VCR died worth getting new one? (1 Viewer)

[JoeyR]

Well my Mitsubishi died after 6 or 7 good years of service.

Most VCR movies we are now getting on DVD, are yall replacing your VCRs as they die or what.

I have a real nice DVD player so DVD/VCR isnt really an option.

 

[Paul D G]

Depends how many video tapes you have and if you can see any possible use for it.

Personally, I moved three months ago to an area where the cable company provides DVR service and I still have yet to hook up my VCR. I have a few things I taped before moving that I haven't watched yet collecting dust in the corner. I have a good box full of recordings from the TV I want to keep, and stuff that has yet to hit DVD so even if it died I'd go get a new one.

That said, I still haven't replaced the cassette deck that died on me some five+ years ago.

-paul

 

[MarkN]

I haven't had a VCR hooked up in well over a year. I am considering buying a DVD recorder/VCR combo (with upscaling Toshiba RD-XS52) so I can transfer some important stuff to DVD (wedding videos, sky diving, etc).

 

[Jerome Grate]

I just lost my classic JVC 3500 the other day. It sits in the Den with the Toshiba 32 inch t.v. and I kind of up in the air about replacing it. I have the JVC 7600 downstairs with the HT set up and it works fine and though I have some S-VHS tapes with movies I recorded from satellite, but I don't play them much and when I do, I play them downstairs now that I have the I-Scan Pro. I have to admit, if I were to replace the VCR, I would go combo from JVC with S-video in and out from the vcr side.

 

[SummyD]

Joey,

I am considering this dvd recorder to replace my VCR:

http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_27460.htm

Nicely priced. Another reason I like it is because it has a firewire port that can be really useful for downloading MiniDV's from camcorders.

 

[Steve Berger]

As a servicer since 1972 I will offer my opinions.
Don't buy a combo anything, ever.
Any new VCR will wear out after a year of normal use.
There are no good VCR's and there will never be one again.
If your old VCR just needs a maintenance repair, assuming it was decent to begin with, fix it if it can be done for $30 - $50 or so. It will outlast whatever you are likely to buy now.

Just my opinions, based on fixing the darn things since the first BetaMax.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Steve, thanks and that's just what I'll do. That JVC 3500 was really a good machine and I paid about 175 for it new and it's built better than anything that comes out. Since you are into service perhaps you can tell what to look for. My VCR turns on and off when I hit the power button. It does that with the eject indicator flashing and then it finally shuts off completely. Is this a transformer issue or board issue, thanks.

 

[rob-h]

If its 6 or 7 years old, its at the limit that parts might be hard to find. Especially if it was not that popular of a model. I did TV/VCR repair for a short time about 10 years ago. You know what the experianced guys told people about new vcrs then? The exact same thing Steve told you about new vcrs now. You got 7 years out of this one, there is no reason you cant spend 60 bucks on a new one and get at least 3 out of it. After that point, VCR's wont matter anymore anyway. A repair shop is going to charge you 30-50 just to look at it. Its not worth it, move on.

 

[Jerome Grate]

I felt that way in the begining, but vhs tapes do look better going through S-video over composite. That's the only thing that's making me look into repair.

 

[JoeyR]

Im still on the fence, my vcr, even though I have sound the picture just shows as a blue screen, thats what it is doing.

I have to admit though that was the best vcr I have ever owned(longest lasting)

 

[Steve Berger]

Jerome, depending on the mechanism, that could be a slipping loading belt. The mech can't initialize so it shuts down. Another chassis breaks a spring mount off, which can be reattached after bending a new end on it. There are many other possibilites but VCR's suffer mechanical failures much more than electronic.

JoeyR, a dirty head will blue-screen. Stick a good (but expendable) tape in and let it run for a while and see if it starts to clear up. Also hit pause and see if a picture appears (might be snowy or deformed). See if you can turn off the blue screen in the menu (occasionaly an option). Head problems will give an overall snowy condition while alignment or guide problems will produce distinct lines through the picture.

 

[Phil Nichols]

Steve Berger,

I'm using a Sony SLV-R1000 SVHS prosumer VCR that puts out spectacular VHS images that almost equal my best SAT channels in PQ quality. No noise to speak of, no jitter, licensed Faroudja built-in digital sine filtering, and superlative FM stereo sound.

What's you opinion of this VCR? (I paid about $1K for it new 5 years ago, but eBay has them for $250 - $350 these days.)

