TBC machine needed - DATAVIDEO 1000, Fix my AG or... a DVD recorder?

[Carlos Menem]

I heard a good way of doing a passthrough tbc is using a dvd recorder such as DMR-ES10... would that be better then using a specifically DATAVIDEO TBC1000 device?... how about using my AG-1980 which has weared heads but can be used as another passthrough alternative... you tell me! and I know there are differences in different TBCs machine but what would be the best of all 3... know that I'm gonna be using my SLV-r1000 as the source as it seems it has better playback quality then my AG but without TBC it doesn't do as great... I hope to have the best of both worlds soon... my SLV + TBC = god who knows...

[RFBurns]

Depends if the AG unit passes the loop-through feed into the TBC circuitry and back out again at the output connector. Since that thing is not a professional unit, I doubt that a simple "EE" mode takes external video feeds through the TBC circuitry to the output. Im sure it passes it to the recording circuitry tho so that your recording has the TBC corrected signal.

Give it a try....only way to find out if it does.

[Carlos Menem]

Depends if the AG unit passes the loop-through feed into the TBC circuitry and back out again at the output connector. Since that thing is not a professional unit, I doubt that a simple "EE" mode takes external video feeds through the TBC circuitry to the output. Im sure it passes it to the recording circuitry tho so that your recording has the TBC corrected signal.

Give it a try....only way to find out if it does.

AG didn't output TBC corrected images help

[Carlos Menem]

Depends if the AG unit passes the loop-through feed into the TBC circuitry and back out again at the output connector. Since that thing is not a professional unit, I doubt that a simple "EE" mode takes external video feeds through the TBC circuitry to the output. Im sure it passes it to the recording circuitry tho so that your recording has the TBC corrected signal.

Give it a try....only way to find out if it does.

Dear RF,
I heard even though the AG doesn't have full frame it still work better then an external TBC that may be more expensive just because is on a chip... but I read some reviews on google that don't say nothing about this and instead just bash the TBC from the AG against for example a DPS TBC-IV that is an external TBC... if the DPS TBC-IV is better... how good is it against a DATAVIDEO 1000 or 6000

[RFBurns]

Dear RF,
I heard even though the AG doesn't have full frame it still work better then an external TBC that may be more expensive just because is on a chip... but I read some reviews on google that don't say nothing about this and instead just bash the TBC from the AG against for example a DPS TBC-IV that is an external TBC... if the DPS TBC-IV is better... how good is it against a DATAVIDEO 1000 or 6000

Well the AG unit may be better than using an external TBC, but you found out that the AG unit does not pass the corrected TBC video to its output connector, only to its recording circuitry.

There really is no "better" or "worse" unit when it comes to a TBC's basic function, correcting sync pulses and color burst pulses. They all do the same basic function. It is the extra things each one can do that determines if model A is better than model Z.

As I explained before, you really dont need a fancy TBC for this project unless you intend to insert CC data or other VBI data into the video signal. Those are intended for production uses.

You are attempting to copy over SVHS-C tapes to a digital format. Of course you want the best possible transfer to take place. Clean clear video, and of course, rock solid stable sync and color burst signals.

If you want my honest opinion on all this, I think your going way too far in the search for a TBC to do simple dubbing. You can save alot of time and money by having a professional facility do the dubs for you if you want high end results. Its just my opinion so please dont write it in stone.

I would find a good external TBC unit and use a good stable gen-lock source and start dubbing away. And by all means shop around for one, look at the specs of each one you find and their prices, and see if the one you think will do the job right is price fiesable to what the project's end product will be.

[Carlos Menem]

Well the AG unit may be better than using an external TBC.

Dear Ralf... I learned this today...
"Internal TBC's are pretty much the same, but usually only store a few lines of video because they have control of the vcr's servos and can control gross mechanical errors directly"
Does this mean my VCR doesn't have full frame but can act like one even better? or is that an evil idea?

[RFBurns]

Video and TBC 101

Standard NTSC video has 2 fields consisting of luminance and chrominance information. It also contains sync pulses of H and V (15KhzH/60hzV). A color burst signal consisting of 4.7 cycles at 3.7945Mhz is also within the video signal. The entire frequency range for an NTSC video signal is from 0 to 4.6Mhz.

TBC, or Time Base Corrector (a REAL one) takes the two fields of video signal and splits them as well as seperates the sync pulses and color burst signal. This splitting of the video signal allows the unit to purify and correct any timing errors that may be within the video signal, or to syncronize the video signal to a common gen lock source for a video switcher or router. A typical (REAL) TBC can store all 525 lines of video information as well as the H and V sync pulses and color burst signal into on board memory. This allows the TBC to re-insert new pulses for H and V and color burst, all adjustable, and re-assembles it into composite or component signal that is timed or gen-locked to the TBC's external sync input. The TBC (REAL) also allows adjustment of video brightness, contrast, black level, color burst level, color burst timing, H pulse width and timing, V pulse width and timing, blanking width and timing, vertical blanking information (VBI) data insertion and line selection, independant field or combined field adjustment and timing, luminance and chrominance delay adjustment, independant sync level adjustment and timing, and runs at the standard 75 ohm output impedance.

Conclusion

The TBC in your VCR is not a "REAL" TBC. It is simply an added circuit into a recorder to make the recordings as clean as possible, and only passes this corrected signal to the VCR's recording circuitry. It does not allow for the adjustments mentioned above in a REAL TBC.

Any TBC that has all or more of the above mentioned adjustments and accepts gen-lock and uses the 75 ohm standard impedance loading is a REAL TBC.

Might I make an observation.....

During all this hunting around for a TBC that probably will not make any difference to the video signal itself (not the sync or color burst or blanking, just the video signal), have you considered that perhaps this might be a bit out of your league and that perhaps a professional production facility that has all of the proper equipment to make your copies as good as they can be should be considered instead of killing alot of time hunting for a device with a cheap price that does the things an expensive device does?

Your not going to find a cheap REAL TBC that will do what you want it to do. A production facility with the REAL stuff can tho.



ps...its Robert, not Ralf!