Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater VCR died

Hey my VCR just died and I want to get a replacement for all my old tapes. Hard time finding any decent reviews for VCRs still available.

Anyone recommend a model they like/where to purchase?

Don't want to get a VCR/DVD combo player, just a stand-alone VCR. Maybe S-VHS that also plays standard VHS.

Thanks,

Maxx

I picked up a new toshiba W-528 on ebay for $35. 4 head Hi-fi, the best vcr I've had. Super fast rewind, with smooth stop. Never had the slightest troulbe with it. It's a lower end model. I don't think you can go wrong with Toshiba for a vcr.

I recently bought this JVC at buy.com. Not the cheapest, but it has S-VHS, S-video output, sets its own clock, VCR Plus+ programming. Works well; I'm pleased. Here's JVC's info on this unit.

I've got a JVC HR-S5912U. Looks and feels cheap, but has yet to give me any problems in the year or so I've had it. Could use a better tuner on it though.

Tivo...sorry, had to do it...

I too will be buying a Tivo, but alas, Tivo can't play my old VHS tapes. A VCR is still a necessary, though dinosaur device.

Quick question - What is SVHS? I remember seeing it a couple of years ago when I was looking to buy a new VCR, btu opted against it b/c of price.

Is it just a better way of reading regular VHS tapes, or are certain tapes S-VHS?

S-VHS tapes were recorded with a higher resolution, and when played back on a S-VHS deck which is hooked up to a TV that has a S-VHS input, you get that resolution.

In reply to:

---

I too will be buying a Tivo, but alas, Tivo can't play my old VHS tapes. A VCR is still a necessary, though dinosaur device.

---

Do you still have a turntable too?

Capn Pickard,

With a composite video connection, an S-VHS VCR is capable of up to 400 lines of horizontal resolution at its fastest recording speed vs. 240 lines of regular VHS. If you recorded off-air live broadcasts at SP on an S-VHS VCR, there was little or no difference in picture quality between the tape and the live broadcast. No match for DVD, of course, but a visible improvement over mediocre VHS.

The playback quality was similar in sharpness and video noise to the old laserdisc format. S-VHS tape was more expensive than regular videotape, but then several manufacturers introduced S-VHS machines that would yield S-VHS picture quality using regular tape.

Regards,

Of course then you'd watch your SVHS tape a few times and it'd start to look like crap. Tape technology is just bad. SVHS, or no.

So unless you have svhs tapes to play back or are going to make your own tapes recording higher than standard broadcast material or home movies svhs offers no real value for the limited time that vhs tapes will continue to be of interest IMO.

Another note: My Toshiba vcr has a better tuner than my toshiba television and being hi-fi, I am often amazed at the sound(stereo) I get off air processed into five channels.

Last year we got a Panasonic 4 head hi-fi Vcr for $69.00.It replaced a $300.00 Rca and the Panny is a nicer unit.Do it on the cheap.

have you ever though about converting your vhs movies to DVD, you can do it pretty cheaply now... just an idea....

Back in the day, my dad had a S-VHS camera. And an expensive S-VHS VCR to play the tapes. We thought that was amazing back then. How times change. (I think my uncle still uses that same camera too LOL)

The JVC VCR I bought recently is OK but not nearly as good as my older Mitsubishi. The JVC occasionally introduces a tape warble during playback and sometimes a little flickering at the bottom when playing tapes recorded on other VCRs. Adjusting the tracking does nothing.
Good luck.

I second Dakkon's advice. It might be time to make the switch. Convert the favorites and say bye-bye to VHS. The next level of home cinema is going to be an extension of the DVD, the HD-DVD. So VHS is only getting older and older. I own a VHS and an SVHS and other than using Tae-bo to get my butt in shape and Disney videos for the kids there's no reason for me to own one. Now I'm kinda particular, so I'm trying to replace my tape collection with retail DVDs.
Otherwise, any old VCR will do these days. I bought a great out of box one from Best Buy for $40 (albeit a couple years ago), and it's still kicking strong.

Hi, My VCR is starting to do strange things too lately, so Ive been looking around for some nice ones myself. So far the winner in my opinion have been the ones with Quasi SVHS - They can play SVHS but cant record, they are still reasonably cheap too. A lot of the sony vcrs are pretty nice, as well as JVC and Toshiba, one nice feature to look out for is the ability for the vcr to set the clock correctly by itself just by plugging it in. high speed rewind and a universal remote are nice too. I personally would stay away from the Panasonic line, because ive had far too many bad experiences with them (maybe its just me, no offense to those who like them), and I think they are ugly too Good luck with your purchase

md55,

Yes, that's correct about S-VHS. No point unless you have a library of S-VHS tapes you want to play back with S-VHS quality. For a time there were a number of brands that offered "quasi-S-VHS playback". Those would play back S-VHS tapes but with only VHS quality. You could still view them, however.

In my experience the older Toshiba VCRs from the late '80s and early '90s were excellent--very reliable with very fast rewind times and a very good internal tuner. Next best was Panasonic. The least reliable were JVC and NEC, although both of those brands often had innovative technical features in their time.

Regards,