 

[Jerome Grate]

Thanks, Steve, I'll be dropping it off on Friday, that's when the video store sends the machines out for service. Phil, if you don't mind me putting two cents in, I'm a fan of Sony and here at the courthouse we use them throughout the building, VCRs especially. They've always been pretty durable. I've never seen one with Faroudja anything on it. Must be impressive. If I can make a suggestion, also look at the JVCs 7500 OR 7600 models on ebay. This babies are the last with DNR, Hi-Fi recording levels and indicators before they stop making them. The next step up is the 9000 models and the difference between the two is isze of the processor. But for HT a good VCR (yes I said it) is important.

 

[Phil Nichols]

"But for HT a good VCR (yes I said it) is important."

I agree 100%. I actually have a pretty good HT DVD system but nevertheless am not replacing many of my widescreen VHS movies because they appear so good through my system from this Sony VCR. I even have some Super VHS commercial movies that view plenty good enough to enjoy as compared to their DVD versions. Before buying the SLV-R1000 I bought a JVC 9600 VCR and returned it after one week - it did not hold a candle to the Sony R1000 on build-quality (the Sony weighs at least 17 lbs.), sound quality (the Sony is noted for it's superlative wideband FM sound), or image stability.

The Faroudja licensed technology label is on the back of the SLV-R1000. (Dr. Faroudja collaborated with Sony in the late 1980's/early 1990's on this digital filter design for certain Sony VCR's.) BTW, the Pany AG1980 and Sony SLV-R1000 are about in the same league for VCRs -> if one was to look for either on eBay.

 

[Julian Reville]

I bought a SLV-R1000 last year on ebay for $200, which is considerably less that it was selling for just a year or two ago.

It's quite a nice VCR, but the picture quality isn't quite as good as my Mitsubishi HR-S770, bought 4 years ago new. The newer Mits also has the quasi-SVHS mode: when I tried to play some of my old tapes of Hill Street Blues that I made in this mode, the Sony would not play them.

The Mits also has a handy 2 button programming mode that you can use without turning on the VCR and TV. It is ALL plastic, though, and I'm sure the Sony will outlive it.

 

[Phil Nichols]

"It's quite a nice VCR, but the picture quality isn't quite as good as my Mitsubishi HR-S770"

Ummmm ............ the only VCR I've ever heard that could match or perhaps very slightly best the R1000 was the professional Pany AG1980 that sported a retail of ~$1800. (The R1000 retailed for ~$1200.)

I'll bet you always used the R1000 with it's APC (Adaptive Picture Control) ON during playback??

This is what the manual recommends and I'm fairly certain that most owners always left this ON during playback. It is OK to leave it ON during record - like the manual also recommends - but it does degrade the image on certain VHS tapes if left ON during playback. I believe this version of APC was flawed for playback as implemented on the R1000. Sony did advertise a "APC II" on some later players, so I'll bet that they improved APC to perform better during playback on players after the R1000.

By running my R1000 during playback with APC never ON, I get playback about equal to the very best SAT channels - which is the best non-DVD 480i standard I have to judge VCR images by. I can't image a VCR image any better, consistently, then that of the R1000 if APC is left OFF. However, I've never viewed AG1980 VCR images - only read about it.

As I mentioned earlier, I returned a new top-of-the-line JVC 9600 VCR in favor of this Sony.

 

[PerryD]

A D-VHS player may fit your needs, it'll play and record VHS/SVHS along with the ability to record and playback high def. The new model has HDMI connections and sells for less than $500.

 

[Jerome Grate]

Now that's a thought.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

I still use D-VHS and still have several SVHS VCRs, but I don't use SVHS now. The JVC HM-DH5U HDTV D-VHS VCR would be a good choice in my opinion if you want to continue to use video tape. You would need a source with firewire to get much benefit from D-VHS. I have an unopened GoVideo SDV-650 SVHS VCR which is really a black JVC HR-S9800U, I bought as a back up for my SVHS VCRs. For SVHS, the JVC VCRs have great picture quality and features although build quality is reputedly not very good.

Chris

 

[Steve Berger]

Phil, the Sony R series are built on top of a solid mechanism that should last for years. The best that I've ever seen were found on some medical recorders (100% direct drive, even the two reel motors); and of course no VHS (of any kind) can ever match the color reproduction of any BetaMax due to the "Rotary Chroma" method of color recording. Hi-8 uses the better color system too but has lower resolution than the equivalent BETA but the same resolution as VHS with better S/N specs (than VHS). I have 2 Hauppauge PVR250's and a MyHD MDP-130 now and haven't used a VCR for over a year except as emergency backup (I still service them however).

I don't think I could ever go back to tape for regular recording --- but tape is forgiving, a glitch and you still have most of your recording while a PC glitch and you have nothing.