by any stretch of the imagination, but seemed to be in the right ballpark for this type of unit condition based on sold data.
It arrived and it looks like it was rode hard and put away wet with scuffs, dents, scratches, smudges, etc. But after extensive testing on sacrificial tapes rather aggressively running the transport through its paces and making sure it played well with a variety of thrift store tapes, I opened it up and cleaned all the heads with chamois swabs and 99.9% alcohol. I also took the lid off the disc drive and cleaned the laser in case that might fix the disc read issue (it didn't), and visually inspected the power supply caps, which all look fine. It has a build date of Feb 2007.
I'm happy to say that compared to my S5400U, this thing plays SLP/EP tapes like a dream. I did some trial-and-error capture testing and found the internal TBC alone in the MV45U doesn't seem to be quite up to this task and I'd end up with about 1.5s of audio drift by the end of a 75 minute SLP VHS-C capture, even though VirtualDub seemed to be ingesting it just fine with no dropped frames and minimal inserted frames (I think like 10 or 12). If I re-run the same capture with the same settings but with the ES15 again in the hardware chain, I get perfect A/V sync across the whole tape.
So I'm concluding that the capture chain still needs to be MV45U > ES15 > GV-USB2.
I'm not starting production captures with it just yet because I'm still waiting for a remote to arrive and I can't get into the menus yet, but I'd like to go over the settings I should have the MV45U in and more specifically I want to make sure my VirtualDub timing settings are correct and that they're not the reason I was seeing audio drift out of sync when I tried to go MV45U > GV-USB2 without the ES15. But based on the fact that I capture with the same settings and see "with ES15 - Sync" and "without ES15 - Audio drift" behavior, I'm not inclined to think they're to blame.
Will this eBay purchase bite me like the first one did? Maybe, I'm still relatively early in my time with it, but so far, it feels like a big upgrade from the S5400. The transport sounds tighter and more precise and the picture quality looks good to my untrained eye. If there's any easy to moderate difficulty hardware maintenance a technical person who's not a VCR expert (but I do repair laptops at work so I'm at least comfortable around electronic components) can do beyond the head cleaning I've already done, I'm all ears.
As far as TBC strategy goes, what should it look like? If the ES15 is in the chain, should the JVC internal TBC be off? Should I try to capture SP tapes without the ES15 first before adding it in as auxiliary support? What should that workflow look like to make best and proper use of this hardware?
Your timing settings are off.
- The "Force audio" may not need to be checked, and can in fact make worse. Sometimes needed, sometimes not. It depends on the system, and the card, both, and can vary from system to system.
- Do NOT "correct video timing for fewer drops, that distorts.
JVC with TBC on > ES15 as non-TBC frame sync only > capture card
Now you're getting into a problem aera. Line TBCs can conflict. The 1st in a chain "wins", but the 2nd can have temper tantrums. ES15 also adds noise to the image (posterization, % AGC, luma shifts, etc), and really does nothing good. You require some sort of frame sync, but the ES15 is a poor choice. Ideally a full frame (sync) TBC is what you want, Cypress or (less now in 2020s) DataVideo.
Turning off the JVC TBC may work, but that's backwards quality.
Yep, eBay is a shitshow for VCR buying, a pure gamble that loses 85%+ of the time in the 2020. The sellers are all idiots, or liars, or both. None are "video people", 99%+ are resellers or flippers. But as long as you know this, and are willing to gamble, then I'm fine with it. The odds suck, but it's your time, money, energy, and sanity.
The weak link here is that GV-USB2 card, not the VCR or even the ES15.
For PAL, it's passable.
For NTSC, no.
You're lucky on that MV45. Quite a few of them balk at VHS too, when the DVD fails. There's also several variations of it, so acquiring a matching donor deck can be a PITA. Sometimes it's not even the DVD drive itself, but power issues. These do have cascade issues, one problem causes another (sometimes irreparably).
If the VCR TBC is not performing well, it may have caps issues. Did you actually test caps, not just visually inspect?
Instead of a conversion project, you now also have a VCR repair project. That's the real rabbit hole. That's why I sell gear in the marketplace, to save people from that ill fate. Rather than now archiving tapes, you're screwing around with the tools in the hopes of starting to archive tapes. Most DIY'ers end up quitting out of frustration, and never convert anything as a result. I know it's slightly different in your case, as you've been muddling through for a while now, getting some results. But not all were quality results.
It's always good to showcase these scenarios for others, get anecdotes from actual users that are seeing the PITA factor of a pure DIY (acquiring hardware on your own, from non-suggested souces).
I got both of my 45s from that seller. They both turned out to be about as good as can be expected - the second was the first "for parts" unit they put up, which turned out to work fine once I put door hinge mechanism back in place.
I found that ES15 will beat pretty much anything into submission, better than the JVC TBC can, with the caveat that it may also mess up your levels in small ways, but if you're happy with what the JVC does - it worked fine for me with "good" quality studio produced tapes - use that and only that. In my brief experimentation I found the ES15 is ineffective as far as signal filtering/correction goes if the JVC TBC is on - the TBC output is considered "stable", I guess, flaws baked in and all.
Attached video may be helpful - it was a bit of a Problem Tape. Put this together when I was talking to aramkolt about 45 chroma handling a few months back (note how the off > ES15 output is overall more stable in every way). I also found that with the TBC off, the ES15 got a little confused about the head switching(?), rendering a line at the top of the image, so if you're seeing that you may want to consider... maybe moving the head position.
