Is the remote mandatory for HR-9900U JVC VCR?
 

I found what I hope to be a steal of a deal on ebay for an HR-S9900U but it did not come with a remote. Is it mandatory to have a remote for this deck? I see replacements cost about $50 so I would really rather not buy one if I don't need too. I only have around 50 tapes to convert so a mild inconvenience is okay.

Yes, if you want to get to menus that give you more control over playback.

40 to 50 bucks is about average. Maybe you can find cheaper by looking around. I've got remotes for several old VCR's and TV's from remotes.com. They carry many new, original models, but also offer some cheaper "replacements" which are often more like universal models that sometimes don't match up to all of a unit's functions. I'd rather have an original.
http://www.remotes.com/remotes/servl...n=JVC_HRS9900U

That's what I was afraid of. You link was of the same site I was looking at I just purchased an original. My great deal on the deck was just diluted but $200 with the remote still isn't to bad.

When new, that JVC was about 400 or 500 clams. No telling what it would cost today if built to the same specs.

i have some brand new remotes for $30 each

Any JVC S-VHS VCR remote works fine. Most are $25 or less on eBay shipped.

Here's one for $15 with free shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LP20465-014-...item4625bf77cc
Here's one for $11 shipped: http://www.ebay.com/itm/JVC-SVHS-Sup...item51c24fa83f

These are really common. $40-50 is ridiculous.

All of the controls are on the deck. The remote isn't needed. But I suggested it -- replacing the remote is easy, fixing the deck buttons is costly.