JVC HRS-9800 or JVC HRS-9900? which is recommended?

[DGinnetty]

I am about to jump into the world of VHS conversion to DVD.
I have the opportunity to purchase either of the two models listed above.

I haven't found a difference in the two models yet, based on what I have read on the internet.

Does anyone happen to know the difference between the two?

I can get either model for almost the same price, and I want to get the best machine I can get for the money (~$400)

Any input would be appreciated

Thanks for reading

Dan Ginnetty
danginnetty8@hotmail.com

[Bob W]

Good question and I want to here the answer as well. I found this JVC HR-S9911U VCR ( http://www.digitalfotoclub.com/sc/main_item.asp?id=964588094&rf=pg&dfdate=01_20_2004 ) for under $400 but what's different about it from the 9800? Where did you find a 9800 available to buy? Every site I find that lists one is out of stock.

[DGinnetty]

http://www.tristatecamera.com/cart.php3?sid=tgwyay0w&baction=add&sku=JVCHRS9900&qty=1&...&cs=store.php3

Here is the link for the 9900.

I am still looking for the 9800.

I am willing to invest $400 for the 9900, but I am still a little unclear at the difference between the two models. I believe that the 9900 has the ghost reduction tuner.

Since no local retailer offeres the 9911, I am stuck ordering off the net. If I am going to take that risk, I am willing to assume the additional risk of a discontinued model like the 9800 or 9900.

Dan Ginnetty

[lordsmurf]

The 9600 was the pinnacle of JVC's S-VHS line.
The 9800 was it's replacement, adding a few features, almost as perfect.
The 9900 is the 9800 with plastics and cheaper parts.
The 9911 is an even more ghetto, bargain-bin version of the 9900.

The 9900/9911 will work as good as the 9800, but wear and tear will happen faster. Be prepared for a repair if you give it daily heavy use.

This is also why it's about $100 cheaper than the 9800 was.

[DGinnetty]

http://www.crazyg.com/jvc/hr_s9800.htm

Here is a link for a refurbished 9800 model

Dan Ginnetty

[DGinnetty]

Thanks for the feedback lordsmurf! I feared as much.

It seems like the 9900 model I located is new, or unused at least. The 9800 model I located has been refurbished by JVC.

Do you think it is worth the risk in getting the refurbished 9800?

I know this VCR will get a TON of use converting my VHS collection to DVD, so I am torn between a new 9900 with cheaper parts or a refurb 9800.

Thanks again for the info.

Great site, BTW

Dan Ginnetty

[lordsmurf]

Go for it. Refurbs are fine on lots of things. I buy refurb'd stuff

[DGinnetty]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will go for a refurb 9800.

With all the great things I have heard about it, I am confident that it will be the best decision for my VHS captures.

I will be frequenting your site as I get my feet wet converting my stuff to DVD.

I have quite a project ahead of me...

Dan Ginnetty

[Bob W]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will go for a refurb 9800.

With all the great things I have heard about it, I am confident that it will be the best decision for my VHS captures.

I will be frequenting your site as I get my feet wet converting my stuff to DVD.

I have quite a project ahead of me...

Dan Ginnetty

Well did you get the 9800? If so tell us how it worked out for you. I may want to get one myself.

[n6nfg]

Yes, I'd like to know if you managed to find a 9800 in stock somewhere. I called about the link posted earlier in this thread http://www.crazyg.com/jvc/hr_s9800.htm and they said they are out of stock, and have been since before Christmas.

Anyone specifically find in stock a JVC 9800 somewhere???

[davideck]

These higher end VCRs show up on EBay now and then. Its worth checking out. Just before Christmas, I grabbed a JVC HR-S7600U for $40 plus shipping. Its a great VCR with built in TBC and is in excellent condition. Sometimes sellers don't always know the value of what they're selling.

[DGinnetty]

Haven't gotten the JVC HR-S9800 yet. Called one place that had a floor model, left an email at 2 other places that aren't open on weekends.

There are a few places that appear to have new, unopened 9800s, but at $550, that is a little steep, even for me.

Still searching Ebay and the net in general for other 9800s that are around. I expect I will pay close to $400 for it, judging by the prices I have seen.

If/when I do get i
t, I will let you know how it works. I still need to get a new video card/capture device, and then I should be ready to starty experimenting!