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matt314159 (03-27-2026)
I got both of my 45s from that seller. They both turned out to be about as good as can be expected - the second was the first "for parts" unit they put up, which turned out to work fine once I put door hinge mechanism back in place.
That's encouraging to hear. This is the guy from Springfield, IL, right? My unit looks quite rough on the outside, but nice and clean on the inside. And the transport controls on this feel so much better than my S5400U. (Which, as we all know, is a pretty low bar to clear.)
I don't have / won't have a frame TBC, so I need to dial in the ideal settings for this particular capture chain, which I think from my SLP VHS-C experience means JVC TBC off, ES15 in line, to the GV-USB2. So I need to set VirtualDub timing to optimize for that exact workflow, whatever gets me the tightest A/V sync, even if VirtualDub has to make some modifications to nudge it back into place along the way. Not settings that would be ideal for the perfect workflow, but would then require a frame TBC to maintain sync.
The JVC internal TBC is ultimately neither here nor there for me. It would be nice if that was all I needed, but I was just hoping for a newer deck that would have solid transport and proper-enough alignment to play SLP over S-Video. Subbing the JVC TBC for the ES15 is not ideal, but at least it held sync on a close to full-tape SLP capture.
I didn't actually test the caps, btw, just eyeballed them to see they were tight flat and clean. As long as the VHS side is performing well, and it seems like it is, I don't really care if the DVD side ever works. I cleaned the lens while I had it open because why not, but that's about all I care to do to troubleshoot it. I don't think I plan on trying to refurbish this into a perfect machine.
Last edited by matt314159; 03-27-2026 at 02:57 PM.
Grabbed a JVC DVD/VCR combo unit remote today from work and now I can navigate the VCR menus on the MV45U
Do I have them set correctly? Pretty sure I do, just sanity-check me. menu p1.png
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Lastly, I'd like some clarification on the timing settings in VirtualDub. With a gun to your head, and all you have to work with is a MV45 deck, an ES15, and a GV-USB2, what would the optimal timing settings need to be to ensure synchronous audio? I'm thinking the workflow will need to be JVC TBC Off, with the ES15 shouldering the stabilization responsibility (at the expense of the video fidelity mentioned above). With the settings as I had them in the OP screenshot, when I test, I get solid audio sync across a 75 minute SLP VHS-C capture. If it "distorts" by effectively nudging the frame rate a bit that's a compromise I'm willing to make. I see this as the lesser of two evils for my project and goals.
I want to do the best captures I can with the hardware I have. No new capture card, no Frame TBC. Yes I should have those, and I wish I did, but I don't, and won't for the foreseeable future.
Edit - I might have misread LordSmurf earlier on the timings, I'm trying a test capture with "correct video timing for fewer drops" toggled off. So my "lastly" might be wholly unnecessary.
Last edited by matt314159; 03-27-2026 at 06:17 PM.
Yep with LordSmurf's recommended changes to the timing settings in VirtualDub, and with MV45 (TBC off) > ES15 > GV-USB2 I've done multiple successful captures today and all seem to be as perfect as it gets for this particular workflow. Sorry, LordSmurf, not sure why, but I initially inferred that with the changes to the timing settings, I'd then need a frame TBC.
This is leaving some quality on the table by continuing to use the ES15 and GV-USB2, but I'm definitely happy with these results. The internal JVC TBC does seem to work, like, I can see a difference when I toggle it on and off, but I don't think it's quite enough for my GV-USB2.
Interestingly, on the MV45, when I accidentally put a region 2 DVD into the drive to test (first one I grabbed off my shelf, just my luck) it gave me a region error and rejected the disc. So that tells me there's some level of data being picked up by the laser and properly read. But this seems to be working great for reliably playing back my SLP/EP tapes. I think I'm going to go back and remaster the VHS tapes I'd done with the S5400U deck where I left auto-calibration and superimpose on with this current workflow.
I'm finding my parents were fond of recording only 25 minutes onto a VHS-C in EP mode, and leaving the rest of the tape blank. Could've used SP mode and had a better image, but I'm guessing that's just what their camera was set to and they didn't know / care to change it.
@Feedbucket:
I see interlacing oddities in the JVC+ES15 both ON image. Conflicts. But confirm all frames the same?
Note: Sometimes interlace frames vary by a field from capture to capture, so you actually cannot 100% frame-perfect compare captures always.
@matt
- EDIT is optional, I use NORM/AUTO when possible because it also removes chroma noise. Hardware-based cNR is often better than software based.
- MV45 DVD region can still just be errors.
- VHS-C in EP sucks, especially when the camera was misaligned, and misalignment drifted over time (ie, a project I'm doing now, have been for a while, just awful sources)
- Quality is being left, but you made a good (and very lucky) upgrade with that MV45. Good job!
Thanks! I'll definitely try normal and auto and see which I like best. My initial thought was to get as transparent a signal as possible (I mean, that's kind of a joke with the ES15 in the chain) but if the MV45 can legitimately help, then I'm all for it.
And interestingly enough, it really was a PAL Region 2 DVD I first put into the DVD drive, so it correctly identified the region issue with that disc. Then gave Disc Unreadable on a Region 1 commercial DVD. I haven't tried CDs or any other discs yet, because frankly I don't care that much about it for my use-case.
