S-Video Out Question

[surv1]

I know this is going to sound like a stupid question, but here goes. I am preparing to undertake the onerous task of transferring all my VHS tapes to my set-top DVD writer. I have been looking for a good VHS player that has an S-video out, but can't seem to find one. Are S-video outputs specific to DVD players only, or can they be found on a VCR?? If so, which ones?

[davideck]

Super VHS VCRs have the S-Video connector. A good one will provide better picture quality as well, but a good SVHS VCR is hard to find these days...a bit ironic...

[triphop]

Also those DVD/VCR combos have SVideo out. Whether there is the underlying Luma / Chroma signalling and not some output hack depends on the particular player.

[racerxnet]

Ebay has several listed at all times. Many can be had with great savings. Do you want a professional one, or will you pay roughly the same price for a low end Walmart model?

[BJ_M]

A lot of the lower end s-vhs players have what is known as fake s-video -- really no better than standard comp.

[Bob W]

If you're in the states "The Good Guys" electronics stores have a JVC and Mitsubishi VCR's with s-video out (I bought the Mitsubishi) both under $200. Also in regards to the DVD/VCR combo players, all of them that I have looked at the s-video out is only for the DVD output not the VHS.

[surv1]

Thanks for the responses guys, I just bought a JVC HR3911U S-VHS machine, the reviews were good, so it should solve the problem. I'll let you know how it works.

[waffledad]

I have a JVC S3600U and it actually will use the S-Video output for all tapes (including normal recorded ones) as well as will record in S-Video mode on normal tapes but you won't get the same quality as an actual S-Video tape (due to the tapes limitations). The one drawback that I have found is if you record a movie or show in S-Video on a regular tape, it can only be played back on an S-Video machine (this would be normal though). Hope this helps.

[racerxnet]

Though you record with the Svideo option on with a regular tape, the machine is only going to record in the standard mode. Svideo tapes have a hole punched in the lower right side of the case so that the machine can recognise it. You gain no bandwidth by punching a hole in a standard cassette and recording.

Don't know where you are coming from by recording in Svideo with a standard tape. The additional recording media applied to the tape itself is not present with standard tapes. Hence no benefit. Nor is the punched hole. Hence no benefit.

Svideo tapes can be played on any machine, but the play back quality will be less with a standard VCR. The seperation of the Chroma/Luma signal will provide a better picture irregardless of SVHS or not in most instances.

[BrainStorm69]

@racerxnet - just so you know where he is coming from...JVC created a technology to tape S-VHS to standard tapes. It's called Super VHS ET recording. If you want to know more, try JVC's website.

[racerxnet]

I'm aware of the coined phrase from JVC. I'm wondering why they call this machine a Super VHS ET. If I could get one to measure the bandwidth on my oscilliscope with a standard test tape I might believe the increase in picture quality. Other than that,.. to each his own.

[Bob W]

I believe if you record in s-vhs on the JVC then play it back it's a better quality picture simply because it plays back at 400 lines not the 230 line typical of standard VHS.

[racerxnet]

Any newer VCR that can play back at the MEASURED 400 lines is worth its weight in plastic. I just went to the JVC site for technical specs on the SVHS ET and found none. Its a great marketing gimmick so far to me. But, I have been wrong before. I have yet to see the standard tape play over 250 lines measured from a vcr. I would be sceptical of the SVHS ET capabilities to play beyond 250 lines also. I suppose they could speed the tape up to record more information, but the recording time shrinks accordingly. I've measured my SVHS output on the NEC PC-VCR and will output close to the 400 lines with a professional SVHS tape.

[Bob W]

Any newer VCR that can play back at the MEASURED 400 lines is worth its weight in plastic. I just went to the JVC site for technical specs on the SVHS ET and found none. Its a great marketing gimmick so far to me. But, I have been wrong before. I have yet to see the standard tape play over 250 lines measured from a vcr. I would be sceptical of the SVHS ET capabilities to play beyond 250 lines also. I suppose they could speed the tape up to record more information, but the recording time shrinks accordingly. I've measured my SVHS output on the NEC PC-VCR and will output close to the 400 lines with a professional SVHS tape.

I have a Mitsubishi s-vhs VCR and here is what they say in their manual.

