Excavations in the S-VHS archive: Which S-VHS VCR? Other capture issues.
 

I know that this is not a DV-issue, but...

I have old S-VHS (PAL) tapes to digitize. This will be the final transfer and I need to do it properly as long as playback devices still exist. Hence, I will do it now. I am going to capture through S-Video with a Viewcast Osprey 230 capture card (http://www.viewcast.com/pages.asp?page=osprey-230 , is it good?) and save as uncompressed.

Questions

1) Playback device

S-VHS playback devices are hard to find, but now I can get either a JVC HR-S6970 S-VHS VCR (pal) or a JVC HR-S9500 S-VHS VCR (secam). Analog tv is dead here, so this will be strictly a playback device. I am going to buy one of these. They cost $300 each as used. New S-VHS VCR:s do not exist. So... which one would be better? If you know a better device for sale somewhere, please tell.
Info about the S9500: http://www.fixya.com/support/p185183...l-17311/page-5


2) Tape handling

Should I clean my 20 year old tapes prior to use somehow, and should I use a Kinyo S-VHS tape rewinder, or will it harm my tapes?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc..._VHS_Tape.html


3) What kind of maintenance should be done to and old used VCR prior to usage?

vhs and svhs tapes are as strong as an ox,i often play some of mine on my jvc svhs machine although they are all now copied to mini dv and dvd.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=89899
I was thinking about getting the S6970 nearly 5 months ago to use as a playback device instead of the original Pal S-VHS Panasonic camcorder but because I’m on a tight budget I could only get the Canopus ADVC-300 which is the best analog to DV converter for consumers.

Anyway I bet you’ll be glad to know that not only does the S6970 play back PAL but it also plays back NTSC and SECAM so I seriously recommend it.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation
B&H was selling it brand new when I checked the site 5 months ago but looking at it now, you will see that their out of it.

Hopefully the used one that you’re thinking about getting is in perfect working condition because the heads can be a little worn out. I’d advise you to give it a thorough check up before you buy it.

S VHS deck
 

Ralf, this probably comes too late for you but -

by far, far, far the best svhs deck ever built is the JVC BR-S822, with tbc and rs-422 machine control.
We use ours when we need to insert VHS (not just svhs) footage into documentaries, the tbc allows us to get decent quality.

we paid ours around 2500 swiss francs with like 50 hrs on it. when new i think they were in the $40000 range

The JVC S-VHS/MiniDV HRDVS1 deck is quite good with options for dealing with older tapes.

The S-VHS to MiniDV dub function works well enough but I think the digital side of things may have been an older generation and under-resourced.

I got better results with glitchy VHS tapes by going from the deck to a Z1P in DVCAM VCR mode via the analogue cables. - Lots less pixellation and break-up from the portions of the tape that tracked poorly.

It was a pretty severe task. The VHS tape itself was a migration from a damaged 1/2" Sony EIAJ black and white reel-to-reel tape.

To deal with some of the grainy breakup, I laid two video tracks on the timeline in Premiere, set 50% transparency, slipped one back one frame and exported to a new file. Frame blending would probably do the same job. It helps to diminish the video noise. As old tube based camera video sometimes had smear on movements, a little more doesn't hurt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzYZhmBR_PE

Ralf:

How did your project work out?

Im currently doing the same type project.

Im looking for a JVC SR-VD400US to do the job for me.

http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/t...&feature_id=02

It's getting harder to find equipment for SVHS work.

Jeff

i use the panasonic NV HS1000, and before the FS-100 that has a great pas-secam transcoder. for other transcoding the NV-FS1 was great and even read S-VHS.
convertir to DV with a canopus ADVC-100 (or 55) is great.
most high end S-VHS player do not need TBC (as long as you do not need framestore function for heavily damaged tapes)