I'm going to try and snag an ES10 or 15 off eBay. Probably a 15 as there is only one 10 out there now. I'm going to be shot for this if I win a bid on one that is low enough for me to accept. Especially since the whole thing that spawned this recent video archival was to clean out the basement. Buying another piece of equipment is the reverse of that. :)

Looks like this unit is capable of being a video recorder for broadcast TV also. Doesn't look like it supports a hard drive though (only direct to DVD) so wouldn't be a viable replacement for what my dad is using should his fail (trying to minimize the griping of this purchase).

JR

I haven't made a bid on eBay in years. Got tired of the maniacs who run auto bidding software that antes up the bid at the very last second, just enough to win by a dollar or so. Even if you're watching, it changes and shuts down so fast you don't have time to compete. I've always looked for BuyItNow, even if I have to wait around for one to show up. Buy it Now usually has sellers who know what the equipment. Read carefull;y. If they're also selling trailer hitches and dishware on the side, they could be throwing anything out there. Deal with them, and you could do better at a yard sale.

Not much difference between the ES10 and ES15. You'll need a remote if it doesn't come with one (many don't). Remotes are often sold separately at absurd prices. I found one on the net, OEM for about $20.

Turn off the panny's playback DNR: it's too strong, and there are better filters in software. TBC is active only on the Line 1 input on most units. That might differ on later production models, but use Line 1 to be certain. Really, if you use a non-tbc input you can certainly see the difference. I never cared much for the way it records. My Toshibas are cleaner, use a different encoder, and you can set their bitrates in 2K increments. I've had my ES15 for 2 years now. I use it only for TBC.

Wait til you end up with 5 VCR's (LOL!). Well, with only 15 tapes you won't get that far. I started with over 400 hours of tapes.

Saw an ES15 on ebay earlier today, auction ends in around 2 or so hours, it was at $20 a few minutes ago, but that was from an automatic bid so no idea as to where the limit is.

The catch - the seller appears to be a surplus dealer who does ebay auctions of government surplus. The listing did not tell anything about the condition of the unit beyond "USED." The "Buy It Now are in the $100 to $120 range. But I have not checked recent bidding history results.

Thanks sanlyn and dpalomaki for your comments. I'll check out BuyItNow. I saw the $20 on eBay but the seller never got back to me before it ended. Besides no remotes, a lot come with no power cable either. "Well we tested it and it turns on but no remote or power cable included". Huh? Not buying one that doesn't have the rights stuff. There was one for $15 which again didn't hear back on what was included from the seller, however was broke. Said the DVD wouldn't eject. Was thinking that's no big deal for what I'm looking to do but HELLO YOUR SELLING SOMETHING. ANWER YOUR BUYERS QUESTIONS!!!!

Also with the ES15, sanlyn you mentioned only use input 1. I assume input 2 is on the front as only see one input on the back.

By the way, is buyitnow supposed to be buyitnow.com? Doesn't come up.

JR

there is a ES-15 for sale with a broken dvd drive in the marketplace cheap
you will only want it for the pass-through so the dvd drive wont matter

Thanks for the tip. I contacted the seller and it doesn't come with a remote or power cord but said he could include the power cord. Will assume one of my Logitech universal remotes will work and won't need to buy one. Now have to wait 6 days for the auction and if the price goes up will probably not purchase it. Can get fully functioning ones for $25 (possibly without power cord).

JR

The ES15 sale this afternoon went for $40.05 to what may have been an automatic winning bid.
"For parts" units are going for around $15 to $25.
Remotes controls for around $7 - $8.

"Buy it now" is a category on e-bay - no bidding and immediate sale if you want it at the named price.

what i meant what one of our forum members has one posted for sale in the marketplace on the forum
they have not marked it sold so it may still be available:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/mark...sonic-dmr.html

I'll check on this. Marketplace guy says he wasn't looking to ship from Canada to the US though so will see. Another guy offered $59 (includes shipping) to sell me a ES15 fully functioning with power cord (no remote). Hmmm....

