VHS to DV distortion

[tedean]

I have an off the shelf VHS deck output to Canopus ADVC 110 to MacPro/FCP for capturing VHS tapes. Can a higher grade ADVC correct this distortion or can someone suggest a method/hardware for eliminating the distortion I receive as seen in this link?

http://www.tedean.com/Thomas_Dean/VHS_Demo.html

Thanks,
Thomas

[SoundFreak]

Hi Thomas,

To me it looks like a tracking problem, at least if this is how it looks like when you play it from the vcr to tv.

Any change to hit the auto tracking adjust on the vcr player (should have one if the player is not too simple), or maybe borrow another player somewhere.

Most vcr's have some sort of auto tracking, try to play another tape, then this tape again, sometimes the tracking on these vcr's is "asleep" and needs to be awakened :)

Don't think any tbc can help on this, could be wrong though.

[swsw1550]

I would have to agree, I think it is a tracking problem with the VCR, is there a manual tracking adjustment on the player?

Steve

[tedean]

It has an electronic tracking adjustment. I would just play the tape and walk away (2 hours). It only happened on a few of the tapes. I will give it another try.

Thanks for the input!
Tommy

[philharve]

Dirty heads and poor/worn tapes

Hi tedean

It maybe that if you use your VCR a great deal, the heads may have become dirty or the tape track, rollers, etc., may have picked up fragments of oxide from the tapes. The tolerances between the tape and head are incredibly small and it doesn't take much for the tape to skip and the player to momentarily lose the signal.

Also, tapes do wear, lose their coatings, stretch, pucker at the edges, etc. and all these mechanical deformations can resort in distortion.

I am wondering if you are witnessing a tear in the captured frame, possibly running along the bottom? These may be lines that are not normally visible on a CRT display and occur during flyback.

REGARDS

Phil

[philharve]

Update - distortion or flyback

Hi tedean

It has occurred to me that the distortion you are referring may not be the result of dirty tape heads but may in fact be 'flyback' in the video signal, which is normally invisible during replay on a TV or monitor. I have found that flyback becomes visible during the capturing process which can be a little annoying during replay on a computer. You can always crop the captured video so that the flyback is not visible on the computer screen. I have found that cropping the bottom 12 lines (PAL system) removes flyback and hence the distortion. The result is remarkably effective.

REGARDS

Phil