JVC SVHS HR-S9900U for sale [SOLD]
 

From dealing with DIGITAL FAQ in the past, and selling VCR's in this market place before. The JVC 9900U is a top of the line VCR that is highly recommended. It is one of the BEST VCR's you can purchase. It is perfect for doing your VHS to DVD/Digital, record or even play tapes.

All transaction are done via paypal, the VCR will ship out with in a day of the purchase, send me a PM here on DIGITAL FAQ with your email address to send you the invoice.

Have a few of these units for sale, in which I went through and did VCR maintenance on. aka Head Cleaning, dust removal, normal wear and tear repairs. The units all work really well, everyone gives off a uniform picture unlike the AG1980 which differs machine to machine.

Cosmetically, these units were used is a professional shop, being stack on top of another, so they have a few
scratches and nicks on the outward case. However this doesn't affect the playback of the unit.

Selling off 3 of these units, the price includes shipping, if you live in Canada, the rate changes and will have to adjust the price.

All units work, load and come with a fully working remote as well. (You need a remote for these machines).

Unit #1, has the most scratches and nicks and selling at a discount, $350
Units #2 & 3, are Cosmetically in better shape, and play tapes GREAT, $450

(This is from dealing with many JVC decks over the years, be careful loading tapes in an out of the machines, the loading mechanism on the JVC decks are the biggest problem you face, unlike the AG-1980 in which you need to rebuild the entire machine.)

Best settings to use to get the best results

Video Stabilization - Off
Picture - Edit
Audio - HI-FI (Problem tape with bad audio use the norm feature)
Digital R3 - Hit or Miss, test out on each tape which looks better
Picture Calibration - Off
Superimpose - Off
TBC - make sure the light is on, it the green light on the front of the VCR

The HR-S9900U is the top-of-the-line JVC S-VHS video recorder. It features an advanced ghost reduction tuner, and a new video navigation feature to easily locate your favorite recordings. Super VHS with a 4MB Digi Pure System, 19 Micron Heads & "ET" mode provide JVC's best picture, and the high resolution recording with any tape. High resolution Super VHS and VHS

Super VHS ET Recording
19 micron width EP Heads
DigiPure Technology w/ TBC and 4MB Frame Memory
Dynamic Drum w/ TimeScan and Pro-Slow

Good deck. :congrats:

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Very interesting. Is it just the JVCs you have at the moment ? Are you an engineer ? The reason I ask is because I was wondering if I could order a different NTSC model from Ebay and have it sent directly to you for servicing or repair (I am thinking of a JVC pro S-VHS/DVD combi). I am based in the UK. Many thanks.

These are the best JVC decks, I have an MV5, and only use the DVD recorder the VCR is worthless.

If you want a good VCR these JVC decks are the best. You need a stand alone unit.

Yes I can repair stuff, like my own JVC DRM10S DVD Recorder has a messed up laser, and I can't find another replacement part. Until than it stays broken...That is what you deal with old electronics. Have had trouble with some of these DVD combo units before, and again never used the VCR part.

I think I saw a thread in which you once did extensive work on a Panasonic AG-1980. Are your JVCs in that category, like capacitor replacements, etc ? Btw, I bow to your overall wisdom on the combi units, but I think there are a few JVC models which bear the magic words S-VHS, TBC and Digipure - are those a no-go too ? Thanks again.

Yes, I offered this service over on Video Help, over the years I fixed a few of the members AG 1980's. It does take more than a few months per unit. It is not as simple as just replacing caps, to get the machines in perfect working order. You basically rebuild the machines. It is high end, old school electronics. However the membership over the last few years never wanted to pay for rebuilding a unit. For me to sit, than buy AG-1980's, fix them and sell them, is a waste of time. Nobody will pay for the complete service. Like $800 to $1,000 a machine.

I had a JVC 7800 and SV1 and the other models as well, once you get to the 9000 series. It is a new game, these units are a step above those really good JVC VCR's. I have seen no difference in like the 9500, 9800 and 9900 they all produce the same type of picture. However to me, the 9900 seems to be the best, that is just my opinion.

As long as you take care of these machines, provide some service, good maintenance, they will run for a long time. Just happen to have a lot of these units at the current time, 7 in total, and selling three of for now. Yes maintenance and cleaning has been done to everyone of these units.

