Hi, Ive got an ATI RADEON 9800SE All-In-Wonder capture device. Ive been playing around with Vdub and Tmpeg, and the results are pretty good.

The VCR ive got is on its last legs and never was that great anyway. Ive looked around the net and have found many sources saying that you need a good VCR. Can anyone recommend one? From the info ive gathered, I think I need a studio quality VCR. Ive seen a couple in the paper and a few on eBay at fairly low prices. Most of the ones on eBay are SVHS, and I know if you play a VHS tape in a SVHS player it won’t magically turn into SVHS quality, but as you pointed out they are built better and have better heads.

I also found out that about a 3rd of my factory videos have copy protection MACROVISION. I did a search on the forum and found a few posts. But it seems to be a gray area. I know you can by macrovision removers, but ive heard that you can buy time base correctors, which can sort out video timing issues on old tapes and as a “by-product” they remove macrovision anyway, because it’s basically is just noise. Do industrial VCR’s ignore macrovision, Ive see some listed as having the option to switch off AGC, does this affect video quality in another way. Anyway I was hoping someone could clear up some of these things.

If I do need a TBC to clean video what sort of features would an amateur need? I don’t want to by the cheapest thing on the market, which turns out to be useless. Ive seen these devices in various forms i.e. separate box or a PCI card. Please understand I am fairly new to this device. Am I right in assuming that I should steer well clear from anything that isn’t full frame and that as an amateur I probably wouldn’t need advanced features such as “Dual Layer Chroma Keying”? Again any advice is much welcome.

I am not looking for the best brand new hardware that cost £900+ Instead I will probably look for second hand items. For example Ive found a VCR that got some praise on an outdated website which was the Panasonic AG-7330. There are 2 JVC BR-S610E VCR’s on eBay at the moment. How much is something like this worth?

Anyway any help appreciated.