Recommend a decent quality S-VHS VCR?

[Kevin P]

Get this: I taped the HT show on HGTV the other night, and watched it last night. After I rewound the tape (before watching it), it started in the middle of a commercial break. I fast forwarded past the commercial break and watched the show, and realized, I only got about half of it. I rewound the tape and discovered that the tape was rewinding only about half way and then stopping. Only by engaging fast reverse in play mode was I able to rewind the tape the whole way, otherwise the belt would slip in my 14-year old Fisher VCR. I did get the whole show, but I don't want to have to rewind every tape in play mode.
This weekend I'm going to try and fix it (I've done it before in the past), but if the belt is on its way out, I might just bite the bullet and get a new VCR. I've replaced the belt one time before, and have to take the unit apart and clean the belt about once a year to stop it from slipping.

I'm just wondering if there's a decent quality S-VHS VCR that the folks here recommend. I've heard about the JVC ones and they seem nice, but I'm used to the build quality of my top-of-the-line-from-1987 Fisher. I doubt I'd get 14 years out of a new VCR, but I don't want one that will break in 3 years either.

Thanks... KJP




Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
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[Buzz Goddard]

I do not think yuou will find anything but disposable units anymore. They are all plastic. I maintain an old high end Zenith S-VHS machine that is repairable. Everything new is not costeffective to repair. OTOH, the new ones perform pretty well and you'll get a couple of years out of it and then buy a PVR...




Buzz Goddard
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[Lexman]

Well, it all depends on your usage as to what I would recommend. Many people have home movie reasons for using VCRs and they obviously need one.

Myself, for casual watch one time and throw away type recordings, I simply love TiVo. I can't recall the last time I bought a blank tape for my VCR. TiVo gets all my business.

Lex

[Kevin P]

Let's see... what do I use my VCR for? I copy my Hi8 camcorder tapes onto VHS with it... I tape shows for my clueless mother in law who can't figure out how to do it on her own VCR... and I tape the occasional "keeper", such as the HGTV special on home theaters. I almost never time shift, since there's so little worth watching and in the times I have time shifted I ended up never watching what I had taped. So, I'm not really in the Tivo target market at this point.

Some things I'd really like in my next VCR: Discrete IR codes (my old Fisher is the only component in my HT WITHOUT discretes), VCR Plus would be great, and front panel inputs would make hooking up the camcorder a breeze. Flying erase heads and audio overdub would be plusses. And it should work well (for VHS at least). I'm thinking maybe the JVC 3800 or 4800, or the Panasonic one (forget the model #). I might swing by Best Buy at lunch and see what they have.

Thanks... KJP




Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
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[Kevin P]

I picked up a JVC 3800 at Best Buy--the highest-end model and the only SVHS model they carried. I think they're starting to push out the VCR line with DVD players.

Figures that they'd have 20 models of under-$100 cheapo VCRs (and they had a couple for under $50) but only one SVHS model.

The nice thing about this VCR is I've done Pronto CCFs for it in the past so I won't have to spend lots of time reprogramming my Pronto for it. I have discrete codes and everything already at my disposal.

KJP




Official Computer Geek and Techno-Wiz Guru of HTGuide - Visit Tower of Power
My HT Site

[MRWILLL]

I picked up the JVC-3800U (S-VHS) for $200. Real good machine.




STOP!!...LOOK!!...LISTEN!!
DVD...Hear it from the people who
mixed and mastered it "LEXICON".

[merc]

Hmmmm, resist, resist, resist... nah, that damn devil wins... I'm selling a brand new factory sealed JVC HR-S3600u SVHS VCR for only $140 plus $18 shipped to continental US. Let me know quick if interested.




Take Care,
merc