Besides loading issues with JVC decks; the electronic and setup in the machines are a lot more to the point. It does what it needs to do, and produces a top level picture. You don't have to go in and replace capacitors. The machines perform in a unified mode, meaning the same from machine to machine. Just recorded the same VHS video from the 9800 and than used the 9900 to patch an area and the playback was identical.

This is my current setup. On this listing I will sell a 9900 off my rack cause they all run the same.

MS100 JVC recorder
9900 JVC
Panasonic EZ27
MV5 recorder
9900 JVC
AG 1980
Panasonic Broadcast Deck

On this video sample, doing everything this website promotes

Using a JVC SVHS 9900
Recordings with DS100

For the work I do, have to make edits, so re-coded the mpeg2 One time, masked out the scans lines by using chroma keying. Cut the video, left it normal meaning, mpeg2, 720x480 29.97 frames per second, 384K audio. You have no drop frames, no videos errors, this tape is over 21 years old, recorded from the cartoon network.

You are not really going to get much better quality out of a 21 year old tape, recorded in SLP mode from regular TV.

Yes the AG-1980 is a great machine and on some tapes it does a better job than the JVC decks. That is in the eyes of the viewer. Both are top of the line VCR's. As stated you need to rebuild AG1980 units. Pulling a few caps and replacing them doesn't fix the VCR. You are talking about hundreds of dollars in repair costs, that is if you actually find someone who is willing and knows how to fix them. These JVC decks are good to go, no work needed....

Sorry for the delay in response, and thank you very much for taking the trouble to post the sample (which looked great by the way). My only regret is that deep down, I know that if I buy a JVC from you, I'll never ever be able to justify getting an AG-1980 as well, but yes please, I would like to purchase the JVC machine if that is OK with you. If the $350 one is intact and as robust as the others, I'll maybe take that, otherwise I'd be very pleased to take one of the others (your further advice welcome). I'm in the UK and I'm assuming the machine is 110V only, so if you know of a good quality power converter that would be good, otherwise I'll find one anyway. If you could let me know shipping and how to proceed further please.

I've seen Lordsmurf's DVD recorder list, and the JVCs seem hard to source at this time (the JVC DR-MH300 seems like the one to have !). The Panasonic ES-20 also had the LSI chip and there seem to be plenty of those around - do you have any experience of that one ? I hope it would be okay as long as I stick to 2 hours or less, since Lordsmurf condemns it at the 4 hour setting.

No need to rush the order, since I assume you'll probably be relaxing over Christmas/New Year, so I'll wait at your convenience. Many thanks.

The ES series has several quirks. I almost never use it to record, keeping it for passthrough work.
But, then again, the JVC LSI series have some quirks, too.

The DR-M100S is my favorite. I don't much care for HDD units, as HDD failure tends to tank an otherwise-good deck from functioning. I use a Zoran chipset RCA for off-air (not tape!) recordings, and the HDD lifespan always worries me. Most HDD recorders are bricks when the HDD dies, even if the DVD drive is still fine.

The JVC 9900 will be a quality deck. The 9600/9800/9900 are all nice.

The ideal trifecta is the AG-1980, the 9600-9900, and a SR-V10. They're all different enough to deal with about 99% of all tapes altogether.

And deter has always proven himself competent and pleasant to work with. :congrats:

Thanks Lordsmurf, and Happy Christmas. And as if to prove your point, right on cue there is currently a JVC DR M 100SU on Ebay for $595.00 where they quote digitalfaq in the description.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JVC-DR-M-100...oAAOSwc3ZUoL3N

$595? :eek:

But then again, if the seller is honest, all bad caps have been replaced. I'd only pay that if he used solid non-liquid caps. If you have a lot of tapes, and need peace of mind that it will last, then I'd do it. But again, only if not wet caps. (And remember that solid caps make it less resilient to spikes, so it MUST be a good 1500W type UPS, not a wimpy "surge" or even wimpy UPS!)

If he used wet, or missed a cap, then a future repair need is likely. When those boards go, it's like dominos, maybe delayed. One failure cascades, sometimes slowly.

Yes, the price is too high for me and the repairs are an unknown, but I just thought it was amusing they referenced this site. According to a database on an AVS Forum thread, the LSI chip continued into some Panasonic models as late as 2009 where it was relabelled to Magnum in some cases. The reason why I am considering a Panasonic (like ES-20 or EA-18) is a reluctant compromise because they seem more readily available and lower prices, but still have the chip.