"If you record a standard VHS tape in s-vhs ET mode upon playback the picture quality will not be a good if you had recorded onto a s-vhs tape however it will be better than a standard vhs recording"

Myself I don't use the s-vhs ET feature. I just playback my VHS through this scaler at 720p and they all look wonderful.
http://www.theprojectedimage.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TPII&Pro...t_Code=AVT3800

[racerxnet]

Mitsubishi bought out NEC in the consumer and Professional VCR market. I forget what the European model is of the PC-VCR. But, the products they made are quite reliable. I checked out the link for the scaler, I believe Focus Enhancements makes a similar product. Recording SVHS to a punched cassette housing has been done in the past and measured. The results were not as what one would hope. The bandwidth is limited by the magnetic application applied to the tape. Little if any gains to be had as measure on the scope.

[Bob W]

Mitsubishi bought out NEC in the consumer and Professional VCR market. I forget what the European model is of the PC-VCR. But, the products they made are quite reliable. I checked out the link for the scaler, I believe Focus Enhancements makes a similar product. Recording SVHS to a punched cassette housing has been done in the past and measured. The results were not as what one would hope. The bandwidth is limited by the magnetic application applied to the tape. Little if any gains to be had as measure on the scope.

Yeah my manual says if you're going to record s-vhs using a standard vhs tape to use the best high quality tape you can buy.

[surv1]

The main reason I wanted S-video out on a vcr, was so I would be able to use the increased quality of the svideo output (over composite video) when recording my vhs tapes onto dvd. I don't see myself recording svideo vhs tapes much.

[racerxnet]

Hi Surv1,

You thinking is correct on getting a VCR with Svideo out as compared to composite. Here is a link to SVHS VCR's on ebay. Note the amount of JVC units for sale. Are they posted because they are good, or cheap? The Panasonic AG-1980P, Mitsubishi HS-U80, or the Sony R5UC would be my first choice. The Mitsu actually has wood sides instead of plastic. what were they thinking of? (sarcasm)

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=svhs&catref=C3&socolumnlayout=3&lotr=1&...8&BasicSearch=

[BrainStorm69]

@racerxnet -- I never claimed the technology is any good -- just that JVC says it exists.

I've never tried it myself although I have heard you should use the best standard VHS tape you can find to try it with, or it doesn't do much.

[racerxnet]

Hi BrainStorm,

I'm not knocking what you have, if works for you great. Just curious as to how JVC backs their claim with the SVHS-ET improvement in picture quality?

[Dragonsf]

I'm using EMTEC special designed tapes for S-VHS ET.They are half they price of offical S-VHS tapes.

[waffledad]

I'm sorry that I didn't come back here sooner but work kind of takes precedent over a message forum... LOL. anyways, there is a button on the front of the player and it is called S-VHS ET, this makes it so when you record on a regular tape, that it has more lines of resolution. I have tried with it both on and off with the same source and there is a noticable difference in picture quality. I also tried the tape in a regular VCR and when the recordig was done in the S-VHS ET mode, the tape was unplayable in a regular VCR. It also states in the owners manual that this will happen and that if you want to have a tape that plays on all machines, not to use the S-VHS ET mode. It also states that if you want TRUE S-VIDEO, that you need to use a real S-VIDEO Cassette. It also gives you the option in the onscreen menus to choose the input of either video or s-video for the line ins. If you choose S-Video, and you have a S-Video source, then it will record on a regular tape, even if you don't use the S-VHS ET mode. This tape will be playable on any machine if the S-VHS mode isn't used and the picture quality is quite a bit sharper if the source is good. If you still think this isn't right, goto JVC's website.

[mracer]

Let me join in this off-topic fray.

I have 2 JVC S-VHS machines that do S-VHS ET. The full meal deal HR-S9500U and the plain jane HR-S4600U. S-VHS ET is shite in my opinion. I have one movie I recorded from DVD 4 years ago in S-VHS ET and I truly regret it today. The picture quality sucks. I wish I had either used real S-VHS on a real S-VHS tape, or just recorded it in standard VHS mode.

Don't buy an S-VHS vcr for the ET feature. It's garbage, worse than standard VHS SP. Buy it for the s-video, TBC, NR, etc., and by all means, use real S-VHS tapes. My favorites are Fuji professional for exceptional S-VHS SP recordings.

[racerxnet]

My scope never lie's. I'm not suggesting anyone in the forum does either, but I like to measure the output rather than rely on marketing from a company.

Mracer,

You seem to have figured it out that SVHS with the proper tape provides superior picture quality over standard recordings. This includes the SVHS-ET recordings on standard tapes. Unfortunaltely, 99% of the tapes from the store are standard VHS tapes. The colors when recorded to SVHS from DVD are superb.