I need a new vcr

[Daryn D]

My VCR just died. It was about 15 years old and needed to be replaced anyway. I usually rent dvd's, but my son has a lot of VHS tapes. Also, (and most important) I record from my HI-8 camcorder to VHS to send to the grandparents and want the best quality at a reasonable price--$200 or less.

I know nothing about SVHS, just came across it today for the first time.

Any suggestions?

Daryn

 

[Paul Stanley]

For a dedicated VCR, JVC is pretty much your only bet now. I just picked up a 5912U from etronics for $144 and change, the 3912U can be had for $105. Both good SVHS machines with plenty of features and a nice style.

They dont make em like they used to.

 

[Daryn D]

Thanks, that pretty much narrows it down! But why only JVC, best features for the $$?

Pardon my ignorance, but just what does SVHS do that VHS doesn't and can my mother-in-law still watch it on her regular vcr?

Darn

 

[David WS]

JVC is just about the last "brand name" company that makes VCRs. SVHS has higher resolution than regular VHS. You need to buy special blank tapes to take advantage of the SVHS features. These tapes will NOT play in a regular VCR. The JVC SVHS players will allow you to us a special option to record SVHS quality on a regular VHS tape. (not as good as real SVHS but better quality than regular VHS) These tapes will NOT be playable on a regular VCR. SVHS blank tapes are more expensive than regular VHS so that's why they give you the option. SVHS players will also have S-VIDEO connections for video. These will be better than composite (yellow RCA). If you dub from your Camera to VCR using a SVHS player/recorder in VHS mode with a s-video connection will give you the "best" copy you can make with a VCR and still allow your Mother-in-law to watch them on a regular VCR.

Hope that helps,

Dave

 

[Don_Berg]

There are also several VHS VCR models that support SVHS format playback (quasi-SVHS) - I got a Mitsubishi VHS VCR that has this feature and I've seen it on other brands as well.

 

[Daryn D]

Thanks for your help everyone. The JVC 5912U looks like a good option. My wife is not as enthusiastic, wants to buy a $50 Panasonic because the Consumer Reports gives them the best rating. She doesn't care about SVHS, I think it sounds great!

Which brings up one more question. How long will the JVC last (hoping this will help my argument). If I need to buy a $50 model every 1-2 years or the JVC 10-15 yrs... you see where I'm going with this.

 

[Paul Stanley]

Aye, there's the rub. My first JVC VHS from 1983 is still alive and kicking at the cottage. My second one is about 6 years old and still doing fine with many, many kilometres on 'er. I've had a great track record with them. To be fair, their build quality isn't what it used to be, but c'est la vie.

I dont think you'll have to worry about replacing it for quite a while.

 

[Daryn D]

Well, we settled on the JVC HR-S2902U less features, but is available for $77.82 vs. $145 for the HR-s5912U. Thanks everyone for input, If you have anything to say about the 2902 Model that would be great.

 

[Don_Berg]

I have one mid-range JVC SVHS thats lasted over 6 years, however a newer higher-end JVC SVHS model has only lasted 2 years since a power failure caused a short in the power supply - the cost to repair is $150! So some of the JVC SVHS models are successible to power fluctuations, so beware.

 

[Daryn D]

Well, I just ordered the 2902. It just seemed to make sense based on our needs/usage. At $78 for NIB even if I only get 5 yrs out of it I will be OK with that. Can always upgrade down the road, right?...

Thanks for all the input, it was very helpful.

Daryn

 

[Paul Stanley]

Good choice. However, I'm afraid in 5 or so years we'll (or some of us diehards) will be buying machines on eBay (just like Laserdisc) instead of in stores or on line!

 

[Rachael B]

En futura, Maybe, Ya'all'll be buying D-VHS machines that are backwardly compatiable with your VHS & S-VHS tapes? I'm already there.

 

[Daryn D]

Ha! good point. My wife calls it the techno curse. Every new format is the latest and greatest-until the next one comes along. I generally buy one or two models behind the current, so I start with previous "latests and greatests"!

 

[Paul Stanley]

If I were a betting man - which I am - I would say that D-VHS will not catch on. It will go the way of minidisc and DAT.

 

[David WS]

Paul, thats a good bet. Tape format will evenutally go away. DVD-R is catching on, better encoding systems are being developed and DVD-HD is on its way with recordable versions to follow. We simply won't need the "large" storage capacity of tapes in the future. There are even companies working on cheaper/faster versions of flash memory that may someday overtake the current "optical" systems of cd/dvd like disks.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I wish they would make a good "archival" VHS machine at this point, possibly playback-only, but not skimp on anything. This would include manual tracking controls which some newer machines don't seem to have, and most importantly LINEAR STEREO! 99% of the Hi-Fi machines only play the "normal" linear track in mono, even though it's on stereo on prerecorded tapes, in fact there are hundreds of linear-only tapes put out in stereo before Hi-Fi came out which only play in mono on current machines! Luckily I have one of the few machines (NEC) that has both Hi-Fi and linear stereo with Dolby NR. I've been transferring most of my old tapes to DVD+R, hopefully my VCR will last long enough for me to finish all of them.
My main VCR has been a Zenith Hi-Fi (with only linear mono), manufactured by JVC in 1987. I use this for Hi-Fi tapes as it seems to have a better picture than the NEC. In 17 years it's only been to the shop once for a cleaning, and I adjusted the heads myself once. It used to record and play back a lot of TV shows on a weekly basis, but the networks' onscreen logo nonsense put an end to that. Doesn't get much use now but still shows no signs of quitting.

 

[Rachael B]

I'd say D-VHS may hang around? Questionable, I admit...? One thing it has going for it is that it's easy and familiar to operate. Some others thangs: No waiting for discs to FORMAT and it automatically records the aspect ratio whatever it has been presented with. Even Yoda can't see this future clearly...