The MS100, has an extra filter in the machine that gives a very natural gloss look to VHS recordings, it makes them look better. It does kick the Audio / Video sync off by like 3 fields. Which you can get away with.

I have seen Toshiba machines kick them off by 7, and when people talk it looks like a Chinese Kung Fu movie.

Used the MV5 for years had 3 or 4 of them with spare drives. The JVC MV series in my opinion, is better than the Panasonic units with macro blocking. VHS & Betamax they are much better recordings.

Digital is a matter of opinion, to me it is a better image but the Panasonic is sharper. On the JVC MV5 you get slight overscan on the far right which you will not see on the TV but will notice on the computer. The bottom black bars records as a lighter shade of black, you only see this again on the computer. The Panasonic EZ27 crops the overscan, it also crops VHS tapes as a passthrough. It will cut scan lines at the bottom out. However you need to output the picture with lighter or darker black levels. Both these units have perfect audio / video sync. For video play back the Panasonic is a lot better with HDMI outputs with an up convert feature. The JVC units only ever record with. When recording I only use s-video.

The JVC DVD recorders are plagued with the "Loading Issue" , which can mean different things. Most important is to make sure they can record and finalized discs. However on memorex dvd -r, if you record the entire disc they will not finalize. Verbatim dvd-r, works best.

The MS100 if the drive is in good shape (no way of checking) is worth it and no loading issues per say. Theses are older machines and hard to find. Normally you will find some one just selling one off and it is 50 % 50 if you get a good unit. So test it out....

That is, if you haven't bought or watched a new TV since 1998 and are clueless about disabling overscan. People have been dealing with SMPTE 4:3 704-pixel phenomena for years now without damaging their videos, so you might want to look into it. Let's start by getting our terminlogy up to spec. Tapes don't have overscan. TV's do.

Semantics.
- The TV (HD or SD) overscans, yes.
- But the reason it overscans? The tape/signal has noise or missing data in those areas.

I've referred to that area as "the overscan" (in multiple contexts) since the late 90s. Same for many, many others. Rarely do they distinguish "overscanning" (process of TV) with "overscan area" (edges of signal, be it tapes or broadcast). It's simply "the overscan".

I've always hated "TV safe area/zone", as that's actually more confusing than "overscan".

The only DVD recorder that I've ever seen with almost perfect IRE is the Zoran chipset. Everything, even the LSI, are about -/+, but that's not horrible. Most of the Panasonic and Philips decks are like -/+10. The earliest Panasonic were like 20, and washed everything out really badly.

The JVC models also vary, even unit to unit.

The ATI Theatre 100-200 chipsets are about perfect as well. The Zoran is about as close to the ATI AIW as I'd ever seen, and it's the reason that I have the RCA Zoran-based HDD recorder for off-air.

sanlyn.

Those pictures are from Digital recordings from HD feed to the DVD recorders, not VHS tapes. Record a bunch of video each year. Plus have tons of recorded Digital videos sent, so have witness all different types of capture machines and devices. We are getting way off topic about what this post is about. However how one converts your VHS tapes to digital is important. Everyone does it different. Lot of people just record massive AVI files to the computer than have to convert to another format. Personally feel the DVD recorder is the easiest and best way too get good mpeg2 coded video. People are buying VHS to DVD programs using USB ports and wondering why they get poorly coded video, dropped frames, audio / video sync issues, horrible macro blocking, poor bit-rates and ect. Than they use really bad VCR's as well.

5 or 6 years ago with the help of Lord Smurf, decided to record everything in FR80 mode to get the most out of a DVD-R. Lord Smurf was the expert who trained me, all of his advise for VHS was the best help. For all my VHS to DVD stuff use the LSI chip set in those DVD recorders be it the MV series or the MS100.

So if you want be of help in this post about the JVC9900, explain to people the methods you use to capture VHS recordings. I think that will help people. Cause someone buys a fully working AG1980 or a High End JVC 9000 series, now what?

Oh yes indeed. I have always wondered about audio drift, because once video and audio leave the VCR through independent cables, how can any level of drift be assessed or measured ? (Presumably drift is worsened by any extra devices in the chain like external TBCs or proc amps).

