best way to get vhs onto dvd

[sonny crocket]

I am looking to get about 100 VHS tapes onto DVDs. I'd say 99% of the tapes are recorded in EP. Most are full using up all 6 hours. There are multiple snippets on many of them. By snippets I mean there is a variety of items on the tape, sometimes as many as 30 or 40 segments. So there is obviously video breakup between these pieces which brings me to my 1st question.

Would a SVHS machine with a TBC help any of these VHS EP recorded tapes look better? Would it would worth it to purchase one? Ive read here that alot of breakup in the tape throws the sync off in the SVHS machines and makes it look worse.

I want a DVD recorder with a hard drive so I can do some simple editing and chapter menus. Ive heard the PANASONIC DMR E85H is a good model and was wondering if anybody has used it? Can anyone recomend one for a project like this?

Finally, I have a direct tv dvr. Will I be able to hook up a dvd recorder to the dvr and burn what I have on my hard drive onto disc?

I appreciate any advice you could give me

Thank You

[guns1inger]

With EP the difference would most likely be marginal and not worth the cost. You also have the issue of EP having a tendency not to play well with other players.

[lordsmurf]

With EP the difference would most likely be marginal and not worth the cost. You also have the issue of EP having a tendency not to play well with other players.

I disagree heavily with this statement.

A Panasonic AG-1980P would be of significant help for this exact problem.
This type of project is discussed at digitalFAQ.com, both in guides and in the forum.

[lowellriggsiam]

I have a panisonic es40v and it transfers uncopyprotected stuff straight to dvd, up to 6 hours. I use it's DVD-RAM to move things to my computer. The DVD-RAM is mpeg2 and that can be edited. I have an RJtec dvdr with a 200MB HDD and it can be recorded to as well, it has editing features. The DVDRs with internal HDDs quickly fell out of favor as they were notoriously unreliable.

[lordsmurf]

Panasonic models are notoriously lower-quality, and the E85H is really crappy MPEG encoding quality. See http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-recorders.htm

[lowellriggsiam]

Lordsmurf, mine has excellent recording so I got the good one. It did break down twords the end of the warranty so panasonic repaired it. I've had it for two years now and it's served it's purpose.