Reselling value of VCRs?

[enas.nikos]

Hi,
I am still in dilemma, about which VCR to buy. I have some candidates, good VCRs according to the forum. I would like to ask your opinion about the following though:

- Will the VCR I buy, have a reselling value afterwards? I mean , after being used for half a year, maybe it will need again refurbishing, or go complete bad.

- The more expensive models are the pro-sumer or pro ones. So I assume that they are used so much in the past, by pros to capture hundrends of tapes. Doesn't this make them more worn out than the less "popular" ones? Do refurbishing really fix them?

Thanks

[lordsmurf]

Depending on multiple factors, the most important being does it work correctly, gear resell is typically from 50% to 150% of value. (Yes, that means you could actually profit from it.)

Your logic on past usage is not sound.
- consumer decks are actually more abused that pro decks (kids with PB&J sandwiches, Legos, etc),
- while prosumer were best kept by hobbyists and non-studio (non-24/7) pros,
- with pro decks (and using broadcast mastery sources, not home sources) being equally as abused as consumer decks

Nobody (that knows what they're doing) wants low-end VHS decks, or high-end pro decks, with few exceptions.

[dpalomaki]

A big unknown with most consumer/prosumer class VCRs is head condition/remaining life. In general, manufacturers maintenance schedules recommend head replacement after 2000 hours of use (total of record, playback, and pause time). Not a lot of use for professional users, and professional units generally had usage timers in them. For home users it represents an hour a day for 5.5 years, and the units were throw-a-ways so no usage clocks (saved a few dimes in cost).

[lordsmurf]

I think the "2000 hours" is somewhat ridiculous, a seemingly random average number. Lots of variables can change that to 500 hours or 5000 hours. Tape conditions, usage conditions, environmental conditions, maintenance. My oldest JVC decks from the late 1990s have seen well over 2000 hours, and have heads that are still in A+ condition.