Is a TBC needed to make a quality VHS tape from...

You're right, that's what I meant but I was just writing it badly. I added
an exception to the TBC requirement in a paragraph that appears after the
one you commented on. Any way you said it better than I did.

While your info is correct when coming off an analog format (or a ccouple of
pro digital formats), it is not correct when coming off DV. The sync info is
never recorded to the DV tape. Therefore it can not be sloppy from tape
inaccuracies. It is rock stable generated by the device playing the tape. It
will never need the time base correction of a TBC. That is why they can get
away with saying that they have a TBC built in.

You can make great dups from DV to any format, but a TBC, waveform / vector
scope, and proc amp is the equipment what's required to ensure that the
analog video signal is the best it can be.

A TBC is a Time Base Corrector, it compensate for the video signal's timing
inaccuracies when playing back from tape. Video tape stretches slightly,
causing the video signal to become sloppy. This sloppiness causes
degradation of the signal and shows up as dropouts, color shifting and other
problems. The TBC restores the timing of the video signal to rock solid.
Duping a tape without a TBC can add a significant loss of quality.

A Proc Amp allows for adjusting the video signal's setup (black level),
video (white level), Hue (aligning the color signal), Saturation (color
brightness). These values are best set initially with a vector / waveform
scope while playing back SMPTE color bars recorded onto the tape. The color
bars should be from a meaningful source like from the camera that originally
shot the footage.

Here's a rundown on some of the analog formats:

Betacam / BetacamSP:
This format is mainly for broadcast use and have their own TBC & proc amp
built in.

VHS/SVHS/8mm/Hi-8:
These formats are mainly consumer, but are frequently found in industry.
Some models have TBCs, most do not.

DV:
This format doesn't need a TBC since it's video signal isn't coming off an
analog tape. The tape stretching is not a problem with video output. Most,
if not all, DV decks have composite and "S" connectors. These connections
interface consumer and industrial VCRs. The "S" connector gives better
quality so use it for composite I/O when it's available.

Some DV decks have component connectors in addition to the composite
connectors like the JVC BR-DV600U that can interface to the broadcast
Betacam decks.

Whenever recording an analog video signal, the best quality is obtained from
setting the video levels with the TBC, waveform / vector scope, and proc amp
using color bars as outlined above.

Another deck to look into is the JVC HR-DVS1U / SR-VS10U. These are dual
decks and have both DV and SVHS decks in the same box. Duping between DV &
VHS uses internal connections, and the VHS side has a built in TBC. JVC has
several other VHS models that have some level of internal TBC. Look at them
here: #

No, the 1980 does not have a full frame TBC. Full frame TBC's are only found
in Professional VTR's like the AG-7750. The 1980 is an industrial prosumer
deck. Professional VTR's come with balanced audio in and outputs and do not
have a tv tuner built in as does the 1980.

Bob,
VID-COM

...

TBC only affects playback, not recording. And TBC is a built-in format
requirement for all consumer and industrial DV gear.

Any decent Super-VHS deck, therefore, should make excellent standard VHS copies
from a miniDV source.

Also, there are very few VHS-format decks with TBC, other than industrial (and
very expensive) models.

The best VHS playback I've ever seen has been from Sony's SLV-R1000 deck (still
available), fed to my 32" XBR100, and a Panasonic AG-1970 (now replaced by the
AG-1980) fed to the 27" PVM-2950Q. IINM, the latter deck has a full-frame (or
at least full-field) TBC and 3D comb filter.

CPJ2000