Jumpy VHS Video

[Carloscda38]

I have an old vhs tape that's jumpy I know about TBS but is their software I can use? Kinda pressed for time and ordering that unit I won't have it in time.

[antonsvideo]

ask someone with a TBC to capture it for you, or try a different player and adjust the tracking until jumpiness is minimized

there is no way to fix a typical VHS vertical timebase problem after capture

[AJL14]

There have been many posts concerning image stabilization, and I've found that a software program called "Mercalli" works wonders. It will eliminate many of your problems if it's not TOO jumpy - and with minimal loss of picture area. It's adjustable, so you can play with the settings. Search for "Mercalli", and you'll find others who use it as well.
Cheers,
Alan

[JohnnyD]

Yes, a TBC will help as Anton said. But it seems an old ForA TBC works better than the others. Why, I don't know. Better design I guess.

Now, a trick I've used, if you have a consumer VHS machine: Check if your VTR has manual tracking ( turn auto off). Some do, most do not. Anyway, while playing your tape, press the channel selector up or down. All of my consumer VHS VTRs go into manual tracking when the channel selector is pressed. I use the remote. There is a fine line where you can get the picture to stabilize.

If you have a pro VTR, you should be able to track manually.

This has helped on about 80% of problem tapes, usually from other clients.

JohnnyD

I have an old vhs tape that's jumpy I know about TBS but is their software I can use? Kinda pressed for time and ordering that unit I won't have it in time.

[Carloscda38]

Thanks for all the reply's!!
Just noticed I put TBS vs TBC... lol anywho

JohnnyD, I have an RCA Stereo 4 vcr, now looking at the unit I see exactly what you were saying about channel tracking.

Under the channel buttons it says tracking but doesn't seem to be working?!

[STORMDAVE]

I just had to recently archive 40 hours worth of S-VHS/VHS material (PAL! for that matter...trying to find a true PAL machine with a TBC for rental in the L.A. area is a headache). Anywho, I did it and I'm relieved that I will never have to touch VHS ever again :D

Sorry for getting off topic. Anyways, as others have said, try finding a VTR with a built in TBC. Since I am guessing you need an NTSC one, you should get a Panasonic 7600 (or 7700) S-VHS VTR. They're pretty cheap nowadays and have built in TBC's.

[Carloscda38]

I just had to recently archive 40 hours worth of S-VHS/VHS material (PAL! for that matter...trying to find a true PAL machine with a TBC for rental in the L.A. area is a headache). Anywho, I did it and I'm relieved that I will never have to touch VHS ever again :D

Sorry for getting off topic. Anyways, as others have said, try finding a VTR with a built in TBC. Since I am guessing you need an NTSC one, you should get a Panasonic 7600 (or 7700) S-VHS VTR. They're pretty cheap nowadays and have built in TBC's.

For a Production house in Philly or near by what type of machine would I ask for? The tape is only 20mins long.

[STORMDAVE]

Panasonic 7750 or 7600 (If I remember correctly). If you can buy one off eBay, it'll probably be cheaper than renting it.

[tuyle]

or JVC BR-S525DXU variable tracking and TBC built in.
Most editing studios still have VHS/SVHS in their studio ...

[DigitalDave]

In my experience some dodgy VHS tapes do not all play the same on different machines, i.e. you put them on the DogsBols studio machine and run it through the 4a TBC and its worse than the JVC twin deck or the Panny domesto deck. Certainly sometimes the 2line TBC's on semi-pro machines can make some tapes more jumpy when the TBC is on......and sometimes you can as I did two weeks ago try 4 different decks 3 different TBC's/stabilisers and the tape is awful on all of them. It's never cut and dried!

DD

[plasma_video]

Even some of the later generation cheapie decks - notably JVC - had a menu setting for video stablization. It is not a TBC, but I think it was designed to help with poorly tracking tapes and unstable sync.

It does not work on everything, but I've used it with some success on jittery tapes. I also have a JVC with a TBC on the output, and as Dave said, sometimes it works, and sometimes the cheapie deck with the stablizing mode turned on works better.

As mentioned earlier. Mercalli, or a similar filter used in VirtualDub can do a credible job in post (although not as good as having a clean dub) if all else fails.

[AJL14]

Why don't you take 10 minutes, download the Mercalli trial program (do a google search) ,try it on for size, and see what you might be surprised at. Could save you a whole bunch of time, money and trouble. It's worked for me in the past, and still works for me in SD as well as HD very well. Most VHS machines do not have a full-frame TBC, but a 1 or 2 line TBC is common and may not give you adequate results. Mercalli treats the entire frame. Good luck and ...
Cheers,
Alan