Deter, do you need further details from me to process the sale ?

To order one of these VCR's send me a PM, with an email address and will send out an invoice via paypal. What I am doing right now, is once you get the VCR, test it for 14 days, if you don't like it, ship it back for a full refund, but you pay the return shipping.

About the audio video sync, that is why I wrote what I did above, cause the avg person doesn't pick up on this nor do they know how to re-sync audio streams, it is kind of a pain. The MV5 has perfect audio / video sync and same with the Panasonic EZ27.

Going through an extra device that doesn't carry audio could off sync it by a frame or two depending, I have not tested all devices have tested the same recording of broadcasts done by three different people on 3 different machines and matched up frame for frame. Have found audio video sync differences on the same broadcast.

The cables are also important, I just got a few S-video cables at Radio Shack they seem to be good for S-video. For audio just don't use cheap 50 cent cables. This is what I use, never had any issues.

- Yes, let's not hijack this thread. It's marketplace, to sell stuff.
- PM deter to buy.
- Same here, cheap s-video is often fine. Quality cables needed for composite, RCA, component.
- Audio sync is never 100% perfect, even on the tape. It's recorded separately, after all. Being off by 1-3 frames, in a hardware workflow, is not atypical, nor noticeable even to a trained eye.

Again, good VCR here, good person to deal with. :congrats:

And PM-ed ! Thanks very much.

Ok thank you everybody; sold out of all three units.

Everything will ship out today!

Will sell one more unit, at $450, free shipping in the United States

Ok the last unit was sold off to a guy in California.

Because these sold off so well, I am going to do more, the shipping to California was more than some of the others, well the England unit, shipping was like $125, but I couldn't cover that.

Right now I have one more unit for sale, the price is now $475. That is cause I am getting in more units that each one will need to be fixed, that cost can be high depending.

In the future I may do AG1980 units, however my costs to fix these are a lot. I just did an AG1970 which the audio jacks were outputting no sound, and rebuild an AG 1980 unit. For a guy over at Video Help.

Here is what I found, I can't sell these for like $400 or $500 cause of my costs of buying them and than rebuilding them, so the costs on those are going to be $700 to $1,000.

Even over at video help, nobody want to spend money to have them fixed. One guy offered me $100, my costs are higher than that.

For example on the AG1970 unit that was just repaired, it had some loading issues, and over time the plastic part that was in question could break, now I don't have parts to go in an replace broken gears in an old AG 1970 machine and you can't buy these parts. So you have to make do. On this, just re-centered the alignment of the tape loading mechanism to allow the tape to load in properly.

Did a few examples over at video help; fixing tape loading issues. Used a JVC 9900 and 9800 for the examples, did this all on the fly.

Hi Deter: I have no idea about any of this stuff. But I have around 50 to 100 VHS tapes in my garage that I've finally gotten around to cleaning out. These tapes are 30 to 10 years old. I'm ready to digitalize them. I've purchased an Elganto Video adapter and was trying to use an old VCR to transfer them, but the quality is really poor. Would purchasing one of your machines do the trick? If so, I would like to have one. If not, can you offer any guidance?

PS: I also have a bunch of old 8mm movies and Super8 I have no idea how to digitalize them and would appreciate any guidance you can offer.

PPS: Please don't ask me to read other forum posts as I've been reading them for three days now and the only result is that my head is spinning. I just need someone to give me a simple, basic, step 1, step 2, step 3. I'm not going to make this my life's work, I'm just wanting to preserve some precious memories before it's too late.

Elgato makes many capture devices. You don't specify which one, but most of them are not recommended for capturing analog tape. You also haven't revealed your PC operating system, which is important.

If by "8mm movies" you mean 8mm film, you can have them transferred to digital format by contacting a service that performs optical film transfer. If you mean 8mm analog tape, you need a camera that can play 8mm tape. Same for Video 8.

A list of recommended VCRs: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...ing-guide.html.

Asking for a complete rundown of digitizing analog tapes is off-topic for this thread, which most restoration and capture readers will likely bypass and never read. You should start a new thread and describe the problems you're having. To say that the quality you're getting is "bad" with your Elgato isn't surprising, but it doesn't give enough information to work with.

