Good VCR for converting to DVD recommendations???

[troyvcd1]

I am looking to buy a good VCR that I can use with my minidv camcorders pass through to computer. I want to be able to make dvds of my vcr tapes. I looked at lordsmurfs recommendations and it seems that the only available models are the jvc hrs-9911. This sells for about $360 which is a little steep. It has TBC and also DNR which I think I would need for good quality vcr to dvd conversions. Does anyone have any recommendations about this vcr or any other vcr which might be just as good or better????

[lordsmurf]

The 7900 models are decent too.

[Bondiablo]

The JVC HR-S5902U for about $140 is the best I've found of recent VCRs. It doesn't have the TBC or DNR of the 9911 but it also doesn't have the audio problems I had with the 9911 on some tapes.

[lordsmurf]

And for the record, I don't suggest the 9911. It's okay I guess, but a pale shadow of the formidable 9600 and 9800 models.

[troyvcd1]

I can not find any jvc 7900 vcrs in stock or the 9600 or 7900 either. I dont think they make them anymore. It seems like the 9911 is now their top of line model. This jvc hrs5902 seems like a good model and I like the s-video inputs. Would this jvc hrs5902 be good enough for most applications. Would I need to hook up an external tbc to this vcr. I think that I dont care about the dnr since I can use some avisynth filters to filter out the noise and avisynth noise reduction would be more tweekable.

[Savant]

lordsmurf wrote:
And for the record, I don't suggest the 9911. It's okay I guess, but a pale shadow of the formidable 9600 and 9800 models.

The 9911 is two generations down from the 9800 and based on the same design and features. Is there some reason you have concerns about that model, or is it that you just haven't used it? After the 9800 came the 9900, and then came the 9911. I'm confused why you would have concerns about it...

troyvcd1 wrote:
Does anyone have any recommendations about this vcr or any other vcr which might be just as good or better????

You can look at the JVC SR-V10U model. It's in their 'professional' series as a 'general vcr' but it does have a built in TBC and other toys. They tend to sell for about US$275 at the discount stores. More info here.

Regards,

Savant

[troyvcd1]

I gotta say that the JVC SR-V10U sounds like the best choice. It is a professional series so it "should" be a lot more durable. Also It seems to have all the features of the 9911 and costs less.

[Bob W]

I gotta say that the JVC SR-V10U sounds like the best choice. It is a professional series so it "should" be a lot more durable. Also It seems to have all the features of the 9911 and costs less.

Yeah I agree in fact I think the SR-V10U may be the same as the the JVC HR-7900U which is hard to find these days. BTW you can buy a re-condiationed JVC SR-V10U here for a mere $149. http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?DPNo=291073&adcampaign=email,ECOSTDEAL

[troyvcd1]

Wow that is a good deal but as expected I am a little leary of getting something reconditioned. Has anyone ever bought a reconditioned vcr. Also makes me think "why was it returned to get reconditioned".

[Bondiablo]

i tired the srv10u before getting the hrs5902u, it's just as cheaply built and had even worse audio problems than the hrs9911u. in that regard it was actually the worst of all the recent models i tried.

[Bob W]

i tired the srv10u before getting the hrs5902u, it's just as cheaply built and had even worse audio problems than the hrs9911u. in that regard it was actually the worst of all the recent models i tried.

You know I have owned a lot of VCR's and not one ever had an audio problem unless the tape or cassette was messed up. You sure the problem was with the players and not the source media?

[Savant]

troyvcd1 wrote:
I am a little leary of getting something reconditioned. Has anyone ever bought a reconditioned vcr. Also makes me think "why was it returned to get reconditioned".

Actually I buy reconditioned sometimes, and have never had a problem with it. Usually refurbished united are units that were returned to the manufacturer for some reason. In most cases the unit works fine but the customer "didn't like it" or "didnt want it" and they returned it to the store.

It should be noted that a regular manufactrered unit is NOT usually fully tested before it ships. Normally they just power on test it and see if it plays. With a remanufacturered unit they actually fully test the unit to make sure it works fully. So in a way it gets better quality control than new units.

However, I usually prefer to only buy MANUFACTURER (IE factory) reconditioned models and not third-party reconditioned models. Third-party reconditoned models may come from a place that doesn't have good quality control, so I will want to know who reconditioned it before I buy. Also third party reconditioned units will NOT have a factory warranty, they'll only have a 'store' warranty.

By the way, I found a reconditioned 7900U if you are really dying for it. Cost $220 plus shipping.

Regards,

Savant

[trevlac]

Does the DNR and other DigiPure things effect the source comming thru the tuner? Does the 9911 really have good y/c seperation as it really touts?

I am interested in CATV caps and am looking for a modest way to clean the source before it gets to my cap card.

The R3 thing says it's an edge sharpener. I wounder if you can use the "soft" picture feature and the add R3 to reduce noise.

