The Panasonic ES10 and ES15 (and ES16) have a richly earned reputation for taming video tape with tearing and flagging. You simply connect your VHS VCR to the video input and then connect the ES10/15/16 to your SD capture device. You therefore use the ES10/15/16 as a passthrough device and its internal circuitry apply a Line TBC effect to wavy videos.
In this video, I compared the Panasonic ES15 to the Panasonic EZ28 and the Pioneer DVR 649H-S. Spoiler alert: the Pioneer performed much better than I anticipated. It more-or-less matched the ES15 in anti-flagging abilities, it has more video and noise settings, and I think it avoids the well-known posteration effect (color palette compression) that is a side effect of using the ES10/15/16.
Please let me know if you have experience with the Pioneer DVR 649H-S and if you have been able to confirm the results in my video.
00:00 Intro
00:20 The three DVD recorders
02:18 Comparison test
05:02 ES15 versus Pioneer DVR 649H-S
06:10 Pioneer DVR 649H-S menu and video settings
08:28 Panasonic ES15 menu and video settings
08:45 ES15 lighter darker setting
08:57 ES15 versus Pioneer DVR 649H-S
11:08 Conclusion