Thanks Sanlyn:

I believe the Elgato I have is the Elgato Video Capture Data USB 2.0. I purchased it because I read on another forum that it was highly recommended for what I was trying to do--now you're saying it's not recommended. No wonder I want to just hold my head and cry.

I can either use my PC running Windows 7 or my sons Apple Notebook. Sorry, I'm not tech savvy enough to give more detail than that.

Yes, I mean 8mm and Super8 film. I was hoping I could buy some equipment and do the transfer myself as I have far too many films (and too many of them are just junk, but it will take time to figure out which are worthwhile and which aren't.)

I have read through the Buying guide many times and it only makes my head spin. Plus, I realize it will not be perfect no matter what I do. And even if I decide on one of them I have no clue where/how to buy them and ensure I'm not getting ripped off. I guess what I'm really asking for is for someone to hold my hand. (Yes I'm an old geezer who doesn't do well with technology.)

At this point, I have an ancient 4 head Panasonic VCRplus that's been sitting in my garage for over 15 years and makes a whining noise as it plays so I was just looking for a basic, all purpose do-it-yourself VCR that would give me a slightly better chance of success.

Really appreciate your feedback.

OK, l since you don't know how to start a new thread....I'm an old geezer myself, and I started with 360 hours of VHS tape a while back, which probably added 10 more years to my geezer qualifications aside from what a calendar would tell you.

I assume the Elgato device you refer to is this: https://www.elgato.com/en/video-capture. You cannot use this device to capture to a DVD format, if that's what you're aiming for. If you don't understand basic formats, you're in trouble. It captures to a lossy h.264 format, which is not designed for editing without reducing quality. What you're getting now is as good as it will ever get with that device and the player you have now.

If you're uinhappy with that VCR (the whining noise means it probably won't make it to the finish line), all you can do is try to find one in better condition. I take it you have no line-level TBC, which you definitely need for better quality if nothing more than to stop scanline sync noise, which you're definitely getting with an out of shape VCR, and which looks mighty bad, and which can't be repaired after capture. Better players are available, but they're not cheap and you likely won't find one in good condition from auction sites or the likes of Craigslist. One recommended seller is TGrantPhoto, who rebuilds Panasonic, JVC, and occasionally other VCR brands to a high quality standard. This is precision work, not like the corner radio-tv shop, so it isn't cheap. His machines are listed as "professional", but in fact they are classed as prosumer machines -- don't let that throw you off, because a prosumer machine plays consumer video at pro quality. A "real" pro set plays broadcast tapes, which neither you nor I can afford. His top of the line models are Panasonics and JVC's, with JVC being somewhat more affordable. I just took a quick glance at his listings, and AG-1980's are all that's around now but newer and less costly models are always showing up such as the JVC SR-V101US. Tom Grant's site is at http://www.tgrantphoto.com/sales/ind...order-playback.

You can use a VCR to capture tapes to a PC using VirtualDub, which captures to lossless formats that I know you don't want to get involved with. You can record directly to a DVD recorder (which is the MPEG2 format). Those recordings can be burned to DVD disc and copied directly to a PC, where they can be edited with smart-rendering editors such as Adobe Premiere Elements or TMPGEnc Smart Renderer. The results can be authored and burned to DVD disc. Or you can record using a USB capture device that captures directly to the same MPEG2 format into a PC. MPEG2 can be a workable format at high bitrates, but h.264 from your Elgato is nearly impossible to handle without further wreckage.

Quality begins with the player. No capture can be better than the source player.

Whether you take the easy route and capture directly to a final delivery format like MPEG2 or even h.264 (which is worse), some learning is required, together with time and patience, whether you do it the geek way or the typical consumer way with a DVD recorder or MPEG2 capture device. The higher your expectations, the more an effort will be required on your part.

You are a wealth of information and this is so much appreciated. If I use the VirtualDub, how to I physically attached a VCR to the computer? I sent an email to TGrantPhoto asking them to sell me a machine but it looks like most of their machines are sold, is there someone else I can contact?

