Methods
Implicit in the idea of time base correction is that there must be some target time base that the corrector is aiming for. There are two time bases commonly used. The first method is to make the frames, fields and lines come out smoothly and uniformly, at the rates specified by the standards using an oscillator for time reference. The alternative to this method is to align the frames, fields, and lines with some external signal, a procedure called genlocking. Genlocking allows sources that are not themselves genlock-capable to be used with production switchers and A/B roll editing equipment. Stand-alone broadcast model time base correctors typically will genlock the signal to an external sync reference, and also allow the brightness, contrast, chrominance, and color phase ("tint" or "hue") to be adjusted.
Some TBCs featured a Drop Out Compensation (DOC) circuit that enabled videotape flaws caused by oxide drop-out to be temporarily corrected. The DOC circuit required dedicated cabling between the videotape player and the TBC in which irregularities were detected in portions of the video image. Previously captured and stored lines of video would then be superimposed over the flawed video lines.
A variant of the time base corrector is the frame synchronizer which allows devices that cannot be "steered" by an advanced sync signal to also be time base corrected and/or timed into a system. Satellites, microwave transmitters and other broadcast signals as well as consumer VTRs cannot be sent an advance sync signal. A frame synchronizer stores at least a full frame of video. If the buffer over or under fills, the Frame Sync will hold the last good frame of video until another full frame's worth of video is received. Usually this is undetectable to viewers.
Read more about this topic: Time Base Correction
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