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Which of these VCRs* do you consider the best to capturing VHS tapes(PAL) ? Which one would you choose for this job ?
*Here is the VCRs list: - Philips VR1200, - JVC HR-S6600, - JVC HR-S6611, - JVC HR-S6700, - JVC HR-S6953, - JVC HR-S6960, - JVC HR-S7500, - JVC HR-S7711, - JVC HR-S7960, - JVC HR-S8700, - Panasonic NV-FS88, - Panasonic NV-FS100, - Panasonic NV-HV61, - Panasonic NV-HS850, - Panasonic NV-HS880, - Panasonic NV-HS950. [Is anyone able to give approximate years of production of these VCRs ?] |
Philips VR1200 (2001 JVC clone, no TBC)
- JVC HR-S6600 (1999) - JVC HR-S6611 (1999) - JVC HR-S6700 (2000) - JVC HR-S6953 (2002) - JVC HR-S6960 (2003) - JVC HR-S7500 (1998) - JVC HR-S7711 (2000) - JVC HR-S7960 (2003) - JVC HR-S8700 (2001) - Panasonic NV-FS88 (1992 close the same as the legendary Panasonic NV-FS200 but without TBC) - Panasonic NV-FS100 (1989) - Panasonic NV-HV61 (2004 Hifi VHS-Recorder) - Panasonic NV-HS850 (1999) - Panasonic NV-HS880 (2002) - Panasonic NV-HS950 (1997) My favorites would be: Panasonic FS-88 (if you use a dvd-recorder as tbc replacement) Panasonic NV-HS950 JVC HR-S8700 JVC HR-S7960 (maybe this one could clipping the luma if it is out of range during playback like my HR-S8960 do) |
My choices, from that list, in preference order:
1. JVC HR-S7960 2. JVC HR-S7711 2. JVC HR-S8700 3. Panasonic NV-HS950 However, the decision is not that easy! :no2: Condition is most important, and price may need to be taken into consideration. For example, the 7965EK is my favorite PAL deck. But if it looks abused, and/or cost an insane amount ($1k), I'd balk, and look at the other models available. Never let presence/lack of a remote be a deciding factor, those are simple to acquire for under $20 USD. |
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Have you ever heard anyone report that the JVC HR-S7960 was cutting the luma? Is this just your guess based on the fact that maybe your model JVC HR-S8960 is so close to JVC HR-S7960 ? How is this pruning of the luma manifested ? Are the dark and light moments in the recorded image inadequately bright(in dark images) or not bright enough(in bright images) ? A big problem for the very quality of the image reproduced by a VCR, which trims the luma in this way, probably is not(unless, very large, trimming the lumas is not) ? Quote:
So how check the status of the sold VCR online ? What to ask the seller ? Picture of the interior and orientation on its condition inside with particular emphasis on heads, their wear and ask about the history of a given VCR(to have a picture, knowledge, guess about what he actually looks like and what was his fate...) ? Because the external appearance of the VCR is not critical(or almost none) here, is it rather clear ? Yes ? |
Hi!
I really appreciate the advice in this thread, but I'm coming at this from a slightly different angle. I just want to do a quick job on some VHS I have in the attic for background video. I've put together an automated setup that I think will do the digital conversion side of the job (I'll have to make sure the digital end of things is good, can't stand macroblocks). However, I'm not going to spend €200-300 on a VHS player for this little project. My issue is that I've no idea what's good in the budget range. Is there a guide to picking a <$50 player of decent quality? I suppose something to tell me if the amount of heads matters for playback, which players generally offer the best quality etc... I suppose if someone like lordsmurf could just answer "if you HAD to pick a VHS off EU eBay for < €50 what would you look for", I'd have my answer. Any advice appreciated, and thanks for your time, I hope I'm not hijacking this thread! |
to keep it simple, any vcr and a dvd recorder will do, and you can transfer your VHS pile to DVD discs.
or an all in one recorder combo will do, as long there's no pc in the chain, all will be fine. Otherwise a DV "box" and a pc will do, the DV box needs a Firewire connection on your pc, so an interface card will do the job. (a handycam with DV output and video input connections will do also) Mentioning LordSmurf and something "simple" in one line, is asking for troubles, LordSmurf is going for all the way, or not at all. Most of the time there isn't a ready made answer for any random setup, it comes down to just try/experiment with what you got, or just have luck. |
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I suppose what I'm looking for is a review of VHS systems from the 00s to give me an idea of who had the best brand, what tech was rubbish, what tech was decent etc? As I said previously, I've no idea if more heads gives a better picture or not (for example)... |
No! See my next post. -LS just to get a better "picture" what VHS to digital capture means, most equipment is old, and you need to know more to make the right choice, in general JVC and Panasonic stand out in better VCR equipment, but is no guarantee, also most USB capture dongles are crap, like Easycap.... and other new capture devices you will not find, because they're not made anymore, and if..... these are most cheap crapture devices, not worth the money |
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However, if you intended to stubbornly plod ahead anyway, I can at least steer you towards the "better" (less crappy) VHS decks... :) Quote:
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- 2-head are almost always terrible. Almost. - 4-head decks are generally best, but many terrible 4-head decks exist. - 6-head is marketing, actually just 4+2 (video+audio) A past discussion on the forum is here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/home...ad-vcr-vs.html Quote:
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That goes against the fundamental mission of this site. Literally for users/visitors/readers/member to ask questions -- even if frequent, we'll answer them again, ie FAQ, as in The Digital FAQ, where "digital" is for all things media (video especially, but also photo, and publishing aka web hosting/dev/design). Quote:
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... anyway, capturing all starts with the VCR. My suggestion = don't skimp here, you'll be sorry! :salute: |
On european ebay (particular german ebay) you can find good svhs-vcr if you watch the market. Stay away from auctions without remote and operations manual and read the description from the seller and have a closer look to the pictures. If he wrote it is perfect for digitization of video tapes you should although stay away. That's how I have bought some of my players.
