VCR made for playing old tapes...? (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Beckmen]

In my experiance, the VCRs (never seen D-VHS or S-VHS) of today are really crappy when trying to play older dubbed VHS tapes. I have an archive of 250-odd some VHS tapes (3 movies on each tape usually) going back to the mid 90s. I am slowly replacing these dubs with DVDs of the same titles, but it's still good to be able to watch them from time to time, and buying 700 DVDs will take a lifetime. I have a GE VCR that plays these tapes fine, but it's almost 10 years old now and I rue the day it finally stops working. So what are my options for a replacement VCR? A lot of my tapes won't adjust properly tracking-wise on newer VCRs, but have always played fine on older VCRs with manual tracking and whatnot. The older ones are built like rocks.

So do they make VCRs that have some kind of support for playing older ELP-mode recorded tapes and degraded tapes?

 

[Don_Berg]

JVC SVHS models have manual tracking adjustment and extensive digital processing available for clearing up degraded video.

 

[Rachael B]

JVC S-VHS decks with Time Base Correction would be helpful. 7xxx & 9xxx series models are the ones to look at.

Beyond them are the Sony 1000 & Panasonic AG-1980 S-VHS decks that are even better but more pricey and getting harder to find.

 

[Jay Blair]

Yep, you want a JVC S-VHS 7XXX or 9XXX player with Time Base Correction and DNR. Nothing is going to make those old ELP buggers look good, but the JVC players will do the best you're going to get for a reasonable price. It will be a substantial improvement over your current VCR.

 

[Tony Kwong]

I have an old Panasonic AG-1970 for playing multiple speed VHS tapes and a Professional Line Panasonic AGDS-850 for playing back SP SVHS and VHS. These decks are fantastic. I would presonaly stay away from JVC. Too many issues...

 

[Rachael B]

Tony, you're spoil't on Panasonic's industrial grade stuff. Many folks have to make do with poor ole JVC. I've had pretty good luck with their stuff except for one deck with the in-famous "white streaking" issue...'an that was back in the mid-90's, it was a 7300, and the 7400 was afflicted too. Since then, they've done better, generally.

I would say that the AG-1980 or 1970 are worth buying used if you can find 'em at a price you're willing to pay. The 1980 would be better because it's newer. You may stille be able to find the 1980 new somewhere? I bought a new one about 4 years ago for less than $900. Considering what they used to cost, I considered it a bargain. I bought it to edit video with. I doubt I'd of gone to the expense if I just wanted to watch tapes...? The JVC 9xxx decks I have are almost as good and they seem to play back camcorder tapes maybe a little better?

For relatively inexpensive stuff, JVC ain't all that bad, me thinks.