TGrant's listing of available VCR's is updated very frequently. You'll probably locate one through him more quickly than you would find a decent working model at auction sites. Even in past years when VCR's were more plentiful, what you found on eBay was a crap shoot. 5 of 6 copies of any given model were either DOA or close to it. Among several duds I bought on eBay was a $50-priced popular Panasonic that arrived with a broken loader door and a tape still stuck inside !!! (Yes, and the blurb on the website stated "Tested and works great! Yeah, bub. That's a new take on the word "great".) Good players show up at digitalfaq as well. What I have to show now are two working copies of Panasonic PV-S4670's, which is a non-TBC SVHS forerunner of the vaunted "AG" prosumer series. These are 1996 machines known for their longevity (that's right, they're 21 years old now) and rebuilt by a tech who sold through eBay at not very cheap prices. But I went through three short-lived JVC's, a handful of various so-so used VCRs, and some $$$ before I got those 4670's. Remember that VHS has been dead for a long time now, along with all the quality gear used to play and capture the stuff. You can still find much sought after ATI All In Wonder capture cards now and then, but you'd need an XP computer to use them.

VirtualDuib is a basic editor with a built-in capture utility and over a hundred available and free plugin filters, but it's designed for capture to lossless media. Losslessly compressed captures run about 25 to 30 GB per hour of tape. They require special codecs and post-capture encoding to be playable on anything but a PC. It's the highest quality capture you can get at the prosumer level, and it mimics the way pro's work. But it's a hassle. The learning curve can look endless to a newcomer. You need a capture card that complies with certain hardware standards to be usable by VirtualDub (they use Windows DirectShow WDM capture drivers). The ATI 600 USB is one example, and there are others. There's also an outfit called EZCap which you should avoid like the plague, along with a legion of even cheaper copycat devices from China and Korea that try to look like an EZCap. The nickname for the device is "Easy-Crap", which gives you some idea of its performance. Devices similar to the ATI 600 come with software that will capture to MPEG -- a DVD recorder at high bitrates would be better than this. I guess it's convenient to get MPEG2 directly into a computer, but there's a point at which convenience cripples quality. Some of these devices work with Windows 7, some don't. Elgato makes higher-priced devices that offer lossless capture with VirtualDub, but I can tell you now that they're rather noisy captures and require more post-process cleanup than you'd tolerate -- and that in itself requires more software, more time, and a steeper learning curve. Elgato makes its name in gaming capture devices, which can't be used for VHS or other interlaced sources. There are USB devices around that are similar in appearance to the Elgato you referred to, but selling at half the price or less, from Diamond Muiltimedia and Hauppauge. They can be used with VirtualDUb or with their own software.

You might try that Elgato by hooking up your VCR to it, then hook the Elgato into a USB jack, then start VirtualDub capture to see if it recognizes the device. You must have Elgato's software installed or it won't function. VirtualDub and other lossless capture methods are in the Windows domain. Mac's never catered to it (and missed out on several years of great profits from lossless capture, gaming devices, and processing software). Note that lossless capture is a different world and more work. But it's as near to a true copy of your tape as you'll get with consumer gear, assuming you can get your hands on better tape playback. A poor player means a poor capture, regardless of how it's captured.

Lance,

What kind of VCR's do you have?

In this post have a 9900 for sale, right now have one left with a remote

Also have a 9800 which is similar to the 9900 but a tad different on picture sizing & color, which better? Have to say, hard to tell, but I like the 9900

With this many tapes you need a fully working AG-1980, you can pre-order one of these from me, cause I am working on three of them right now.

My concept is the same as Lord Smurf's you need the best hardware to do good VHS transfers; the High End JVC decks and AG 1980 are the best hands down in my opinion. Yes you need both.....

sanlyn ideas differs from my own, I record everything to a DVD recorder in FR80 mode using mainly the JVC MV5, than rip the files to the PC via, VOB2MPG v3, create good frame tables, edit or restore the video and I am done. No dropped frames, no video/audio sync issues, use good enough bit rates so no picture problems. It is easy. Don't create AVI files unless needed and no need to code to other formats. Mpeg2 is fine...Pretty much get the best possible results from the tapes. Have a digital tuner which has a NR filter that I also use and the best video editing software, way better than the Vegas or the Adobe stuff.

For frame reconstruction I use Coral Paint again a much easier and better program than the Adobe stuff.

