which SVHS VCR gives you the best bang for your buck?

[The Ironduke]

I want it to have SVHS ET capabilities.

[nunew33]

JVC 7955 £160 has tape library and STB to boot. There is a 5955 budget buy version!
Panasonic NVHS825 £200 has tape library but no STB control
Panasonic NVHS830 £160 no tape library no STB control


All have SVHSET
There are more expensive models

Cant vouch for either of these as I am about to purchase. But someone slated the 7955 for things like BEST and no one touch record under one of my earlier threads and swapped it for the 830.

Best of luck!!

[LV426]

JVC. Pick one that has the features you need. Excellent. I recommend choosing one with the Digital NR feature.

[Kaledii]

I have the Panny NVHS860 which is now discontinued. This has STB control (infra red) and can be controlled by a STB.
It has SVHS-ET, full digital processing and TBC which def improve recordings and make the picture more stable. These are worth getting. Having said that on some recording TBC should be turned off as it makes the picture darker, but this is usually with good recordings made on the machine itself.
With regard to SVHS-ET there are a couple of things I would say, firstly it is not as good as SVHS but def better than VHS. Its is much more grainy than SVHS but the colours are much better than VHS. I only use the JVC tapes that suit this technology (cannot remember the number but they are available from Dixons etc) as cheap tapes produce a picture that is very grainy indeed.
This machine has the tape library system. On my machine it is the all singing all dancing version that lets you sort by title, category etc, and this is really really useful. However I understand that recent Panny models either don't carry the library system or if they do, it is very much cut down version, so check it out first. I have heard that a couple of new models are on the way that will sit above the 830.
I wouldn't hesitate to get any Panasonic video, I have had several over the years and have always performed faultlessly.
Hope this is helpful

[nunew33]

The NVHS860 like the Thomson 7090 is a nice machine, both been on my hit list even though more than my budget, but both are impossible to find unless anyone knows better (I would be interested for one!)

[The Ironduke]

well the tape library isnt that important as I have one on my Hitachi FX980 vcr, and have barely used it.

I know SVHS ET vcrs can record on normal tapes, but do they record regular SVHS on SVHS tapes?

[nunew33]

Yes they do. Panasonic and JVC allow you to download manuals so you can verify this.

I checked out a JVC 5955 using a High grade tape and couldnt see a difference between SVHSET and VHS. On the other hand the shop assistant didnt know how it all worked I was guessing and their shop Video feed wasnt exactly crystal clear.

I would get a demo before you get it just for SVHSET, if you can find someone to demo - took me several calls to get that demo and it took them half a day to set it up for me (ie no VCRS wired up its all DVDs now)

[simon1]

nunew33

If you really, really want the Thomson. I might be able to help.

There's an ex-catalogue store near me has one as of (checked Monday). They've had it yonks on display (high up on a shelf, behind counter - no greasy fingerprints!). It's priced at £199.99 I think. I could possibly assist you buying it, as I imagine you will be some distance away. The shop is in middlesbrough.

From what I remember, it's a very clever video indeed. I considered buying it a while back, but the lack of RF modulator and it output OSD only in RGB, meant it was unsuitable for my needs.

[nunew33]

Thanks Simon.

Ive realised that budgetary constraints are no longer valid and have to get what I can seeing as a good VCR i snow a thing of the past. I am now going hell for leather for a panasonic 860 if I cant get that I will look at the Thomson.

My only concern with the thomson was that it wasnt SVHS which whatvideoandtv review said it was but Im sure I read somewhere that it wasnt. Can you shed light on this?

[simon1]

It's not SVHS.

What the review said was that provided the best pics they had ever seen from a VHS machine. They went on to make a comparison to SVHS.

[The Ironduke]

sorry for acting abit thick but does the JVC allow you to manually switch to simple VHS recording aswell?

[nunew33]

Doh! I really must learn how to read!

JVC does switch - its all in the manuals. I know its geeky to download manuals, but its the best way of knowing exactly what it can and cant do.

Ironduke, its worth noting that to get good SVHSET you need higrade tapes . See review of panny860 on whatvideoandtv, where SVHSET looked worse than VHS, I think this is what happened in my demo!

nunew33,

Where (on the web) we can see the specs of the Thomson 7090 ?

Tried Thomsoneurope.co.uk, can not recognise...?....

[nunew33]

Its on whatvideo and TV http://www.whatvideotv.com/testbench/index.html

Look under video recorders. Couldnt find one for sale. Thomson arent going to release a similar model (forcing you towards Tivo!!!). Someone on one of these threads found one in Gateshead, but its unboxed and excatalogue.