Outsmarting Sony (or, Stupid U-Matic Tricks!)

[captain18]

So, part of the reconfiguration of my edit suite/man cave has been to recable everything to use S-Video instead of composite video for the highest quality video I can get from my collection of professional and prosumer gear. This was pretty easy on the S-VHS front since that's where S-Video was developed to begin with, and my Betacam deck does S-

Comments

DPS-210 / UTP-2 vs. DPS-295

[turnkit]

Notice that the DPS-210 / UTP-2 has a front panel switch to select the Hi vs. Lo setting for the YC688 modulation which reads: Y/C-688L vs. Y/C-688H

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sF9Lbtj07_FNAqBSnStBFg

More pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/turnkit/PanasonicUTP2AndDPS210Transcoders?feat=directlink

The DPS-295 doesn't seem to have a way to select the high vs. low setting. I think this is why I am only getting black and white on the DPS-295.

Anyone know how to if it's possible a DPS-295 High/Low-Band (modulation) setting?

Re: DPS-210 / UTP-2 vs. DPS-295

[captain18]

I don't think this is a Hi-Band/Lo-Band issue, simply because you are getting color from the Composite output. The "band" being referred to is the amount of chroma bandwidth being encoded: A Hi-Band recording will play back in monochrome on a Lo-Band machine because the color circuits don't recognize the expanded signal. Given that the chroma signal splits off to feed the Dub connector prior to being encoded for composite output, it should be an all-or-nothing proposition

[jvraines]

If I may jump in with another year-after tidbit . . . now that I'm deep into U-matic transfers with the DSP-210/UTP-1, I have found that the "688L" setting appears to shift the levels up a suspicious 8 IRE or so. Most tapes play correctly on "688H," but a few only have correct black levels on 688L. Perhaps these were recorded without NTSC setup and that's what the L(ow) setting fixes.

[captain18]

The "L" and "H" refer to the bandwidth used for non-SP U-Matic. So-called "Low-Band" U-Matic is the original format spec. In the late '70s Sony upped the luminance, resulting in "High-Band" U-Matic. I believe the changeover was with the Series VIII machines (ie, VO-7xxx) but I haven't found a good source to back that up.

That's cool that you were able to establish a good visual benchmark for identifying which system was used for recording.

[jvraines]

Are you sure about that? I thought high- and low-band refer to FM carriers and bandwidth recorded on the tape. By the time it gets to the dub connector, the signal is baseband video and has nothing to do with FM. I wouldn't expect video levels to change unless the deck electronics are not doing their job properly.

[captain18]

That's a point. Given the L/H labels and the lack of available documentation for the DPS-210, it seemed a reasonable conclusion that was what it indicated.

Wikipedia isn't very helpful, nor is the overview given at the U-Matic PAL Site. In fact, this YouTube video is the first time I've seen a 3/4" deck with High-Band badging.

But I poked aroung the PAL Site some more tonight and found this in their glossary:

Low-Band: Recording in which the luminance FM deviation is from 3.8 to 5.4 MHz and the colour under frequency is 685 kHz.

High-Band: Recording in which the luminance FM deviation is from 4.8 to 6.4 MHz and the colour under frequency is 924 kHz.

So I guess I assumed incorrectly. But if it's not inherently to do with Low- vs. High-Band differences, what's it for and why's it labeled like that? An 8 IRE shift suggests to me something to do with tapes recorded in Japan with 0 IRE blacks but that doesn't seem to tell the whole story either.

[jvraines]

I think you could be right-H(igh) setting for NTSC and L(ow) for NTSC-J.

Just think how boring this would be if we had the manual. ;-)