Views on Panasonic 433 vs JVC drmh300s

[chris.newbold]

Ok, not even remotely identical I know!

Having read these forums it seems JVC or pioneer is the way to go. I'm put off panny becaue of reports of substandard mpeg encoding and sync problems with vcr transfers. I already have sky plus and even if I got rid of it would probably get a twin freeview pvr for most of my watching and time shifting, so sophisticated HDD functions aren't necessary - in that sense the JVC is overkill. However it is the only jvc combi with RGB in as far as I can see, which is why I'm considering it.

My needs are to get as good quality vhs transfers as poss with pic cleaned up, probably to then re-author on a pc. Also good quality (rgb) from sky plus. Ultimately I would want it just to put things on dvd. The hard disk would just be for editing convenience and being able to dump a load of programmes off sky plus in one go overnight.
JVC seems best for pic cleanup, but I have had it said reliability/build is not good.

Pioneer has better build, and is still very good quality, but may drop frames with vhs transfer? Pioneer is cheaper......
I tend towards JVC but a niggly something is making me reconsider.
Any comments? Anyone done similar with either and has good/bad experiences?

My other even cheaper option is to just get the jvc drm100 recorder being sold very cheap at the mo, but I'm concerned it doesn't seem to have the full range of picture cleanup facilities.. needless to see jvc technical have been clueless when asked about this.

[lordsmurf]

The reliability problems of JVC were confined to a small percentage of the older 2004 line of machines. The 300 is much newer, not made the same in the area where old units had problems, so you're in the clear.

The 100 has everything the 300 does, in terms of the encoding and filtering abilities. The 300 has a hard drive, that is the only difference, the 100 does not.

[chris.newbold]

Cheers. Yeah it was more of a general criticism of JVC I heard - don't last 5 minutes type thing!

Also the documentation for the drm100 says no tbc and no postprocessing (DNR etc) although I know, Lordsmurf, you've queried this in another post..

Has the 100 definitely definitely got RGB in ?

[lordsmurf]

I take it you're in UK? I would think it does. But you'd have to see for yourself. Isn't SCART pretty much the same as RGB?

[chris.newbold]

I am. No, SCART is just a carrier. It can carry RGB or non-RGB.