Hi all,

I've had one of my Panasonic decks go down on me recently, so am continuing my conversions on my JVC HR-S7955. It's reminded me, if anything, that I do prefer the slightly softer picture on JVCs over Panasonics but right now, I'm just not quite able to stretch to one of the JVC 9700s/9600s available from well-reviewed European retailers on eBay.

So I've started looking elsewhere - for a Panasonic NV-HS1000 or equivalent, and have found a Metz 9877 which is said to be a clone of an NV-HS1000. It certainly looks very similar.

But it's not listed on the recommended decks list under PAL - so before I take the plunge, I thought I'd check that there are no sinister reasons for this absence?!

Kind regards to all,

Discy

It's probably just missing, the list hasn't been updated in a while, and it's not an exhaustive list, I think there are some PAL JVCs variations missing as well. I don't think any non-broadcast non-camcorder SVHS vcrs with TBC have explicitly been excluded but I could be wrong. From the brochures it looks pretty much identical to the NV-HS1000 as you've mentioned, so it should be fine provided it's in good condition.
(Though be vary as it seems there is also a Metz 9876 which seems to be the same as the NV-HS800 - which is the same as the NV-HS1000 but without TBC, confusing how metz named them so similarly.)

The JVC HR-S7xxx and S8xxx (fro HR-Sx6xx and newer models, PAL S7500 lacks TBC) are pretty much the same as the eqivialent HR-S9xxx model when it comes to playback, as they shared the same video decoding chips so I'm not sure if they are worth paying extra for over the other ones and come with the dynamic drum system which can break. One difference as far as I know is that some or all the 9xxx ones have more TBC memory, though I'm not sure if it's used for normal playback or just to help with slow or special effects playback.

Thank you for replying. Interesting to read your thoughts on the JVC decks. There's Dynamic Drum on higher-end editions, of course, but the jury seems to be out on whether that makes any difference during playback, or just ff/rewind.

I've ordered the Metz. It's listed as very good condition, and has been serviced. So fingers crossed.

Thanks again,

Discy