Most Recommended PAL VCR on VCRShop?

[haoyangw]

Hi there, been constantly checking vcrshop.nl stocks and cross checking with the VCR Buying Guide to decide on a VCR to get for my family's old SP PAL VHS tapes. I'm currently getting my first VCR, so I'm searching for a quality JVC deck and testing it with my tapes before maybe getting a second, depending on how they playback. Unfortunately, the only ones on the recommended list I could find were from the S8xxx/S9xxx series, which I hope to avoid because of the dying Dynamic Drum systems, and the SR-S388E, which I cannot really find much (positive) information online on.
From what I read that device has a frame TBC that can defeat anti-copy mechanisms(fake video errors! wow for a digital era person it's an interesting concept), and all the other important features(picture filters, TBC+DNR), but it doesn't have all the filters like the other recommended models, and also doesn't have a sharpness slider? And does anyone know if it has a Dynamic Drum too(sorry I really don't know how to check this. Instruction manual?)
Other than that, I only know that it's best to get models from the Sx600+ onwards(cannot recall the exact reason, but seems to be the general rule, though can be exceptions which I don't know sorry), so I found the following S7xxx series models on vcrshop.nl:
-JVC HR-S7700EU/HR-S7711EU/HR-S7722EU (read that these are very similar models? so should be all the same for capturing)
-JVC HR-S7950EU
-JVC HR-S9850EU(read that this doesn't have the Dynamic Drum system unlike the NTSC version, S9911U?)

Besides that, there's also the JVC HR-S8850EU and JVC HR-S8960EU which aren't on the recommended list but has all the important features too. Do these have the Dynamic Drum system though? Or should I contact the seller via email if he/she is willing to help implement latreche34's dynamic drum mod to disable the system and get one of the recommended S9xxx models(or the above two S8xxx models if they have all the features? kinda hope to save a bit of budget as my family ain't very picky about quality and the recommended S9xxx models are a lot more expensive)?
Just in case though(if the seller isn't able to help implement the mod), out of the above S7xxx models + S9850EU, which would be the most recommended(if it's possible to rank, I know it really depends on my tapes and needs but any general recommendations is fine! I just need a decent quality, no need it to be perfect as my parents already have deteriorating eyesight/hearing due to age unfortunately)? Assuming the S9850EU doesn't have a Dynamic Drum system, otherwise I prefer not to have to deal with the possibility of it failing(anyway, it's lower quality than the rest due to cost-cutting in the final years of JVC VCRs I read?)

Thanks so much! Really appreciate any input at all, and would love to hear others' experience with any of the above models, or any models you have that's available on vcrshop.nl. I apologise if this question is getting repetitive but I'm not sure where else to get PAL VCRs, and vcrshop.nl doesn't have most of the recommended models

Aside, I would really appreciate any advice at all on my other thread on VCR/TBC long-term maintenance as I'm really worried about these ancient equipment dying on me, especially the TBC which is so rare and expensive nowadays. Thanks again

[hodgey]

The HR-Sx500 models are generally fine, they lack the extra picture mode settings of the later models and only have EDIT on/off, while later ones (even the lower-end ones that are standard vhs and actual JVC decks) have a picture setting that can be auto/norm, edit, soft and sharp (only some models). I've never found any use for the soft and sharp settings though, but YMMV. I generally prefer to use EDIT for standard VHS as auto tends to overdo noise reduciton, and auto for SVHS tapes. The auto setting seems to vary little between tape and vcrs though. The PAL 7500 does not feature a TBC, while the 8500 and 9500 do, all 3 feature the dynamic drum system. On later lineups (other than possibly some of the SECAM/multi-system variants) the 7xxx and up models featured the TBC.

When comparing I actually preferred my 8500 to the Philips VR1100 (aka nearly the same as the hr-s77xx) as the latter causes drop-out compensated lines to not line up well. (My cheaper HR-J681 acts similarly, and my Panasonic NV-HS870 that has a related video IC also does this, don't remember with my S8600 while my very late XVS20 does not have this issue.) Not sure if it's inherent to the models, or just me being unlucky.

The difference in video circuits between the 7xxx, 8xxx, and 9xxx variants of a lineup from x6xx+ seems to be hat some of the 9xxx ones has a 4 mb 3D digital board instead of a 2mb one, but I don't know if that has any impact on normal impact or if it's just for being able to do more stuff when searching or whatever, otherwise it's pretty much the same (if not counting secam/multi-system variants). The base video IC seems to be shared between all SVHS models and a also lot of the hi-fi standard VHS ones, with the SVHS ones adding the extra SVHS and digital stuff on top. Some of the older ones also have "digital 3R" sharpening, which can sharpen edges a bit.

The very late models use a different mechanism (of which I don't think there is a dynamic drum variant) but I'm not sure that has much impact on playback. I believe the ones that have dynamic drum typically say on the front, JVC offered it on less models as time went on.

The list isn't entirely exhaustive as you noticed, though all the S7xxx, S8xxx, S9xxx from Sx6xx and on (other than maybe a few multi-system/SECAM variants) do as far as I know feature TBC/DNR, while the lower end models without it started with a lower number. None of the pre Sx500 consumer models released in the west feature a TBC as far as I know (but there are some Japan-only models that do.)