Customer Reviews

Digital Video Stabilizer

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

First, I do sell these stabilizers, here on Amazon and elsewhere, but this is NOT intended to be an advertisement.

To avoid any appearance of conflict of interest, I took this item out of my inventory.

My intent is to provide some guidance, alleviate some frustration, and clear up misconceptions thanks to buyers/reviewers who didn't bother to report the problem, much less exchange their obviously defective unit for a working one.

Buyers who get irritated and slam a product based on one defective unit, who reveal their illogic and irrationality by throwing a purchase away instead of asking for the GUARANTEED replacement or refund, are unqualified to review the product or the seller. Since they haven't actually used the product, they have no idea how a non-defective unit performs. As a result, they lack all credibility, and their reviews should be ignored in favor of reviews by buyers who actually USED the product.

That said: there IS a reason buyers had a problem with these units, over the past year especially.

Previously it was rare to encounter a defective stabilizer. Even very old ones continue to function perfectly. Until about 14 months ago, the quality was the same as it had been for probably 20 years (yes, these have been around that long).

It's a very simple device, about as foolproof as it can get....

Or, rather, it was, until the Chinese manufacturer(s) (there appear to be 2, though they may be affiliated) made two foolish changes in the design, presumably to reduce costs. Compounding the problem, the quality of the labor began to fall as well.

The result was so many problematic or DOA stabilizers, many distributors stopped carrying the units. I know at least one demanded the manufacturers take back all remaining inventory and refund their money.

For about 6 months, new ones were practically unavailable. My guess, based on inspection of later units, is the manufacturer repaired defective units and/or used the parts in new ones. Unfortunately, they didn't correct the underlying issue.

The shortcut that caused the problems? The manufacturer stopped using the pads that held the battery firmly in place inside the unit, despite there being no divider between battery and board. They apparently decided the board was raised above the bottom of the case enough, the battery would remain lodged tightly between board edge and case. It also appears they eventually removed ALL padding that might have provided enough friction to keep the battery from slipping.

Inevitably, batteries began shifting and escaping during shipment from China to the US, and then from distributors/sellers to customers. And when a fairly dense and solid 9V battery gets loose and starts bouncing around on top of a small circuit board, it can whack the hell out of tiny little components.

When the problem first started, you could usually tell if a unit was damaged by shaking the box. No sound meant the unit was fine. If it rattled, it was probably damaged. As time went on, and the padding disappeared entirely, I gave up and opened every unit I received.

95% of the time, it was easily fixed. When any component is touching another component - e.g., when a capacitor is bent so its wire is touching one of the chips - the stabilizer won't work. So, a friend and I would gently bend capacitors and resistors back into place, making certain there was no metal touching metal. Afterward, the stabilizers worked perfectly - we'd then ship the units without the battery installed, so they wouldn't get beat up again.

The manufacturers could have done the same...except that would have required them to redesign the packaging to hold a non-installed battery. So loose batteries continue to cause problems even in the new units.

Unfortunately, the manufactuering quality degraded further, and the DOA rate went up to over 30%. Suddently I was getting emails from about 1 out of every 3 buyers reporting problems with the stabilizer they'd received. One technical and curious buyer in France disassembled his. On the bottom of the board (which is screwed to the case, so I'd never removed it), several pins were loose or un-soldered, causing a break in the circuit(s). The buyer sent photos and repair instructions, saying it was a very easy operation, and he hoped the instructions would be helpful.

That was when I, too, stopped selling the stabilizers - there was no way I could completely disassemble, test, repair (including possibly de-soldering and re-soldering components), reassemble each one...and still guarantee it to work properly when it was delivered, or even last the normal product lifespan.

I sent an email to everyone who had placed an order, or who had shipments in transit, warning them what was happening. Several straightened up the capacitors themselves and replied their stabilizers now worked.

One unit had a dead battery - ALSO had an increasing problem, one I'd previously seen only once in 3 years. The batteries used were cheap generics, not the reliable name brands usually used in older units, plus there was reason to believe some of the batteries were quite old, and may have been shelved for years before being installed.

In the end, thanks to great customers and a lot of squinting at little wires, only one unit turned out to be un-repairable, and was replaced.

