VCR Recommendation?

[filmjax]

I've recently started archiving my old VHS tapes to DVD, and every once in a while I run into tapes that just won't track.

I currently swap between three VCRs: a 4-head hi-fi Philips, a 4-head hi-fi Memorex, and a 2-head mono Philips. Usually its the 2-head Philips that ends up doing the tracking the best, but of course then the picture and sound output are not the greatest.

It seems I've hit that "now you have to play your tapes in whatever type VCR they were originally recorded on to get them to track" wall. There is nothing wrong with the tapes physically... and I've seemingly had this problem forever with tapes only wanting to play well in the VCR it was originally recorded in.

Can anyone recommend some top-notch (yet affordable) VCRs with strong tracking options? What do you use that works well for you?

[SaSi]

I have recently ran into the same wall myself. Wanted to play a couple of really old (1985) tapes that were recorded on a mono 2 head VCR that was long ago broken and thrown away.

I tried them on several different VCRs, some of them top-quality and some medium. Again, the best players had the worst result, with one even thinking these were NTSC tapes (they were PAL).

The solution was to play them on an elderly VCR that had MANUAL TRACKING controls. These are handy up-down buttons that increase - decrease tracking sync on the tape. It appears all new VCRs do it automatically (no arguing there) but also don't give you manual control. So, my advise is look for a VCR player with manual tracking controls.

[Bondiablo]

I'm in the same boat and considering buying a S-VHS JVC HR-S7900U which has a built in TBC. I can get a factory refurbished one for under $250 including shipping. If anyone knows of a better unit for about the same price I'd like to hear about it.

[Coop]

Flimjax,

Two weeks ago I purchased a Sony (SLVN55 I think) 4 head deck from Circuit City - I was trying to capture a tape from 1985, and the Toshiba deck I had been using (don't know the model offhand) experienced capture issues with some dropped frames in the beginning and the audio was scratchy and had some bad drops throughout.

The Sony deck has manual gain adjustments - which kept my FPS much more stable and fixed my audio issues. Whatever deck you purchase, make sure it's a 4 head and get one with manual gain controls if you can.

[filmjax]

My problems are really only with tracking. I have the Canopus ADVC-100 and even the worst video I have doesn't drop any frames running through that sucker.

The majority of tracking problems I have is that the picture will roll. I can track it nearly to the point of stability, but then the middle of the picture starts to tear ever so slightly, just enough to be noticable. If I backtrack the tracking a touch, the picture starts rolling again. There is no happy medium. Are there decks with better tracking capabilities or are they all just about the same?

[Bondiablo]

I don't have any problems with the capture part either and I also use the Canopus ADVC-100 but, of course, it can't improve any on what comes in. My old tapes aren't quite as bad as yours, I don't get picture roll but there are some that wobble a bit. Anyway, I decided to go ahead and order a JVC S9911U. It should be here next week. I'll let you know how it looks.

[Coop]

film,

For the older tape I had a problem with, I captured three times. Twice with the Toshiba (second time after I cleaned it) and once with the Sony. The Sony did a much better job even after the second attempt with the Toshiba.

[Bondiablo]

I just can't bring myself to purchase another Sony product, I've had nothing but bad luck with their stuff. A VCR, portable stereo & DVD drive all crapped out on me with in 2 years. Only the DVD drive died before the warranty was up and it took months for them to get it back to me.

[Bondiablo]

Well, I received my JVC HR-S9911U and I have to admit the picture and sound quality from old tapes played on this VCR is MUCH improved. Between the continual automatic tracking (also allows for manual tracking) and use of either the built in TBC & Noise Reduction or the Video Stabilizer (they can't be used at the same time) it really does clean up bad tapes. Not sure if this was the best option, maybe should have considered a cheaper VHS VCR and a seperate TBC like the DataVideo TBC-1000 but even my worst tape plays better than it did so I think I'm happy with what I got.

Interesting side note, I always suspected the ADVC-100s analog out could be used to circumvent macrovision when dubbing between VCRS but I didn't have a VCR that recognized macrovision so I could never test it. The new JVC won't copy a protected tape but when you put the ADVC between it and the source it copies with no problem.

[vhelp]

hi bondiablo,

I've seen how the ADVC-100 (and my DC10+ 's) TV-OUT 's quality looks,
and IMO, quality is tainted a bit. ..specially when VHS tapes are MV'ed.

I don't know how the final quality would look like once recorded back out
again, to VCR via the ADVC-100's OUT, but I wouldn't use it. It's one thing
to view the OUT, on a TV (w/ resduced or tainted quality) and another, if
you are going to WRITE it out to something, ie, VCR tape.

I experienced this w/ my DC10+ and when I got my ADVC-100, I tried
this out also. Same basic degrade. So, when I really need to, I use my
$230 TBC-100 (not the 1000) and all is perfect (no such thing as perfect,
but who's counting, right ? )

That was my 2-cents worths.
-vhelp

[Bondiablo]

I didn't say it looked great going through the ADVCs analog out, just said it worked. Though going from VCR to VCR never looks great. I don't think it looks any worse than making a VHS copy with your average set of cables.

[Bondiablo]

CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRAP. Well for the video this has been a great option but I just noticed some random audio distortions. I'm getting sort of a crackling/buzzing sound. It seems to start right during/after particularly loud scenes but not always. Also, I can always get the audio to go screwy by bringing up the VCRs on screen menu but it stops as soon as the menu goes away so that's not really important. I can use the exact same setup with my old VCR and get no audio problems, just the video isn't as good. Any Ideas? Hope I can still return this VCR. For the video part it played back so well though, even old tapes.

JVC SVHS HR-S9911U > 6' Acoustic Research High Performance Pro Series RCA A/V cables > ADVC-100 > 6' Generic Firewire cable > NEC OHCI Compliant Firewire card > Scenalyzer Live = Excellent Video/ Unreliable Audio

Aging Go-Video DDV9750 > 6' Acoustic Research High Performance Pro Series RCA A/V cables > ADVC-100 > 6' Generic Firewire cable > NEC OHCI Compliant Firewire card > Scenalyzer Live = Mediocre Video (Bad Video on Old Tapes)/ Excellent Audio

[Mistress Diana]

Question for filmjax. I am getting ready to try to copy some of my old VHS tapes to DVD, and am looking for hints as to how to start the procedure. Are you recording the tapes to CD-R discs, or what? I have all the hardware, and now just need some info on software, as much freeware as possible.

Thanks

[Bob W]

The best VCR I have ever had and the only one I know that has a s-video output is the JVC HR-S2901U. The playback on this VCR is so good I went back and re-captured a bunch of movies (not available on DVD yet) that I had already converted to DVD.