JR

ES10 remotes are what, about $8 or so with shipping, on ebay.

Thanks. Not super concerned about the remote. I have a couple Logitech universals so sure those will work just to make sure it's setup however it's setup. Mulling over if $59 is fair for my planned use or not. :)

JR

Shipping to/from Canada really isn't an issue. I have sent/received packages in the past month without a problem (both were handed by USPS/CanadaPost). Have you tried another VCR to see if it reduced/eliminated the tearing?

Yeah, Canada isn't really my issue but looking a bit deeper, seller said shipping was like $32 his cheapest option from there.

Unfortunately only VHS player I have. Thought I was done archiving VHS tapes years ago so purged them all except the S-VHS deck I kept for never know what sake. Then in the cleanup found a drawer of old videos in the depth of my crawlspace. The TBC-1000 was adequate to move the content last time, apparently the age of the tapes has caused additional hardware to be required in-line. Or that's the current going theory.

-- merged --

OK I ordered a ES15. Fingers crossed it will work. It was mentioned needing the remote I believe. Will not have one but again assuming the universal will work. That said, other than turning on the unit, is there something i need to configure to get the TBC to work that I actually need a remote? I couldn't find anything in the user manual about configuring anything but maybe it's one of those settings they don't call out.

JR

Some of the default settings might work, some might not without a real remote. Depends on what your universal can do. For tape capture you'll have to set the TV screen to 4:3 and turn off playback noise reduction. Both are in the internal menu.

Beauteous. Thanks sanlyn. I'll report back when I get the ES15 and how it fairs.

JR

Basic universal remote or Harmony? I was never able to find a basic remote with a properly mapped Setup key (Menu isn't the same thing). You may need to get into Setup to ensure that black levels are correctly set.

To turn off Line-In NR, a Display key is required. That should be fairly standard.

The ES15 needs keys for Setup, Display, Return. If you don't have a remote from the same production series that came with the DVD-R, on first bootup you'll have to enter a numeric "Set Code", which is usually 2 or 3. Since the Harmony has to be set up over the internet (what a pain in the butt), how to get that code function programmed might be confusing. Probably not difficult, though. The OEM remote uses the regular keypad numbers.

Thanks. I have a Harmony 900 remote. It does list the ES15 however was suggesting using the original remote to complete missing items. From what I can see it has Setup and Menu commands mapped, or shows something for those keys, so am hopeful it will work. Also have a Harmony 880 but assume they would have the same commands available.

EDIT: I also found some generic hex codes for Panasonic DVD recorders but not sure if there is a way to pass those to the Harmony remote or not.

-- merged --

So assuming my Logitech remote works with the ES15, I assume my workflow or order of devices would be:

1. Mitsubishi HS-U747 S-VHS VCR
2. S-Video Out and In on
3. Panasonic ES15 (Input 1)
4. Svideo out and then in to
5. DataVideo TBC-1000
6. s-video out and then in to
7. Canopus ADVC100
8. DV out to Firewire in on computer

Thanks.

JR

The setup looks OK. Youi might not need the TBC-1000, but try a short cap of a few minutes rather than a whole tape so you can check things out.

Hate to see VHS going into an ADVC-110 and DV but, well, many do it that way and live with it. I couldn't, but that's just me. Let's see what happens first. Cap a few minutes and you'll have some samples to submit for evaluation. Usually a few seconds of sample will suffice for DV, but get a few minutes that contain moving objects or camera motion. A scene with everything perfectly still looks just about the same anywhere.

Thanks sanlyn,

I know without the TBC-1000 today there are segments of video that skip. The tape keeps spinning but you can visually see pauses on the screen as it records and those pauses are basically skipped in the final output. With the TBC-1000 it plays thru in it's entirety. Do you think the ES15 can fix something like that or is it just more for the tearing?

Also I'm game to use something else other than the ADVC110 if I happen to have it (2 full metal cabinets of old computer gear and cables). :D Just figure this is the best way to get it into the computer without having to tear open a computer case and install extra cards and drivers and the like.

JR