Now, unlike most sellers, I include tech support with that item, knowing the occasional buyers will have a setup that requires walking them through the connection process, and the order in which they do things when recording. As a result, every person who had a problem DID contact me, immediately, to ask for assistance.

If they hadn't, it would have taken me a lot longer to find out how horrible the manufacturing quality had become. Instead, I had a chance to fix a lot of the units before they went out. In the end, only one buyer asked for a refund. Every other buyer ended up with a good stabilizer that worked on every movie they transferred, even the Disney ones.

And there is the best argument I can give other sellers for the importance of real customer service and complete honesty. Hiding known problems and crossing your fingers, hoping either the product will work or the customer won't bother to complain, is inexcusable and borders on fraud.

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I've written all this to say: don't blame the DESIGN of the product. If it isn't defective, it works beautifully. (Even the buyer who noted the overwhelming "white" problem might find tweaking a capacitor would solve that little tic. No guarantees, but I've never noticed that problem with any of mine, so might be worth a try.)

Also: damaged units don't always fail completely. Sometimes they work partially, or, for example, bypass the copyguard but cause a line of "static" across the bottom or top of the picture. Sometimes they can fail to block one effect, but clean up another.

By the way: to the person who thought the unit would do DVD to DVD, the unit is designed for analog sources, and stated to remove ANALOG copyguards only, as well as instability from other causes. DVDs are not even metioned anywhere in the manufacturer description or instructions. DVDs are not analog, and they don't use copyguards. They are protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM), which is why you have to use software to "rip" a DVD to another DVD or your computer.

Some people have told me the stabilizer worked for them copying DVDs, and apparently on some older DVD players/recorders, it did. Likewise, there are older VHS machines that don't block recording of copyguarded tapes.

But buyers need to realize there is a difference between what may have worked with a minority subset of equipment, and what is described and guaranteed by the manufacturer. In this case, the manufacturer guarantees ONLY that the device will block ANALOG copyguards. DO NOT BUY IT ASSUMING IT WILL WORK FOR DVDs. With the majority of equipment, and with all newer equipment, it won't.

Unfortunately, most of the descriptions of this product don't bother to explain that distinction - and I have even seen sellers claim it WILL work for copying DVDs. Ignore them, and always go with what the MANUFACTURER says

Definitely don't blame yourself. Blame the RIAA. Even though it's perfectly legal to make a backup copy of ANY commercial video or DVD you own (but only 1, mind you, not enough for your 100 closest friends, LOL), the RIAA has always tried to prevent companies selling products that enable owners to bypass copyguard or DRM - and their consumer bullying is getting worse. They are after all a for-profit entity, not a regulatory agency.

But as a result of the RIAA leaning on equipment manufacturers, forcing them through threats of lawsuits to block copying of commercial tapes...the manufacturer description for the stabilizer says almost nothing about copy "protection." It buries the single word "copyguards" in the middle of the paragraph, and never mentions it again.

If you don't know "copyguard" means Macrovision and similar analog copyguards only, you'll never even know the stabilizer makes it possible to back up your VHS collection. The diagram shows only a VHS to VHS setup, because INSTRUCTIONS haven't changed in 20 years either....and 20 years ago, DVD recorders didn't exist.

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So what's lost in translation is: you can record TO any medium, analog or digital, but you can only record FROM analog.
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If any of you still have your defective unit, feel free to drop me an email or a comment here. There are other reasons BESIDES damage that a stabilizer can seem not to be working. Remember: your equipment can affect how and when the unit senses a video signal, meaning you may need to do things in a certain order. Also, I've run into things like bad RCA (component) cables, a short in the playback or recording device, bad shielding on an old VCR that screws up the signal going into the stabilizer, creating effects the stabilizer can't compensate for, etc.

There are a lot of video forums on line that discuss the various brands/types of stabilizers in detail - some even have circuit board diagrams should you wish to make your own (some people do).

Last, and most important: YOU MUST USE TWO (2) SEPARATE MACHINES - ONE MACHINE FOR PLAYBACK, AND A SEPARATE MACHINE FOR RECORDING.
I don't mean to shout - there's no formatting available, so I can't put that in bold or bright red.

