Which is the best S-VHS VCR?

jedi55

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Hi,
Could someone please tell me which is the best S-VHS VCR currently available?
I want to archive my video tapes to my dvd recorder.

Thanks for any help
 
Hi,

The best of a bad bunch is probably the the JVC HR-S9850.

I own a JVC HR-S7722 (a now discontinued model), and while the normal vhs picture is very good, s-vhs looks a bit too shimmery and grainy (even with very high standard s-vhs tapes) so I only tend to use the normal vhs mode (don't even think about using s-vhs ET, the picture is truely terrible).

Panasonic also produce s-vhs recorders, but a friend (briefy) owned one, and it's performance was very disappointing, which is very sad when you consider the great vcr's Panasonic produced a few years ago.

Todays video recorders tend not to be very good, unless you're looking at a digital video recorder. Manufacturers divert very little of their resources to vhs production as it's seen as a dying technology.

S-VHS of today isn't a patch on the S-VHS video recorders of the early 90's.
 
Totally agree with fatbob, go for JVC, I wouldn't bother with Panny, lousy quality.

btw, may be a silly question but are your tapes recorded in SVHS.
If not then you're not going to gain anything using a SVHS vcr.
 
Just bought a Panasonic SVHS NV-SV120EB from my local Comet [last one] for £120 this is a superb machine, better than my Jvc svhs which now goes to the bedroom. I dont know where you get the "lousy quality" verdict from ?
 
Originally posted by army
I dont know where you get the "lousy quality" verdict from ?

Two previous Panny SVHS vcrs that I had.

NEVER AGAIN!

Although recently I did buy a Pan E100 HD/DVD recorder, so they're not all bad!
 
Originally posted by fatbob
...

S-VHS of today isn't a patch on the S-VHS video recorders of the early 90's.

'Aint that the truth. And we'll never see their like again...

Mike.
 
Yep, still got a Pan FS88 (1st ever SVHS vcr way back in 93!) stashed away somewhere. Quality machine (was :( )
 
Originally posted by Kevo
Yep, still got a Pan FS88 (1st ever SVHS vcr way back in 93!) stashed away somewhere. Quality machine (was :( )

You sure the 1st wasn't the JVS-HR-S5000 :lesson: :D

Mike.
 
Yeah, but you had to pay £800 for that quality (that's what my FS88 cost)...and that's when £800 was a lot of money!
 
Hi,
Thanks for the replies. My tapes are all normal VHS, but I thought the S-VHS recorders might be built with better components. It seems to be getting harder to find a quality VHS recorder.

I was thinking of getting a JVC recorder, as I've heard good things about them. Any recommendations?

Thanks
 
so really the only option is a svhs video is what your saying ??? and even they arent as good as what they use to be :( i was getting the sony dvd recorder but i wanna hang on for 5.1 and maybe the media to be less picky.
 
Originally posted by SILVERBACK
so really the only option is a svhs video is what your saying ???

No, in my last post I said completely the opposite!

Up until then I thought you were archiving SVHS tapes. As they are only VHS then SVHS would be an overkill.

Your first post was a bit misleading.
 
You won't gain anything using VHS tapes on a SVHS vcr.

Not so. Not only does the picture have more stability and less dot crawl, but the info on a VHS tape is stored with chromiance and lumiance info, just not as much info as an s-vhs recording. You should see an improvement, I have a JVC and a sanyo Z2 PJ, SW episode 4 etc are way better with an svhs player than a straight vhs
 
If you use the S-VHS output on the VCR and connect to the S-VHS input on the DVD recorder, assuming it has one, you will get the best possible copy. Avoiding the luma/chroma recombining process will give noticable improvements in picture quality, even with normal VHS recordings.
 
I've never noticed any difference in quality when using s-video connections with VHS as opposed to composite connections.
It's the same (poor) pic quality.

Although the use of a time base corrector in a SVHS vcr may help.
I use one (with mixed results!).
 
Cant agree with the opinion that the panasonic svhs recorders are bad. i've had the panny hs830 svhs recorder for about 2 years, i only ever use it with vhs tapes and the quality is streets ahead of any other (seven) recorders i've had. :smashin:
 

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