best way to record between 1 & 2 hours?

[spiritgumm]

I'm wondering what's the best way to record vhs tapes that are between 1 and 2 hours? Use 2 dvd-rw's, record in XP and then edit them together on a PC (and shrink if necessary)? Would the result be better than just recording in 2 hour mode?
Even though Panasonic has flexible recording, from what I've seen on (older) Panny machines, I'm not impressed with their vhs transfers.
I've read the Toshiba Dr4 only records in 5 speeds, but can it do flex recording in some roundabout fashion?

[pepegot1]

Use a good DVD recorder and set it to "FR" mode for the required time. Dump your tapes that way.

[spiritgumm]

If FR means Flexible Recording, are there other GOOD brand dvd recorders that have that feature (other than Panasonic)? Have the new Pannys (DMR ES20) improved picture over the old ones? And are you saying the Toshiba DR4 isn't good? I appreciate your help and opinions.
-Dave

[ofbarea]

I've been using a DMR-E55 and DMR-ES10 for a while and I think SP is better than FR mode. So far the best results for me are are with SP modes.

I only use XP mode if I intend to re-encode the video in my PC. The picture has not inproved much in the DMR-ES10 from the results obtained with the DMR-E55.

The ES10 has a better syc. circuits that provide better VHS captures, but the encoding portion ins the same.

[BrainStorm69]

Pioneer DVD recorders have flexible recording and are quite good.

[OldeMan]

I've been using a DMR-E55 and DMR-ES10 for a while and I think SP is better than FR mode. So far the best results for me are are with SP modes.

I use a Pioneer 531H to record digital cable movies via S-video input and recordings done at 65-90 minutes in flex recording mode look better to me than those done in SP (2 hour) mode. Recorded output viewed on a 50" HD monitor RPT.

Assuming a clean clear cable input signal of course. This is not a given, even with digital cable. If you've got poor video input, it doesn't matter much what your recording mode is.

PS: I also have a Pany DMR-ES10 that I use only for VHS tape transfer.

ymmv 8)

[LCSHG]

I have dubed VHS to DVD quite often,
The resolition on VHS is not close to HD or SP
If one wants to fill a DVD with 2hr of VHS ok use SP but the quality is not going to be better than what was on the VHS tape
I have dubbed many VHS to DVD using a iloRHD04 using both LP 3hr and EP 4hr I don't think a person could see a difference between SP and LP. EP may seem, to some a little more grainy. This assumes that the VHS source is good VHS qyality. If the VHS quality is poor, any thing looks good.
I think that to often we try to achive that which is not there to begin with.

[spiritgumm]

Well, how about this scenario:
If I get a dvd recorder with harddrive (but no Flex mode), what happens if you record over 4.7 gigs to your harddrive, then try to burn that to a dvdr? Will it "compress" it to fit the dvdr? Here's why I ask - I would record (for example) a 75 minute tape to the harddrive in XP mode, then burn that to a dvd. XP(1-hour) mode should use 4.7 gigs, so the additional 15 minutes in XP would be over a dvdr capacity.

[trhouse]

Yes, unless you divide the title into a 60 minute and a 15 minute segment on the hard drive and record to two disks, or if you have one of the new recorders capable of recording to dual or double layer media whicih can hold about 8.5 GB.

[spiritgumm]

Are you saying "Yes" that the recorder harddrive will compress (in my example say about 5.5 gigs) the file onto a 4.7g dvd? So the result might be similar to the Flex mode that Panasonic has? Would it look better than SP mode, or would the compression negate the XP quality advantage? BTW, I realize digitization won't improve the vhs; just trying to make the most faithful copy possible.

[trhouse]

That is correct. My own experience has been capturing to the hard drive in XP + and re-encoding to SP mode and comparing it to capturing directly in SP mode on this thread,

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279460

The re-encode reduces the resolution to less than that of the straight SP capture. Some people sincerely believe the the re-encode is more block free but I have not been able to demonstate this.

I have a Pioneer 531 and Panasonic ES10 which feature their own versions of flexible recording, but I have not seen any significant difference in captures using these modes.

[spiritgumm]

Thanks! Do you recommend both models? As the Panasonic doesn't have the HDD, it's less expensive, but I've seen very soft vhs transfers on an older Panasonic so I'm wary. Any opinion on the non-HDD Toshiba DR4?

[trhouse]

The link provided above shows tests on all these units,

Adaptec AVC-2200
Lite-On LVW5006, LVW5007
JVC DR-M10
Panasonic DMR-ES10
Pioneer DVR-320, DVR-531, DVR-533
Sony RDR-HX900
Toshiba D-R4

I am not familiar with the performance of older Panasonic units but as you can see from the tests, the newer Pioneers tend to be softer than the older Pioneers like the 320. It is not always clear without testing if new is really better.

Here is the same test pattern from a dvd copied to a VHS tape; then the tape played back into a Panasonic ES10.



The VHS copy is worse than the performance of any of the recorders tested above.