i just got a Dazzle and started recording some old vhs tapes.

 i am having a problem i dont believe is necessarily the device, but am hoping for some guidance on how to fix.

 imagine going to a movie and the projector is out of synch some, so the images kinda of show slightly off and the picture is not smooth.

i am getting that.  the jvc vhs recorder/player i am using is supposed to auto-correct for that, but...

the tapes are several years old and have been in a closet, so i thought i would transfer to dvd before i couldnt buy a player anymore.

i tried fast forwarding and rewinding the tapes to see if the were just loose or stuck a bit (that used to work w/ the rental ones i would get sometimes) but not much luck cleaning things up.  way back when i think i had a player that had a tweaker on it for that kind of behavior to speed up or slow down the playing a tiny bit, but this 1 doesnt.

any ideas on how to fix something like this.  as it is the tapes are practically worthless.  they're the old family movies and it really would be good to transfer them.

thanks.

jim

Have you tried a head cleaning tape? If the tapes are old, they can leave dust or or bits of oxide on the heads, making tracking difficult.

If they have been stored somewhere which isn't idea (like my loft) I always get them out a day or two earlier and spool them back and forth a few times, before to letting them stand for a while to equalise the temperature and humidity.

You might have to buy/borrow a VHS player that has manual tracking (and possibly a timebase corrector) to get a smoother playback, and/or invest in a more sophisticated transfer device. The alternative would be to take/send one tape to a specialist and see if they have the gear to make a better job of the transfer.

and welcome to the forum 

thanks for the quick reply.

i have a cleaning tape, didnt think of that, will have to go get it.  just found the s-video cable i have has a fancy plug which is too big for the dazzle recessed inset.  off to bestbuy to pick up another.

 i found the remote for my jvc and the pdf i found for it talks about a tweak in the menu for vertical stabilisation, is that 'tracking'?

timebase corrector, what is that?  i have 20+ years of vhs to convert, my rough count of tapes (vhs standard, vhs-c, Hi8) is 50+. course not all of the capture is good quality, which is the next chore of editing all of it, if i can get a decent playback/record.  i scoped out sending to one of the photo transfer services and the do 14 tapes for $250, doesnt mention if there equipment has the capability of getting a 'good' record from the tapes.  (if you know of a service who has the equipment/software to correct for this kind of thing, and isnt outrageous, i might be interested).  anyhow $250*50/14, sort of frames my hardware expense budget.  [more sophisticated transfer device] what might that be?

maybe i can buy the equipment myself?  altho then i probably need to find out how to make it work:)  find a bright high-schooler at the local magnet school, has a tv/audio-video curriculum, and give him the equipment to do the work:)  only issue there is he/she wouldnt know what to keep.  hmmm. choices.

 anyhow, jjn and all, if you have more ideas from the above, im certainly interested.  thanks.  jim

looks like the vertical stabilisation on the player has helped alot.  get a small white bar at the top of the pic that seems to flash stuff in it, but the main part of the picture isnt rolling any longer.  wonder if that part can be cutout w/ and editor, tell it to only record from a coule 'rows' down from the top.  im noticing the very top of the clear image seems to have a disortion towards the right.  but still a great improvement from last nite.  havent gotten the head cleaner yet.  will do so tho.  jim

between the vertiscal stabilisation and the head cleaner the images are pretty good.

 i tried hooking a s-video cable up thinking i would get better quality rather than the rca-video, but get black screen.  does the dazzle come w/ both jacks enabled or do i need to turn 1 off to get the other on?

 it the setup i skipped putting in the chapters every 3 mins.  now as i go thru kinda of watching as it tapes i can see where it probably needs some sort of skips thru the tape so one can get right to a section but of course those wouldnt be exactly every 3 mins.  if i insert those is it easy/hard to remove them, edit them.  lets say it create 60. but i find i only need 42 'sections' can i keep the ones closest to what i want, edit them to say what that bit is about, and then maybe remove 1 or 2 till i get to then next section.  do they then renumber themselves?

in using the software i am directing the output to me hard drive.  that naturally has lots more room than a dvd.  yet my best quality only gives me something like 142ish mins, and i need 2hrs plus maybe 10 mins for some tapes.  i have gone down to 'better' in order to get the time i need, but is it possible to override (or change an option setting?) the time so if one has a hard drive to burn to you can get more time?  thanks.  jim