Top JVC VCRs to capture old VHS in the best quality ?

[Acden]

I want to buy the best JVC VCR possible to capture old VHS in the best quality possible.

1)

• JVC HR-S9850
• JVC HR-9500
• JVC HR-9600

What do you think? Is 9850 the best VCR to buy? Or, maybe 9600 has all the functions needed and gives everything that 9500/9600 has? Or it has some advantages?

I like design of 9600 better than 9850. And it has TBC button on the front panel (9850 has only from RC). Is it good idea to buy the latest 9850 model or 9600 is enough?

(9850 approx. costs $100-150 more opposite to 9600)

2)

I want to buy some additional equipment.
As it was suggested in this forum, TBC-1000 is must have.
What about BVP-4? Is it so essential as TBC-1000? If choose one thing - what you would prefer, what to use on more tapes or what gives better/more necessary improvements?

[Jarvis]

You must be talking about the PAL machines since I don't think an NTSC 9850 exists. Out of this list, all three machines have TBC / Digipure and the PQ would be similar or even identical between them. I know for sure that both the 9500 and 9600 have Dynamic Drum, which supposedly helps with tracking, but whether it does is a different discussion. The 9850EU is cosmetically the same as the 9911U, and considering they're both the last of the 9000 series in their respective regions, I'm assuming it's the same machine. I don't own this model, but I have read that its NTSC counterpart 9911U isn't as well built as its predecessors, especially the 9600 which I've always seen highly recommended for build.

Therefore, I'd pick either the 9500 or 9600, there's no extra features between them that you'll need for capturing, and everything else should be similar though the 9600 could be the safer bet overall.

In regards to additional hardware, the TBC and BVP-4 both do different things. An external TBC such as (but not limited to) the TBC-1000 is needed to stablize the signal for capture, and is an essential piece of hardware. On the other hand, the BVP-4 is a proc amp that can be used for color correction, it could be optional or essential depending on your source, but either way, the TBC would be priority. The BVP-4 could be a good investment - providing you take the time to learn how to use it. IIRC it's very touchy hardware that can do a lot of harm if used improperly.

Hope this helps.

[kpmedia]

Excellent post, Jarvis. I really have nothing to add to that.

Performance wise, the 9600 and 9850 should be identical. It's the "build quality" (quality of the parts in the VCR) that is a bit reduced with the EOL (end-of-life) models from JVC. I sometimes think some of those final models were redesigned simply to use surplus parts from other discontinued lines -- namely the 5900 series and 7900 series. But a JVC in good condition is fine. The warning is that that you'll find more broken/misbehaving SR-V101 and HR-S9911 (and 2901) models than not. If the unit functions fine, I'd not hesitate to use it.

The 9850 is an EU PAL model.

[Acden]

Thank you both. Surely, as you can see, I'm from Russia, so I was talking about PAL/EU model.

As I saw in manual 9850 has some additional enhancement filter, but don't remember now. No other diff. 9600Eu also has TBC button on the front (9850 has this function only from Remote Controller). Also, I thought 9600 had no digipure...