The most recommendet players on european market are the Panasonic FS-200 (Blaupunkt 950), JVC HR-9600, Panasonic HS-1000 (Blaupunkt 965/966) and these means that this recorders are expensive and not always in good conditions. (I'm sure you won't get a vcr from german market with scorpion or poisonous spiders). Another point you should think about are the shipping charges and custom charges. If you lives outside of europe you had to pay about 50-100 euro charges which depends from the country you come from. But I will remember the vcr is only the first part in your capture chain. You will need some kind of a tbc (external tbc or dvd recorder as passthrough) and a capture card. Specific recommendations could someone give if we know what tbc and capture card you'll use. Here is for example a svhs recorder from ebay I would watched for (Panasonic FS-88 from 1992, close the same unit as the Panasonic FS-200 but without the tbc): https://www.ebay.de/itm/Panasonic-S-...MAAOSwaU5eDhmJ or if you'll like to gamble a little bit (JVC HR-S 7711 from 2000 with tbc): https://www.ebay.de/itm/JVC-SUPER-VH...wAAOSwEcReMwbD If you will use an Panasonic ES10 dvd recorder as tbc or your capture card has some tbc functionality a svhs vcr with tbc wouldn't be necessary. If you have commercial tapes (macrovision) in most cases you'll need an external tbc (Datavideo, AVT, Electronic-Design...). But some captures cards ignore the macrovision signal. If you'll use a ATI capture card an external tbc is necessary (macrovision, false macrovision). |
Thanks to all for the detailed replies!!
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On some of your other points, I wrongly assumed that the use of SVHS decks was (apart from possible TBC) due to them having S-video outputs, which would provide a 'marginally' better signal (when the source is standard VHS) than composite. As I know these tapes mostly contain recordings from OTA noisey Analog TV, I wasn't too worried about this. However, I now understand the other reasons for choosing an S-VHS player. Bogilein: Thanks for the advice and links to German eBay, I might increase the player budget a bit. I was planning on keeping it, but I might get a more expensive model and just throw it back on eBay when I'm done. I'm in Ireland, so no import fees within the EU :) |
I actually wanted to edit my previous reply, but it won't let me.
Just a quick additional question. Is there any "test" tapes or something I can buy to compare what I'm doing to what it's possible to achieve? |
I guess there are special tapes, but they are expensive, you could download a .iso with test images on it, burn it on a dvd, play this, and record onto a VHS tape, or have a test image generator of some sort, the AVCD100 has a test image mode, (simple color bars only) which you could record directly onto a VHS tape.
But i guess you are "stuck" with the quality of the recordings you want to transfer.... you can color pick white and black values in your post work for color correcting. |
HI Lordsmurf,
Your advice and forum are excellent. I am converting SVHS and VHS tapes to a digital format using a Panasonic AG 1980p and a Canopus ADVC 3000 as the converter. Should I add an extra TBC to this set-up? Thanks, Richard King |
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For the TBC-less models listed...is something like an ES10/ES15 necessary between the VCR or a frame TBC, or just TBC-less VCR straight to a frame TBC?
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ADVC 300 or 3000? Typo? The problem with the 300 is it has NR that cannot be disabled (even if turned "off"), and causes some pretty ugly artifacts. Worse yet, 1980 means NTSC, and NTSC loses 50% of the color quality for 4:1:1 DV colorspace compression. It's an expensive card that does a lousy job. Remember, the ADVC line was designed in the late 1990s for Pentium III computers, regardless of being sold as new in the 2000s. Quote:
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I'm going to buy a pal svhs vcr with line TBC. I have to use with svhsc/vhsc from '80.
The bold suggested models in this thread are (ebay price): JVC HR-S7965EK (€?) JVC HR-S8965EK (€?) JVC HR-S9600EK/EU (€400) JVC HR-S9700EK/EU (€600-700) Blaupunkt RTV-950 (€250-300) Blaupunkt RTV-965 (€150-350) Blaupunkt RTV-966 (€?) Panasonic NV-FS 200 (€250-350) Panasonic NV-HS 1000 (€250-400) - Loewe OC 3800 (clone) (€150) JVC HM-DR10000U (€700-1500) What's the better choise for my first tbc vcr? Is it worth buying the DR10000 for its "ability to cure VHS tearing, much like the Panasonic DMR-ES10 DVD recorder does on pass-through"? Does it has the same disavantages of the es10? |
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