Dan Ginnetty

[Bob W]

I give up on finding a 9800. Now I'm thinking about getting the JVC HR-S9911U either new from here http://www.digitalfotoclub.com/sc/main_item.asp?id=964588094&rf=pg&dfdate=01_20_2004

or a factory repaired one from this site http://www.refurbdepot.com/productdetails2.cfm?Product_ID=2402&refererid=dealtime

[DGinnetty]

I got my JVC Hr S9800U!!

I was on Ebay last week, and just happened to see one. I found it about 4 hours after it was posted on Ebay.

Minimum bid was $150. I emailed the seller, asking if there was a "Buy it Now" price she had in mind, and how much use it got. She said she used it for 1 year, 2 hours per week (~100 total hours), and she never thought of putting a Buy it Now price. I emailed again, offering $300 for it.

I then left for my 45 minute commute to work. ON the way, I got a reply from her on my textpager, saying that she thought that was a fair price, and she would put $300 as a Buy it Now option on the Ebay item in 5 minutes for me.

I was still 25 minutes from work!

I drove pretty fast to work, and jumped on a computer to find that noone had bid on the VCR yet. I was able to snag it before anyone else did.

I received it yesterday, and it looks to be in perfect condition.

I will test it out in the next few days and see how it works.

To those people searching for HR S9800s, just keep looking on Ebay.
I'm living proof that they still pop up from time to time.

Dan Ginnetty

[awhitney]

Ebay is a great place to find some great JVC vcrs.

I recently got my JVC svhs 7600u vcr from there and works perfectly for my 10-17 year old tapes!

What is the difference between the 7600 and the 9800, besides the 4mb buffer?

Doesn't seem like much of a difference to pay an extra $200

I also got my jvc 7600u vcr for $225 with shipping, sure was a FANTASTIC deal!

[davideck]

I have a 7600U and a 9600U, both aquired on EBay. Apart from the Gold Finish (which looks great), the Ghost Reduction Tuner (hard to tell a difference), and 4MB of Memory instead of 2MB (can't tell any difference), the 9600U seems to operate identically to the 7600U. These JVC units with built in TBC/DNR do a great job of reducing timebase errors and random noise, providing an ideal source for any MPEG encoder.

[tommyoz]

Just wanted to bump on this thread. As I may need it later.

[lordsmurf]

What is the difference between the 7600 and the 9800, besides the 4mb buffer? Doesn't seem like much of a difference to pay an extra $200

They function differently. The more mangled the source, the more apparent the differences become.

But you'd also be correct in assuming not everybody needs the best (9000), they can deal with a step down from it (7000) and still get great results.

[briandugas]

Yes, I'd like to know if you managed to find a 9800 in stock somewhere. I called about the link posted earlier in this thread http://www.crazyg.com/jvc/hr_s9800.htm and they said they are out of stock, and have been since before Christmas.

Anyone specifically find in stock a JVC 9800 somewhere???

I was having this same problem. I thought I found the solution over at www.crazyg.com but I too found out they were out of stock. I got tired of looking for a decent price on a 9800, so I finally just ordered the 9900 (haven't received it yet). I know it's a little cheaper made, but I won't use it that much. I hardly have any conversions to make. But when I do get an old tape, like my parent's old wedding video, I want to get the best possible capture. I wish there was a VCR section on the left hand column of this site, similar to the DVD Players section, so we could all post our opinions on our different VCRs.

[tommyoz]

Let me ask anyone a question. If you had a DVD recorder with TBC like the Panasonic. Would you need a VCR with TBC like the JVC that you guys are talking about.?

[lordsmurf]

Let me ask anyone a question. If you had a DVD recorder with TBC like the Panasonic. Would you need a VCR with TBC like the JVC that you guys are talking about.?

Yes.

[tommyoz]

Yes.

I was afraid of that. My wife is going to kill me.

[dphirschler]

Two questions:

Does the JVC 9000 series VCR enable the TBC for video that is "passing through"?

Is there a multi-format (PAL/NTSC) version of the 9000 series? I've noticed both a HR-S9911 and HR-S9911U in my searches. Is the 'U' for "universal format" or something?