In other words: if you are trying to use a single combination VCR/DVD recorder, and transfer from the internal VHS to the internal DVD (from one side to the other) it won't work. The video signal is routed internally - it can NOT be bypassed externally.

You can use any two machines. For example, I use a plain VCR for playback, but the DVD side of my combo unit for recording.

And, yes, I use one of these stabilizers. In fact, I use one I repaired, because I sent my own 5-year-old unit as a replacement to a customer who needed it right away, and then repaired the defective one I got back. I've been using that "defective" unit for 6 months now without a hiccup, and on some very, very old VHS tapes that I was afraid were too far gone. The DVDs look better than the original.

By the way: I certainly don't claim every seller will provide troubleshooting or technical support - but every Amazon seller is required to accept returns, and give a refund when requested. Amazon holds Sellers to the same standard as Amazon itself.

If you have a problem with an item, and if the Seller does not help you out, file a claim with Amazon. They will make certain if you are entitled to a refund, you get one, and will deal with the Seller themselves.

Oh, and I'll gladly pay $10 plus First Class postage for any defective units still out there! Cheers :-D

So, you have a bunch of old VHS tapes (Disney videos for instance). You know they won't last forever and they're not out in DVD so you want to make backup copies (which is legal fair-use under copyright law). Unfortunately, there is a little problem... Macrovision or copyguard. There are any number of articles on the web explaining exactly how it works so I won't cover it here. Suffice it to say that, on most new equipment, you can't copy these VHS tapes to VHS or DVD. This little item fixes that problem. Simply connect it on the video line (usually the yellow RCA connector) between your VHS player and your VHS or DVD recorder, turn it on, and away you go.

Now, as you've probably read in one of the other reviews, there have been problems with the quality control at the factory where these are made. When my unit arrived it rattled ominously. I opened the box (4 small screws that were installed by someone with 42 inch biceps), pulled the battery (which was dead), checked the circuit board for damage (none), replaced the battery, and put the box back together. Et voila! I now have backups of my favorite out-of-print VHS tapes.

It was super easy to set up and, after about 150 videos, still seems to be going strong. The only "problem" is certain scenes in certain videos that seem to have a lot of white in the view will pulse (that is the picture will get brighter than dimmer in a regular manner), but it only seems to be on those scenes.

Maybe I misread the advertisement, but somehow I got the idea the unit could be used as an anti-encryption device for DVD to DVD transfers. Such is not the case. Live and learn.

I've had one of these for a long time to clean up video to video transfers, and now I use it to clean up DVD to video transfers. It does a perfect job, every time. I needed another for the set-up in another room and I was pleased to find one on Amazon.com.

This has worked great.
Had two minor problems:
1. Make sure you read the instructions on setting up the cables.
2. The supplied 9 volt battery was dead. Added a new battery and it works great.

Mike
Colorado

I purchased this video stabilizer to transfer my VHS tapes to DVD. This device does not come with a power cord. I thought the battery was dead so I opened it up. Inside is a 9 volt battery stuck to the inside of the metal case with double sided sticky tape. Needless to say the battery is not easily removed. Also the new battery has to be taped to the inside of the case because there is no other way to secure it. I tried to transfer my tapes and the device doesn't work. My tapes are from the 80's. I purchase a different Video Stabilizer for $135.00 and it works great. Do not waste your time or money with this piece of junk.

I wanted to use this to clean up video being transferred from VHS to DVD. Did not clean up tracking or improve video quality. Did not help to convert the old copy protected Disney VHS tapes either. eventually just threw it away...sad

It works, sort of..............part of each VHS to DVD recording is ok but there are parts that pause, skip and just stop and hang up. I don't know what the problem is........one disk worked fine until the last 10 minutes and I couldn't finish the movie. Then some disks work ok through the whole DVD. There is no rhyme or reason for the problems...........that I can find. I suggest you use DVD R/W disks as you probably will have to do some over...................I am tired of throwing disks away.

I was very nervous about buying and somewhat resolved that it wasn't going to work. What a pleasant surprise... does what you need it to do... back up your VHS collection to DVD. Awesome! Buy with confidence.