LiteOn / JVC DVD recorders for VHS transfer?
 

No hacks for JVC. The JVC quality is better than LiteOn. JVC uses true VBR, LiteOn use CVBR (constrained VBR).

For the JVC units, everything is on the remote. Without a remote, it barely functions as a DVD player.

Maybe. It's a model that came out after I quit paying attention to LiteOn units. Near the end, LiteOn released a lot of various models, with many of them being tied to a specific store. The supplies were limited, and it became a chore to keep up with them all.

The information you seek has largely disappeared -- a weakness of the Internet age. Much of our information on DVD recorders was acquired by:

• Buying/using/testing a unit (including dismantling it to see what components were inside). Some notes were lost in 2005, though I do remember many things from 2002-2005 that are no longer in the collection.
• Reading press releases, white papers, and other documents from the manufacturer -- often from their official websites. Many of these documents are now gone.
• We know people. Lurking in various places online are engineers, product designers, etc -- and we've build relationships with them through the years, sometimes getting an inside scoop on the gear.

• Older Magnavox decks were crap, to put it nicely. (Up through 2007.)
• Newer Magnavox decks can record off television nicely, often being Philips clones or near-clones.

No Magnavox deck to date has the kinds of filters that remove noise from VHS tapes.

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Hi
I just bought the JVC DR-MV1S for about what the liteons sell for, I know there is all the vcr guts inside and you said it records better quality than the liteons and have read the "loading issues" but would you take that unit over the liteon? I am thinking longevity as well as performance?
Thanks

I would go for the LiteOn, because it has better quality. Almost any kind of longevity issue you face with a JVC can be repaired, be it capacitors on boards, or a new DVD burner -- assuming it even breaks down.