Before someone says something bad about Coral Paint, have done video game graphics and textures using Coral Paint.

currently I have a cheap little Panasonic VCRPlus machine with four heads. I do need something better--I have no idea what. How much is the Ag-1980 and would you recommend it to a complete amateur who is only copying about 100 precious VHS tapes up to 30 years old? If so, what do you recommend I use to connect it to the PC to make the transfer? I'm a complete novice so I really need step by step instructions. I don't want two machines. I'll take my chances with just one. I don't want to spend too much money. $300 to $400 max if possible. Really appreciate your help.

$300 to $400 isn't far out of line for a quality VCR. Deter will have to let you know what his rebuild rate is. If any of your tapes are EP (6-hour) tapes, you'll need Panasonic. JVC never catered to anything but Sp 2-hour tapes and have inferior playback at slower speeds.

From your previous posts I wouldn't see you as a candidate for lossless capture. Besides requiring more work and time, lossless capture is something that many users, as deter has testified, haven't been successful with, and it's not uncommon. I'd suggest a good DVD recorder, or one of the capture devices mentioned that will record directly to MPEG2 in a PC. This would relieve you of the hassle of learning to configure capture software correctly for audio sync and to avoid dropped or inserted frames. Capturing to a PC or working with lossless media isn't for everyone and requires leaning more skills.

As deter noted earlier, you can record to a DVD recorder at the highest available bitrate (usually 1 hour per DVD disc), then burn to a disc and copy it to a PC with free software such as AnyDVD or VOB2MPG. Use a smart rendering MPEG2 editor, also mentioned earlier, to cut and edit or add other features such as titles and transitions, and to author to a DVD disc. PC editors will also offer ways to make your videos available for the internet, which requires additional processing.

You can also use PC editors, NLE's such as Premiere Elements, to re-encode to h.264 for the internet or, if you're up for it, to encode for standard definition BluRay which minimized re-encoding losses by letting you use higher bitrates than would be accepted for DVD alone.

There is no detail here, just general steps. Every editor, recorder, and capture device doers the same thing but uses different buttons and icons. Describing all of the details isn't possible even if you had every piece of hardware and software mentioned. All these products come with extensive help documents and illustrations. You don't learn this in a single post, or even a single thread. You learn step by step, one step at a time, one item of hardware or software at a time. by using the item itself. Almost all of it is on-the-job training.

Video sample taken from an old Doctor Who VHS tape named "The Ribos Operation"

VHS over scan has been cropped out, everything was recorded to the JVC MV5 in FR80 mode

Video #1, Switching every 7 seconds from JVC 9900 to AG 1980
Video #2, JVC 9900
Video #3, Panasonic AG1980

On this specific tape the quality difference between the two different VCR's are more of a personal preference. I think they both look great.

However on other tapes the playback can give very different results.

The Two VCR's are Top of the Line for Picture Quality and Detail, both machines with smoke pretty much all other VCR's that are not Broadcast Machines, in AG family aka the 1970 or the JVC 9000 series.

Which is better? Both, it depends on the tape

To answer your questions, quality comes with a price, all these machines are out of production. The AG 1980 units need to be rebuilt, that costs money, plus it is a rare skill. Not selling any of those units for less than $750, my price will be around $825. (Don't have any, they are being repaired) That is for the work and a 6 month guarantee on all parts and labor done to the unit. Have to buy the machines a few hundred, repair them a few hundred than add in labor costs for rebuilding them.

The Last of these JVC decks I am charging $475 with shipping the price went up, but will give you the rate of $430 with shipping if you order by Monday. That is the best I can do.

If you buy the unit it closes this thread cause I am out of machines at the moment to sell.

Starting as a Novice you need to become very advanced fast or you will waste a lot of time. It took me 2 years of learning under the teachings of Lord Smurf, that was 6 or 7 years ago.

I record to DVD, the broadcast can be 6 hours, so to make a full recording need to blend each 1h 20 minute disc in to 1 file, that is hard for a novice. Don't like commercials, they are cut. Than restoring the video, post production, filters, edits and everything else. Now I use 4 computers for my video work, and a ton of VCR's and other stuff.

Lord Smurf likes recording in half d1, but I found it was easier for me to work with 720x480 videos, cause of the edits and restoration work.

