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Originally Posted by fordluvr
Lordsmurf,
I posted the following on the forum but also noticed you may prefer this PM. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
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I wouldn't say I prefer questions via PM. I use several forums online, to share my video advice, but don't always read all posts on all sites. (An impossible task, I would imagine.) I answer all tech PMs here in this forum, because I'll get follow-up emails, if needed. Sometimes people PM me links to threads on other sites, and if a member, I'll often reply there.
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Originally Posted by fordluvr
I've been lurking for some time and am driving myself mad trying to come to a conclusion here. I have a few dozen VHS tapes from the 1980s-early 90s that were recorded mostly with our family's pimpin' shoulder-mounted beast of a camera (make and model are lost to time). Others were recorded from various other sources, at various speeds, using various brands of media. The only things they all have in common are that they are old and in fair shape at best (say, 6 on a 1-10 scale).
Clearly I need a deck that can get the most quality out of these older tapes, especially the ones with moderate-to-severe tracking issues. Based on my lurking of the excellent advice on this site, I have narrowed my choices down to two camps:
- Panasonic AG-1980
- JVS HR-S9900U OR 9911U
My questions to the experts here are simple: based on my specific needs, am I on the right track here and, if so, which one of these should I purchase?
Many thanks in advance, and my apologies if this question has already been answered somewhere herein. |
The JVC VCRs will undoubtedly give a better general picture quality, as compared to the Panasonic decks. The Panasonic image quality is a bit more rough, although still better than pretty much any consumer VHS VCR. You're also not confined to the 9900 or 9911 models, but any decent model from the VCR buying guide at
http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/show...uide-1567.html
The only real reason to own a Panasonic AG1980 VCR is because it can generally track SLP or EP mode recordings better than the JVC can. However, it's not always true. Just in general. Last week, I tried to capture an EP mode recording, and it was awful in the Panasonic -- the JVC tracked it better.
My suggestion is to start with a JVC. If that's not good enough, either add a Panasonic, or simply outsource the bad tapes to a service. The services offered here at The Digital FAQ, for example. In fact, depending on the number of tapes, it may be more cost effective (and less work) to simply outsource the entire project. That's often a better solution than buying capture cards, TBCs, multiple pro VCRs, etc. Do-it-yourself has been overly romanticized in the past decade or so, especially by home improvement shows.
