Recommend a good VHS to DVD Recorder? JVC?

[samijubal]

aim15011 wrote:

he is intrested in a Toshiba DR400. Good recorder? I told him about the combos and now he rather get a standalone recorder. Whatever will work best for his fight collection.

If he goes for the separate (non-combo) recorder, have him try the $50 Funai sold at Wal*Mart. The problem is, most of the cheaper recorders in stores now are failure-prone junk, including the Toshiba DR-400 and other big names. If your friend is going to buy new, at least Wal*Mart has an extended return policy. Transferring 200 tapes is kind of intensive and he will likely have a recorder fail before he gets thru half of those tapes. I have had very bad luck with current "budget" recorders, so I'd suggest Wal*Mart as the safest retailer given their return policy. Send him there. If they have a Toshiba, great, otherwise have him pick up the Funai.

A recorder fail before 200 discs? A Funai maybe. I did have a used Ebay Toshiba fail in about 9 months, but that was used daily with RWs, sometimes a few hours a day. I've been using the second used Ebay Toshiba for well over a year now and it still works fine. Unless you just get a lemon recorder, it should last well over 200 discs. Just record one disc at a time and let the recorder cool down for awhile before doing another one and you shouldn't have any problems. My sister has a Toshiba she's been using for well over a year now without any problems.

and just curious, have you witness any "dropped frames" using both DVD Recorders? Thats something he defiantly wants to avoid. His last VHS-to-DVD conversion box (Pyro ADS) wasnt too good and dropped so many frames, he returned it the next day.

I've never seen dropped frames in 2 years of using a Toshiba.

[aim15011]

Is the Toshiba great for recording tv shows as well?

He also owns a Sony SLV798HF VCR player.

[lordsmurf]

I would choose a unit with appears to have superior ventilation and air flow.

A power drill and about 20 minutes takes care of this issue. I've done it a few times now.

NOTE: Remember to remove the lid and leave the machine guts far away from a drill. You don't want metal shavings in your fans, on your boards, and in your drives.

Adding a small fan is as easy as a power splitter and a fan, or some basic wire splicing. Do it unplugged, of course. Add a separate on/off switch, or find a power source that cuts with the machine.

[samijubal]

Is the Toshiba great for recording tv shows as well?

He also owns a Sony SLV798HF VCR player.

I record from satellites. It's the best recorder I've seen for my sources. If I look hard I can see a very slight softening of the picture, other than that the recording is virtually identical to the source.