Sanlyn method of PC capture may be easier in the long run, cause I can't teach you everything I do, it is too much and very detailed. However those sample videos were easy to do, but I know how to edit video. More importing know how to code the video what bit-rates to use and how to code the audio. I use AC3 384

However just getting a good capture is half the battle, as long as you record the video, using a good VCR you at least have what is on the tape. Just recording to DVD in FR80 mode it is pretty easy, it doesn't take a Princeton degree. To take 5 DVD's blend in to one, fix the video, restore damaged segments, remaster the audio, clean the picture, enhance the picture, pull out scratches and nicks, fully edit the video and code it correct, you may be smarter than some of those over rated Princeton Grads.

Hi Deter et all

Not posting a lot here lately but have been keeping up with reading daily posts and practicing some direct to MPEG-2 MMC capture as well as editing mastering shrinking and burning. Will undoubtedly do some lossless capture to try out Avisynth also.

Have enjoyed reading here and have a question. Here you mention capturing directly to MPEG-2 (and possibly MPEG Layer II audio or is it AC3 ?), mastering and burning to DVD media then ripping the MPEG-2 video (and audio) files for working with later. Why not just save the whole direct from capture MPEG-2 file on your capture machine's hard drive? Maybe cause DVD media is cheap and it makes a pretty good copy for an archive?

Thanks

Deter will explain his methods in more detail. He doesn't process on a PC very much. He apparently re-records from VCR to VCR and from DVD to DVD, from DVD to VCR, etc., the way it was done years ago. He will have to explain in greater detail. However, one point:

MPEG Layer II audio is not valid for NTSC DVD (Layer-II used only for PAL). Use Dolby AC3 or uncompressed PCM audio for NTSC.

DVD is MPEG. MPEG v.2 is the codec, DVD is the format and file organization scheme. An authored DVD or burned from from a DVD recorder or a retail DVD has the MPEG video and audio in .VOB containers (files). Recording directly to a PC with MMC places the MPEG recording in .mpg or .mpeg containers (files).

.mpg, mpeg, and .VOB are merely container names for video encoded with the MPEG codec.


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Use a media player, so actually don't even play DVD's, it like your own Personal DVR with thousands of hours of material. Lets us take a movie or TV series for example that I have on DVD, lets just say Star Trek, just rip the DVD or if I want the actual DVD menus Decrypt it. Basically have no need for DVD's. NTSC or PAL it is all works...Blu Ray, HD or even flv internet files the media player plays everything. 5,000 CD's of music, no problem......No MP3's ever...Ok don't wreck your music.........

Basically the idea with the VHS stuff is to code them the same way as if they were on DVD. I can put them on DVD's, some of the recordings are 4 to 7 hours long, rather play the entire video as one video.

Just look at this picture Star Trek, season 1, it is every video, just create folders on the hard drive, and it is all organized.

So this picture here is the specs of the video coded by the people who produced the DVD's. This is season 3

Look, if you don't understand how videos works or how DVD's are built you can run in to trouble getting the wrong audio stream or voice overs. This were you think outside the box, nobody taught me how to replace an audio stream from French to English or whatever. You also have the copy protection to get around, but that is kind of easy, it is easier than macro vision on VHS tape for sure....Nobody taught me how to build my own DVR...Kind of easy to be honest.....But beside us video junkies who has their own DVR's were you can play endless material by running it from hard drives....It is not common.....

It is great, run everything through an HDMI cable and fiber for audio. Plus I have the best LCD every made, cause VHS tapes look great, it plays old analog recording and they don't look like crap.........You can't beat it.....

You go to best buy, purchase the latest and greatest Samsung, and regular TV or even VHS you can't even watch cause it just looks terrible...Not the case here.......

Deter, the posted question was about capturing VHS, 8mm, and Hi8 tapes, and archiving them as DVD's for self, friends, and family.

Maybe I read his question wrong,

"Why not just save the whole direct from capture MPEG-2 file on your capture machine's hard drive? "

The mpeg2 coder in the JVC DVD recorder is really good and no need to create massive avi files or having to render to another format. It takes like 3 minutes to finalize a DVD. How long does it take to code avi to mpeg2?

The DVD recorder is just my capture method, don't use or create DVD's unless it is project for someone. Than I will do both DVD's and than give them the mpeg2 files. The mpeg2 file is the same file that is on the DVD, change nothing.

If I wanted to issue the Star Trek videos back to DVD, can do it.....Really why? 79 Episodes is too many, would just rebuy the set....If it was not something you can buy, would than have to waste hours upon hours issuing these things to DVD.