D-VHS, what should i know, and other questions. (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

since i have the cable hi def pvr now i was thinking i t might be a good idea to save some of that onto another hi def medium.
mostly sporting events so i can watch them later on.

i was thinking of getting a d-vhs, which appears to be a hi def vcr.

now what i cant figure out is, who sells these.
how much should i expect to pay.
and what would i need to hook it to the moto 6412 dvr.

or even if it is worth buying one at all.

i found one at bestbuy .com but it is not in stock anymore.

couldnt find one at tweeter .com.

any ideas.
i did a search but nothing specific came up.

 

[John Whittle]

I think JVC was the only maker of D-VHS. However if they no longer offer a unit new or list it on their website, put it in a column with ED Beta and Sears Cartridgevision and Sanyo B-Cord.

If you really want tape, then the "safe" bet is a professional formal such ad HD-Betacam or D-5.

John

 

[TonyD]

it snt that i want tape.
it's just seems this is the only affordable way to save hd material on a format that isnt stored in a machine.

i have been looking at dvd recorders, but that hasnt been all settled i yet either.
i'm still trying to figure out +/- r, +/- rw and several other things o these machines.

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

I have always felt that tape is tape, and is prone to tearing, ripping, wear, etc.....

That being said, I used to work part time at a HT store that had one and the display was quite nice....

 

[TonyD]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...&s=electronics

i've been looking at that one.

looks like exactly what i would use to record from the hd pvr that comcast now provides.

 

[ChuckSolo]

Now that prices are coming down on these units I have been toying with the idea of buying one, however, at this point my list of CONS outweighs the PROS. Honestly though, I am a gadget freak and would love to get one of these and can afford it, but the price for what will probably be only a "niche" item turns me off.

Pros:

1. Record HI-DEF programming.
2. D-Theater pre-recorded movies available.
3. Backward compatible with other VHS formats.
4. Extremely long high quality recording times.

Cons:

1. Tape, fragile and wears quickly.
2. Price is still a little too high.
3. Not enough recordable HI-DEF programming available IMHO to justify the cost.
4. Does not look like a very survivable format because.....
5. HD-DVD in its various forms will be out anytime now, true, not in recordable form yet, but it will happen.
6. Support among manufacturers is never going to be high.
7. All the limitations of tape especially having to rewind and fastforward.

If these units were in the 300 buck range I would probably have one tomorrow. That ain't gonna happen so, I am going to wait until HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and their recordable cousins arrive.

 

[TimothyJLahr]

Is it my imagination or is DVD recording incredibly wrought with inconsistent formats ? I have exeperimented with transferring some VHS over to DVD and when I am done the coppies don't play in even modern DVD PLayers !
Tim

 

[ChuckSolo]

Timothy, what are you recording to? If the media you are recording to is a DVD-RW or DVD+RW then there is probably something wrong with the way the discs are being burned by the recorder. Are you recording the discs on a PC or on a stand alone DVD recorder? If you are using the DVD-R or DVD+R discs, they will NOT play in anything other than the recorder until you FINALIZE the disc. -RW and +RW discs do not require that you FINALIZE them. Other than a faulty recorder, not finalizing the disc is the only reason that they would not play in other modern players. I have a Gateway DVD recorder and can play my burned DVD+R/+RW discs in almost any player except certain Panasonic and Toshiba models, but the +R/-R discs MUST BE FINALIZED first. They even play wonderfully in my Samsung DVD HD841 and my Axion 7" portable player. These days, more and more players are able to play both formats with no problems.

 

[TimothyJLahr]

Chuck,
I believe I am doing things properly, finalizing,etc...
I am using a VHS-DVD Recorder unit made by LG. I have recorded on both DVD-R and DVD-RW disks.Last night I recorded four titles on a disk and edited the titles and the (finalized) disk WILL play in my new DVD player. It also displys the menu of titles so I can choose which title to play. The disk will NOT play in any of my other DVD players.I suppose its simply a matter of my DVD players being too old and not able to play the newer disks with the menu editing???
Thanks for the response.
Tim

 

[ChuckSolo]

Might be, although the discs I have made have played on a 4 year old Mintek, a 5 year old Sony, a 4 year old Phillips, and a Sony that is at least 6 years old. Very strange. Is you "new" player a stand alone unit or the recorder in the combo unit?

 

[davenportbuzz]

Tony,

I have the JVC deck and you know what? It hardly ever gets used. Now, granted, I only used it to play D-VHS tapes, which, let's face it, are still rare to find and are a dying format. So then there's HDTV programming. Sure, you could record it onto tape, but with HD-DVD's coming late this year and that technology promising to be better than tape for all the reasons DVD is better than regular VHS (storage space - both on the media and on your shelf, wear and tear for tapes, etc. etc.) it's a no brainer for me. I had about twenty D-VHS tapes. One day I played one and it pixelated and had problems (a new tape!) so I still think optical disc is THE best media to work with. With DVD recorders and soon HD-DVD players (and recorders eventually) coming, tapes will only be found at garage sales and the far recesses of people's attics. I'm so sure of it I started selling off all my D-VHS tapes on eBay. If I were you, I'd get a cheap but decent DVD recorder to record programs and use the component cables. You won't get exact HD recordings but they'll still look damn good, and then in about 2 years HD-DVD recorders will be more obtainable considering how well the regular DVD recorders are selling. Unless, you don't mind spending the money for something now that will eventually be less attractive to you in the next 2 years and you don't mind collecting a bunch of tapes for now that will be cumbersome to store later and deal with later.

Just my 2 cents.