PAL VHS, budget option for NTSC?
 

I am wondering if for example, a JVC HR-S7611EU will play a NTSC tape, with the built in TBC active.

Hopefully outputting PAL60, over s-video, capture with a GV-USB2. I did read that it may be possible, but it was a generalized statement about the "newer ones" (JVC players) may work. Is that something I would find in the manual if I read it :D

Anyone have experience buying an EU market VHS player from lets say the Netherlands with TBC, and using it here for NTSC/ old family memory content?

Thanks, this is my first post.

I'm guessing the HR-S7611EU will only play PAL tapes. There were some special multiformat JVCs that could do both, but they should have a part number that ends with "AM"

Definitely would be better to get a US version JVC which are rather plentiful - SR-VS30U in particular seems to be pretty reasonably priced, often under $250 shipped with relatively few things that can break other than the MiniDV drive which is almost always broken - but that's not the side you'd use.

They were pretty pricy units when new - so downside is you could get a unit that was "professionally" used for a lot of hours. The ideal situation would be that the miniDV drive broke early and the whole unit sat mostly unused for 15 years or something.

With TBC? No.
With: PAL
Without: NTSC @ NTSC-50

Some also play MESECAM, but I forget offhand if it's with or without.

Get a quality JVC S-VHS NTSC VCR from North America -- aka, the same way I got a quality JVC S-VHS PAL VCR from Germany, UK, and Netherlands. I imported.

Do realize that PAL JVCs are still quite cheap compared to NTSC now. You won't get a great NTSC deck for ~350€ here. For NTSC, that's gamble deck money (may work, may not), and you'll generally lose it.

No, not true.

Yes, SR-VS30 can be excellent model deck. But it's also 20 years old now, and (at minimum) needs service and maintenance. Most are in dire shape now, as this was a model mostly sold to gov/edu via CDW. As such, most were mishandled, not given proper maintenance. These can break as easily as an other JVC model, or any other VCR in general.

But if you're only spending $250, you're going to get broken junk (and "tested"/"working" is still junk) from an eBay recycler, not a quality deck ready to use. Let's not start throwing around unrealistic low-ball prices on the forum. It can happen once in a blue moon, but don't count on it, and don't be foolish enough to make that the budget for a good deck.

MSRP on these was about $1500 USD back in 2003 or so -- meaning without accounting for inflation in modern dollars (~$2500 current dollars)

The TBC on the PAL JVC SVHS decks does work during NTSC playback, they output PAL60 aka NTSC on PAL TV when playing back NTSC tapes. The same is not true for most of the SVHS Panasonics (though I think one or two of the late ones may support it.) There are multi-system SVHS variants with proper NTSC output but those are pretty rare and the one or two of those that had TBC/DNR are extremely rare.

The other "budget" option is to look for a multi-system VCR with native NTSC output (you don't need the expensive converting decks like the Samsung SV-x000W, just one with NTSC 3.58) and use a panasonic dvd-recorder (2005 or newer model) for stabilization the european models of those support standard NTSC (but not PAL60 or NTSC 4.43). Alternatively, you can use a PAL VCR that supports NTSC playback with PAL60 or NTSC 4.43 and a newer Pioneer/Sony dvd-recorder for stabilization as those also support PAL60 and NTSC 4.43 (use NTSC 4.43 instead of PAL60 if available.)

I must have gotten super lucky with mine then. I've had 3 or 4 and all looked brand new inside. All that seems to go bad on those is the loading belt (just gets lax after 20 years) which can be changed without any tools other than the 5 Phillips screws to remove the top cover. Mode switch could also need to be cleaned technically, but doesn't seem to be a common problem.

My theory as to why they may not have been very heavily used is that their MiniDV almost always failed early, so if the purpose was to dub with them (which I assume is why people would pay the premium price to begin with), then the machine would have been retired at that point in most cases maybe with less than a year or two of use. That, and I don't think they were super well known as a TBC-containing VCR to the second hand market since it doesn't have the hardware button for it (you get to it through the main menu).

VS30U also is kind of cool in that it has two sets of composite/S-Video/Audio outputs, so you could technically capture via two methods at once without additional items in the chain.

I appreciate the responses from you both, it seems as if my focus will shift course for now. While visiting family for Christmas, they offered me a DMR-ES10. It powered up, but no remote. I ordered that, and I think I will go with a JVC Super-VHS, or maybe something like a Mitsubishi HS-U776