whats a good decent vhs or svhs tape to use with my hr-3911u

[kenmasters83]

i need to know whats the best decent quality vhs or svhs tape to use for when recording in SVHS-ET mode..

i can buy the jvc sx standard tapes from dollar tree but i question the quality of the tapes..

i was thinking of buying some panasonic svhs tapes or some fuji's svhs' tapes aswell..

another thingis there a major difference between broadcast svhs tapes and standard svhs tapes and will the BQ tapes cause premature head-wear??

thanks!!

[kenmasters83]

bump

i know someone knows the answer to my questions..

[davideck]

I have not had any problems with JVC SX tape; should be fine for ET.
I like TDK and Fuji for SVHS...

[FulciLives]

I always preferred FUJI brand VHS blank tape myself.

The HQ grade (in a black box) is fine but the higher grade (in a gold box) would be "best" but finding that is hard unless maybe on-line. I moved a while back all my VHS stuff is still packed up so I can't remember what the gold box version is called ... extra high grade ... super high grade ... maybe it was called Pro ... I forget but I think it is called Pro.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I looked on-line and BUY.COM has a 4 pack of the Fuji HQ T-120 tapes for $5.99

www.tape.com has 10 packs of the Fuji Pro T-120 tapes for $15.63 and they call it SHG but the picture is the "gold box" Pro tape.

www.tape.com also has the Pro/SHG in T-160 length.

Don't know if that is the best price though I didn't look all that hard.

Anyways I would try a case of the Pro/SHG Fuji.

[lordsmurf]

I would not use Fuji VHS tapes, especially not for S-VHS-ET ... they have grain issues, bad grain issues. Sony and Maxell have dropouts.

Get yourself some JVC EX/EHG or TDK EHG tapes. Those are beautiful VHS tapes for use in S-VHS-ET mode. You need a good tape, and the higher line, both.

Better yet, grab some TDK or Fuji S-VHS tapes. Although a bit more expensive, well worth it.

The last group of JVC SX tapes I got from Dollar Tree seem to suffer dropout in ET mode, but were okay as VHS only tapes. SX has always been iffy anyway, though usually erred on the "okay" side. You may want to buy one and try before grabbing a cart full.

[FulciLives]

I always thought that the FUJI VHS tapes had less grain to them (very smooth) compared to other brands BUT I am talking about regular VHS use.

I once had a working (now dead) 5000 series JVC S-VHS with S-VHS ET and it seemed that no matter what tape (I tried FUJI, Sony, TDK and Maxell) I used there was always extra grain when using the S-VHS ET mode BUT then again regular VHS tape is MUCH cheaper than real/true S-VHS tape so I figured the extra bit of grain was the "trade-off" for being "cheap".

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[kenmasters83]

what about recording over movie made vhs tapes?? surely they are of higher quality then the stuff i buy locally??

the reason why i ask is because i can get about 50+ hollywood movie made tapes for the same price as the cheap blanks..

the tapes are all startrek the nextgeneration vhs's brand spanking new for a dollar a pop..!!??

i know i aint the only one who has thought of this does it work or will it give subpar results.??

[non-linear]

I always preferred FUJI brand VHS blank tape myself.

I stay away from Fuji brand tapes myself; I've seen how bad their BetacamSP tapes are (they shed more oxides than any other tape I've seen). As for SVHS, I think JVC tapes are pretty good, although I no longer buy or use video tape at home.

[kenmasters83]

just thought i would post an update as to what i was thinking of doing..

well i can record over hollywood movies its just that the tapes they are using is of garbage quality...

i mean seriously this makes no sense you figure with the high price they charge for those tapes it would be half way decent..well thats not the case..

i mean TDK's standard line up produces excellent results far better than any NEW tapes i tried from the store they were the same price as blanks so i figured..what the hell why not!!??

another thing i noticed is that why do i get FAR FAR better results recording with the composite inputs compared to the s-video inputs??

anyway i just thought i should mention TDK makes a damn fine standard vhs tape thats far better than anything i have used in the 99cents price range.....yep even better than jvc's sx dollartreee lineup which is well quite surprising..