Darryl

[davideck]

dphirschler - The TBC does not correct video that is passing through, only off tape. I believe that the "U" indicates units for USA distribution.

lordsmurf - so is there a test that I can do to see a difference beween my 7600U and my 9600 ?????

[davideck]

Let me ask anyone a question. If you had a DVD recorder with TBC like the Panasonic. Would you need a VCR with TBC like the JVC that you guys are talking about.?

tommyoz - it depends on the quality of your source and the quality of your VCR. For SP tapes in good condition, an older JVC VCR (4900U, 5800U, 6800U, 6900U) is capable of providing a very stable high quality output that the TBC within the DVD recorder should be able to handle.

I mainly use the JVC TBC for older tapes and EP tapes. The DNR introduces its own artifacts, and a good quality tape may look better without it.

[tommyoz]

tommyoz - it depends on the quality of your source and the quality of your VCR. For SP tapes in good condition, an older JVC VCR (4900U, 5800U, 6800U, 6900U) is capable of providing a very stable high quality output that the TBC within the DVD recorder should be able to handle.

How do you feel about the 3800U for SP tapes? which is the one I presently own. Unfortunately, I have more EP tapes than SP.

[davideck]

tommyoz - it depends on the quality of your source and the quality of your VCR. For SP tapes in good condition, an older JVC VCR (4900U, 5800U, 6800U, 6900U) is capable of providing a very stable high quality output that the TBC within the DVD recorder should be able to handle.

How do you feel about the 3800U for SP tapes? which is the one I presently own. Unfortunately, I have more EP tapes than SP.

I have a 3600, which has the same basic transport assembly as the 7600 and 9600. I think that the 3800 was the next years model with essentially the same transport.This transport is not as stable as the one in the 6800. I have tested this using a multiburst pattern which provides lots of vertical lines. These lines are straight as an arrow with the 6800, but waiver a bit with the 3600.

Having said that, I recently compared an EP capture with my 6800 to one with my 7600, and the TBC/DNR in the 7600 provided a significant improvement, particularly with respect to vertical stability.

[lordsmurf]

lordsmurf - so is there a test that I can do to see a difference beween my 7600U and my 9600 ?????

Not really. One of my friends uses the 7900 all the time. Every now and then he'll ask me to do a tape on my 9800 because the 7900 refused to cooperate. The DNR is higher on the 9800 TBC, and the picture is more stable because of the higher RAM buffer. But again, only notice this on degraded sources.

The TBC only works on tape playback, no passthrough.

The 3800-5900 may be good if the source is pretty decent or only has minor flaws. Then the recorder's TBC will kick in to do a bit more. It depends on the source. I may have jumped the gun there saying "yes" and nothing else. Avoid the 2900 models!

I have two 3800's. One is little more than a paperweight that cannot record, playback often problematic. The other one records great, but the gears squeal while playing (I deal with it). And it likes to eat tapes after a few hours of playing. It hates non-JVC, non-TDK tapes too. Maxell, Sony = meal to be eaten. They were great for about 1-2 years (1999-2000). For the past few years, they've been really bad to work with, taken them in for repairs at least 3-4 times each. One of them had heavy usage (dozen hours per day), the other medium use (an hour per day). Were $200 apiece at the time.

Outside of tearing, I've never seen DNR/TBC artifacts. And the DNR/TBC cannot always offset jitter, main reason I added my TBC-1000 (which elimated jitter).

[tommyoz]

I recently compared an EP capture with my 6800 to one with my 7600, and the TBC/DNR in the 7600 provided a significant improvement, particularly with respect to vertical stability.

Yea I was afraid of that also. I just started getting into standalone recording. Up to now I did everything on my PC. I was looking for a faster way to get my projects completed but the more I read the more I want to spend. Good thing tax time is here.

However, no matter how you look at it whether PC or standalone, I think I need one these VCR's.

[lordsmurf]

On tapes I made with the 3800, I can just use the 3800 to playback. For anything commercial, I use the TBC setup. For anything homemade (but not made on 3800), I must use the 9800 90% of the time .. other 10% is relegated to a Sharp VHS, Magnavox VHS or the JVC 3800 (often using SIMA SED-CM with it).

I mean, the 3800 is nice step up from VHS, but still a far cry from the 7900/9800 players.