The 7900 says it has a 2m buffer where the 9911 has a 4m buffer. Don't know if this matters.

[Bondiablo]

You sure the problem was with the players and not the source media?

Yes, I had several commercial tapes that, although a few years old, played fine on other standard VHS players and on the 5902 but all the other recent model SVHS decks I tried had problems tracking the audio. The SRV10U was the worst and the Mitsubishi U778 was the next best after the 5902.

[Bob W]

You sure the problem was with the players and not the source media?

Yes, I had several commercial tapes that, although a few years old, played fine on other standard VHS players and on the 5902 but all the other recent model SVHS decks I tried had problems tracking the audio. The SRV10U was the worst and the Mitsubishi U778 was the next best after the 5902.

OK so how about the JVC HR-S7800? I found one for $180.

[Bondiablo]

I never tried any of the older model JVCs. They were long gone by the time I was looking and I couldn't find a refurb for a good price at a shop that looked trustworthy.

[davideck]

You can find older JVC VCRs on Ebay from time to time. I think that the older machines had better transports in them. I recently ran multiburst through all of my machines to verify this and discovered that my HR-S5800U, HR-S6800U, and HR-S4900U provided images that were more stable with less distortion than my HR-S5400U, HR-S3600U and HR-S2901U. I have no experience with built in TBCs, so maybe the newer units that have them would outperform the older units???

[hockeymike]

Does the hrs-9911 really have TBC? I remembering reading the description and it had something like TBC, but didnt actually call it that?

[davideck]

hockeymike - according to the manual, the hr-s9911u does have a tbc. You can download the manuals at www.jvc.com

[lordsmurf]

The parts in the JVC 9911 are cheaper. The transpost mechanism pisses me off the most. Remember, that's the thing that can cause a tape to be eaten.

They just cut corners to lower costs.

Even the 9600 was better than my current 9800.

If it not a HRSxxxxU model, I do not think it has the filters and Super VHS abilities and other functions. Those others are VHS machines with 2MB TBC. But I need to look at them again.

I see the 9800, 9900, 7800, and 7900 units available in several places.

Don't waste your time on the 2900/3800/4900/5900 models. Yuck.

[troyvcd1]

I can not seem to find any jvc hrs7900 or similar vcrs at any online websites. I checked discount jungle and this refurbished model is discontinued. I called a couple other websites like aaacameravideo and got no answer. These seem to be dead links. Has anyone been able to order these from any stores. I am gonna try tristate cameravideo on sunday because they are closed now.

[Bob W]

I can not seem to find any jvc hrs7900 or similar vcrs at any online websites. I checked discount jungle and this refurbished model is discontinued. I called a couple other websites like aaacameravideo and got no answer. These seem to be dead links. Has anyone been able to order these from any stores. I am gonna try tristate cameravideo on sunday because they are closed now.

I also came up empty so I bought this VCR for a mere $149 which has a TBC and it does a fine job of cleaning up a not so good VHS tape.
http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?action=detail&dpno=291073#scroll

[troyvcd1]

Well it seems like trying to find a good VCR these days pretty much sucks. I am going to respectively go against Bondiablo's advice and get the SRV10U. I hope this works out but when I get it I am going to check it out especially the audio part.

To Bondiablo: Can you tell me what you mean by problems with the audio tracking. Is there an easy way to test for this?

[hech54]

YEARS ago I bought this HUGE MONSTEROUS Sony VCR. It was one step below their S-VHS REALLY expensive line. VERY nice VCR.
The only one I found that had the picture quality of the Sony was.....ready for this?....an Aiwa Multi Format - Converting VCR.
HV-MX-100 or something like that? (It's back home in America...can't remember the exact model number).
Awesome machine....granted my Sony was a bit old when I got my Aiwa....but it blew the MONSTER Sony out of the water. That Sony had a remote the size of a DVD case....

[Poppa_Meth]

I was looking in consumer reports yesterday and yes there is evidently no such thing as a good VCR anymore. not at a resonable price anyway. there were several that rated decent but none that rated anywhere near the top. nothing but mid-range ratings. any other brands a possibility? I've heard a few people claim good ones from Panasonic and Sony. I've never liked JVC all that much anyway but now I'm definitely hesitant to buy anything they make. This is one issue that's kept me from setting up my own capture system so far. I don't want to drop the money in all the hardware and then be unable to find a decent VCR to output the original signal.

[troyvcd1]

Well the JVC vcr they reviewed is the lowest model they make and can be had for $60. I have learned to not take consumer reports too seriously. The reviews they give all seem to be very simplified. They can not be experts at everything and I think that there are a lot more people in this forum who know a lot more about vcrs then the people at consumer reports.

[Bob W]

I finally bought a JVC with TBC here http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?action=detail&dpno=291073#scroll . I love it so far.