is VHS supposed to look like crap?

[xsbs52x]

i just bought a new JVC super vhs player. i hooked it up to my ATI AIW 9000 pro with an s video cable. the quality when playing a vhs tape is awful. the colors are muddy and dull and its a little blurry. SVHS looks only a little better. i popped an SVHS in there and it looked slightly worse then HBO. my AIW is only a few weeks old and it works fine with regular tv and my ps2 hooked up through s video. i was just wondering if this is normal. vhs seems to look fine on a regular tv, but is there anything i can do to make it look nicer? (i dont mean capture quality is low, i mean just viewing quality is low, making the capture quality low as well.)

[Bob W]

I have a JVC HR-S2901U VCR which they call a 'superVHS ET" whatever that means (this one has a s-video out). Anyway I run the s-video output of that into a Sima CopyMaster box and the picture quality is very good on my JVC 48 inch big screen TV. What's really weird is if I record a VHS tape to DVD-R with my Panasonic E50 recorder then play back the disc the picture quality is even better than the source tape.

[xsbs52x]

i have an HR-S3911U. it says Super VHS ET on the front. that means that you can somehow record svhs quality on a standard vhs tape. i dont really know how to use it though. mine has an svid in and out, 2 a/v ins and 1 a/v out. the quality looks pretty good on my big screen using s video directly to the tv, but it looks a good deal worse when i do the same with my AIW. how much is a Sima CopyMaster?

[Bob W]

i have an HR-S3911U. it says Super VHS ET on the front. that means that you can somehow record svhs quality on a standard vhs tape. i dont really know how to use it though. mine has an svid in and out, 2 a/v ins and 1 a/v out. the quality looks pretty good on my big screen using s video directly to the tv, but it looks a good deal worse when i do the same with my AIW. how much is a Sima CopyMaster?

I bought mine at BestBuy for I think $40, however my local store no longer has them and I don't see it on their website anymore. You could do a search and find one or I bet if you search on eBay you will find one. If that fails I bought two of them and would sell the extra one.