Comments

john-beale wrote on 5/5/2007, 12:20 PM
Assuming that's Dynamic Noise Reduction and Time Base Corrector which applies just to the analog input, it should have no effect on the video shot in-camera. As far as leaving them on for your analog input, noise reduction reduces noise obviously, but will also reduce fine subtle detail. If the source is a VHS tape there probably isn't much detail to start with. TBC can help if the image is wavy, I'm not sure that feature has any drawbacks if left on.
riredale wrote on 5/5/2007, 12:24 PM
I wouldn't know about the effect of a built-in Time Base Corrector, but DNR usually stands for "Digital Noise Reduction."

The way to reduce digital noise is to filter out the detail, since video noise is usually very fine-grained stuff. So I would assume that such a filter would also slightly smear out any image details, which is something you probably wouldn't want.
johnmeyer wrote on 5/5/2007, 12:59 PM
I don't think I would ever use in-camera DNR. As for the TBC, I'd try a short segment with it turned on and then turned off. If you don't see any flagging or unsteadiness with it turned off, I'd leave it off.

Less is more.

farss wrote on 5/5/2007, 2:05 PM
The TBC would only affect analogue playback in a D8 system, turning it on or off will have no effect if you're recording or playing back D8 tapes.
Can't quite figure out why there's even an option to turn it off. From memory on all the old analogue gear that has a TBC the only reason for a bypass switch is for maintainance.

Now if someone has ever figured out how to do dropout compensation without being able to access the RF for less than $10K I'm all ears.

Bob.
John_Cline wrote on 5/5/2007, 3:20 PM
I've never seen any definitive proof that there is a TBC operating on the analog inputs of a Digital8 camcorder in the analog to digital pass-through mode.
RalphM wrote on 5/5/2007, 6:21 PM
Recently tried my D8 as the pass through for some VHS tapes - didn't seem to do much except introduce some annoying audio garbage. Maybe I have a bad unit.

The TBC on my JVC SVHS VCR seems to do a pretty good job.
TGS wrote on 5/6/2007, 10:57 AM
I appreciate the answers. Most of the VHS tape I have to transfer were recorded long ago and I don't have any of the original recorders to playback with. On my original D/A converter, I would drop many frames, especially at the beginning of a recording (not just a tape, but anywhere I started a new recording) I hardly ever drop a frame using the Sony digital 8 pass-thru. But the used camera I bought to do this with, shoots video that looks a little overblown. Outdoors, I get a blue tinge to very bright situations and I don't know if this can be fixed or not. Indoor shots look more normal, although a little on the light side. I didn't think it was caused by the TBC or DNR, but I was wondering if it didn't somehow cause the problem. The pass-thru works fantastic.