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Originally Posted by Clubberlang
I have spent countless hours looking for a "unicorn" TBC VCR for a low price to no avail.
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The days of cheap+best are long gone -- not that those really existed to begin with. Yes, in the early 2010s, there was a glut of this "old VHS tech" (not!) being tossed out by organizations. Supply and demand drove down pricing artificially post-recession, but fizzled out by 2015/6.
So it's either
(a) pay for quality,
(b) try to assemble budget options, but understanding there are quality hits, caveats, quirks, nuisances
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I am ready to just buy something reasonable and pair it with Panasonic ES10-ES15 pass through for psuedo TBC. The last step will be building my ATI all in Wonder AGP/Windows XP machine.
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Depending on sources, sometimes you can skate by with acceptable results. At least better than plain VHS VCR, no TBC of any kind. So it's is an upgrade, just not ideal.
I don't know anything about the existing quality of the family videos I will be capturing. They are all on VHS,
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and some of the original may be available on Hi8 Cassete. (The camcorder still works and I am assuming I could always pass that through the ES10/15 as well).
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That would be ideal. Hi8 copied to VHS never looks great. Yes, ES10/15 should pair. Depends on camera. If the camera has line TBC, it will be better for those tapes. Then the ES10/15 only acts as non-TBC frame sync, and can be extremely hit-or-miss, especially since Hi8/Video8 tend to drop excessive frames.
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Here are my options:
JVC HR-S2915U @ $100 CAD "local" pickup (hour drive each way)
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That's realy the only option here, everything else is ancient, or crap, or both. The only issue is now whether it works properly. At very least, you need to take a portable TV, and a retail fodder tape that doesn't matter if eaten. Does it play, does it not? At least you can see if it plays SP flawlessly. Note that it may play LP or EP/SLP horribly, so that's the risk of "local pickup" options. You're essentially risking $100 CAD. Understand you're gambling here, not buying. eBay is actually safer than local pickups (almost no exceptions), and eBay is also gambling.
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Originally Posted by hodgey
JVC HR-S2915U and JVC HR-S3902U are all pretty similar afaik,
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Correct. The 29xx is essentially identical to 39xx and 59xx JVC decks. It looks the same as SR-V101, but actually isn't. There's also a Panasonic rebadge of the 59xx. These are all very plastic decks, and tend to work perfectly, or not at all. There's rarely any middle ground. Sadly, due to plastic nature, and low prosumer pricing, these decks are bad condition more than not. So proceed carefully.
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If you have the original on hi8, that will give much better quality than a vhs dub.
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Worth repeating.
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Originally Posted by Clubberlang
it seems like the HR-S2915U @ $100 is the best budget option then? I am picking up my ES10/15 in the next week or so so I will take a look at what I can find on Hi8. Thanks!
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ES10/15 (which exact are you getting, 10 or 15) tend to also work perfectly, or not at all (LCD error messages, DVD drive noises). So these can be easier to test. You must get the remote for it, otherwise you'll have problem. You cannot use a generic/universal, and replacements are harder to come by (with many fake auctions on eBay, Chinese sellers that send out random generic remotes).
With gas being the price it is, I have to wonder if you're really saving money. Also time = money, or at least it has non-monetary value.
