First let's review the JVC VCR you mention:
Quote:
The HR-DVS1U is a unique all-in-one video solution combining miniDV and Super Hi-Fi Stereo in one VCR. . The MiniDV deck allows direct playback of cassettes you've recorded on a MiniDV camcorder without any cables to connect. One easy solution!
* Mini DV Format &High Resolution Super VHS and VHS
* Super VHS ET Recording
* 19 micron width EP Heads
* DigiPure Technology w/ TBC and 4MB Frame Memory
* PCM Digital Audio (DV) andHi-Fi VHS Stereo with MTS Decoder
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Honestly, that's a cocktail of video goodness!
- Ability to play mini DV and VHS/S-VHS, nice.
- 19 micron heads, helps play EP tapes (not as good as Panasonic AG-1980P deck, but better than probably 90% or more of all players/recorders out there!
- the line TBC, to clean the image, the visual quality
Great player, if you can find it.
Depending on the stabilizer, it may or may not help clean the signal quality. Nothing visual, just keeps the signal clean, helps a smooth capture process with no dropped frames, anti-copy errors (real or false detections), etc. Which one? These don't always work as well as a timebase corrector (TBC), but can be decent much of the time.
That Pioneer recorder should do okay, if your VHS tape is properly cleaned up by the VCR. There have been better DVD recorders for filtering VHS signals, but if you've properly corrected the video beforehand, then the recorder's ability to filter becomes less important.
If I'm not mistaken, this Pioneer may have some slight filters for cleaning grain and noise. I don't remember, it's been a while since I laid hands on this exact model.
I also don't remember if its 3-hour mode is 352x480 (good!) or 720x480 (bad!) resolution. XP 1-hour and SP 2-hour are safe, of course. In fact, these used those "MN" speeds, right? Increments of 5 or 10 minutes. So many models, so many years, don't always remember the features as much as I recall the quality of output. I have several sample DVDs in the research spindle, the Pioneer's quality was nice. At one point, it was a suggested machine! It did really well for off-TV recordings.
Glad you found the site!