Sorry for the third-degree, but I've had some winners in the past. Not trying to be rude, just trying to be clear!
Use fresh blanks. TDK/Maxell/Sony are fine. Don't reuse old tapes.
Leave 10 SECONDS BLANK SPACE at the BEGINNING of EACH TAPE and BETWEEN EACH SHOW. I can't stress this enough. My VCR's WILL NOT play tapes RIGHT from the beginning. I hate dubbing a show for someone else when I can't get to the very beginning.
DO NOT RUN SHOWS TOGETHER or abruptly CUT ANYTHING OFF unless yours is the same. (i.e. leave credits on end, etc) Space BETWEEN the shows, folks.. I can't stand one show overlapping another. Thanks : )
DO NOT cut ANYTHING off!! If the show won't fit on the tape as planned, LET ME KNOW! I can't accept incomplete shows.
Adjust your tracking on EACH show BEFORE you start recording it (unless you have digital auto-tracking).
Don't tape anything in LP or SLP/EP speeds, unless I specifically tell you to. Make SURE your VCR is in SP! (still having problems with this simple rule.....)
Don't write on labels or apply them to tapes.
Send as much information as possible with each show. (venue/city/exact date/generation if known, etc.) I don't want to go digging for your list to get the name of the city or the date when you can include it with the tape, thanks. Just trying to save us all some time, I try my best to do the same for you
Turn OFF your on screen display if possible. (I don't need 7 versions of "PLAY" on my screen!)
If I've never traded with you before, you will send your tapes first. I've been ripped off enough.
Promos are for filler only, please. I don't mind taping some, but 2 hours worth is getting a little crazy.
As for delay, sometimes I can get your tapes done in 1 day. Other times it might take a month. It depends on how backed up I am at the time I receive your requests. If this is a major concern, I suggest you ask first.
Naturally, everyone has thier own grading scale. To avoid any confusion on mine, this might help you out:
A+ Perfect or as close to perfect as humanly possible. A great
video as far as my eyes go.
A Still a great vid. There might be very slight quality
loss or a few minor flaws.
A- This might be just starting to break up or a so-so
angle or slightly distorted audio, etc.
B+ Starting to break up or some distortion in the audio or starting
to look generated, etc.
B Getting down there. Still watchable, but expect
fuzzy picture, generation loss or bad audio.
B- Rough. You can kinda see whats going on. This
will bug you unless you're a huge fan.
C+ Whats going on? You can almost tell. Sorta.
C Very bad. Chock full of flaws. Terrible sound. No color.
Need I say more?
C- Well, at least you can say you have it.
In other words, if you're picky, don't get anything rated below 'A'.
I've been using this scale since the mid 80's, and I don't feel like changing
it now. If you're choosing shows, please keep the above scale in mind.
Not everyone's "B" is the same.
Of course, AUD means filmed from the audience with a camcorder, PRO
means a professionally shot, multi-angle video.
The grades are the condition my copies are in. When copies are made,
quality may decrease slightly.
My grading scale leans more toward the actual quality of the tape itself,
not so much the show. If there is something in particular wrong with the
show, I try to give you details in the same line. (Remember equipment limitations,
an aud shot video from 1985 will not look like and aud shot from 1999 -
keep this in mind)
EQUIPMENT:
This is the equipment I am currently using to dub with:
PLAY DECK: Mitsubishi Twin Digital U50 FX4 features: 4 head HQ hi-fi has manual picture sharpness control for greatly improved image (I would NEVER dub a tape without a psc - I recommend finding one).
EQ: Optimus 31-2030 Yeah, I know, Radio Shack. That's what I thought too, but this 10 band graphic equalizer has only .015% THD. I've heard THD is inaudible below .1%. I highly recommend getting an eq. Massive improvement.
RECORD DECK: Toshiba M-752 features: 6 video heads/Hi-Fi/V3 pro drum with flying pre-amp (pre-amp is built directly into the head cylinder as in professional broadcast equipment to eliminate wiring noise) Quality between SP and SLP modes is virtually indistinguishable
Also use: Radio Shack video processor 15-1962 (no longer in production) features: audio gain control for the really low levels & another picture sharpness control for those really grainy shows. Also color & tint controls. Works great.
And: Archer Super Video Procesor 15-1276 features: brightness control to lighten darker images and also VNR (video noise reduction) as well as enhancing & color controls.
And: Pioneer audio/video processor EG-X707 (no longer in production) features: 7 band EQ for fine tuning those nasty, bassy/hissy shows. Also has detail, sharpness, noise cancel, and white clip controls, as well as color, hue, etc.
Everything connected with 24K gold dubbing cables. Please don't use a regular audio cable for your video connection, it degrades the video signal more than necassary.
I use a brand new Sanyo 27" for my main VCR dubbing TV. I carefully scanned over 50 cable channels and adjusted the color/tint/etc to try to make sure my dubs are correct. Of course, not every TV is set alike, so if you're using an old TV, you may notice screen pull or other distortions I may not see. I have adjusted mine to dead center on the color, contrast, bass, treble, etc to try to make sure when I adjust for over or under colorization, too much or too little bass, etc that it will look & sound correct on most TV's. (I personally like to have the color and treble turned up on my regular TV, for example, but if I had them turned up on my dubbing TV, the copies may look/sound strange to someone else.) I hope this makes sense.
I've looked hard and paid a lot for my stuff. I'm dedicated to giving
the best quality copies I can. I urge everyone to invest in 2 Hi-Fi VCRs
if you don't already have them. Add an eq if you can afford it, they make
a big difference. I have never and would never just hook up 2 VCR's, slap
a tape in & record something. At the moment, I can only dub in the
NTSC system, though I'm looking for a quality multi-system recorder, so
I may be able to trade PAL/SECAM in the (hopefully near) future.