VCR opinions sought

[unixronin]

This move has been something of an eventful one for us in terms of turnover of electronic equipment.  We've had to replace our DVD player and receiver, both of which failed in North Carolina in an apparent murder-suicide; we've replaced our TV with a HD-capable LCD flat-screen, since paying $400 for another replacement front screen for a 12-year-old, non-HD-ready back-projection TV just didn't seem like a sensible plan; and now it turns out my 16-year-old Pioneer PD-M530 CD changer has failed.  (I tried to repair it yesterday, but after solving the mechanical issues, it appears there's logic-board issues as well, and I'm not solving those without a full set of service manuals and a logic analyzer.)

We most likely won't be replacing the CD changer, because with 36GB of MP3s on minbar, and with the ability to play single CDs in either our DVD player or our LD player, I think we can do without it.  However, we still have a lot of stuff on VHS tape, and we are going to want to look for a VCR, since our existing Sony VCR is now connected to the small TV in the kids' playroom.

So ... is there a particular VCR that any of you would currently recommend for the best possible image quality (short of insane prices)?  And if so, why that specific VCR?  I've been pleased with the Sony we have, and the SLV-N900 looks like a decent unit, but I'm not much inclined to buy Sony right now after Sony's recent shenanigans with putting rootkits on audio CDs (a fiasco from which, by all accounts, Sony has learned little, if anything).

---

Update:

This JVC SVHS-HiFi 6-head¹ model looks like it might be a pretty good choice, actually.  Amazon.com has them in stock for $82 with free shipping, and it'll record in SVHS mode on regular VHS tapes.

[1]  Four video heads, two audio heads

Comments

[richspk.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I can't help much. I did buy an SVHS deck about 2 years ago, but if I were to do it over again I'd probably take a free VCR from the local freecycle list. Hasn't SVHS been superseded by digital VHS now, though? That would interest me, but it doesn't address the relatively short lifespan of mag tape (in my experience).

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Shows how out of touch I am ... I've never heard of digital VHS. I just looked it up and found that D-VHS appears to be a HD-specific format, and that the recorders are breathtakingly expensive. I saw prices ranging from $700 to $1500.

That doesn't really solve the problem I want to solve, which is not recording new content, but playing the existing VHS tapes (home-copied and pre-recorded) that we already have. The majority of our movie collection is still on VHS, and while even many of the rarities (such as 633 Squadron (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057811/) and 55 Days at Peking (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056800/)) are now available on DVD, we can't afford to replace them all. (And even then, some of them -- 55 Days at Peking, for example -- appear to be available only for Region 2.)

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

I'm with richspk here. None of them are worth spending (much) money on. Go freecycle or craigslist.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

You're dependent on what you want actually showing up, though. Right now, there's no VCRs at all on the local Freecycle, and no VCRs of interest on NH Craigslist. (There's a Go-Video dual-deck for $125, for example, but that $125 will buy me a brand new top-of-the-line Sony VCR.)

There is a potentially-interesting Yamaha CDC-91 5-CD carousel changer for $35 ... but it dates from 1992, and it's huge compared to the Pioneer it'd be replacing.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

(Actually ... $125 will buy the Sony SLVN900 and leave almost $30 change in my pocket.)

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

yeah that's more of a problem for smaller places.

[arasirsul.livejournal.com]

Of course, then there's the annoying question: Of the stuff on VHS, how much of it is stuff you'll ever watch again, and if there is any, can you replace it on DVD for the cost of VCR + hassle?

I found the answer was, "No."

Of course there aren't short people with shrill voices wandering around my house, either...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Good questions. However, quite a lot of it is stuff we'll watch again, and the cost of a VCR, it turns out, would cover replacing 4 to 6 tapes ... out of about 150. Most of those are movies etc. we're going to want to pull out again. I've already discovered that some of them appear to be available only as region 2 discs. And that doesn't even start counting all the Babylon 5 episodes -- which I can get on DVD, and eventually intend to, but at last count I think it'll cost me a couple of hundred bucks.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

The short people have their own VCR and TV up in their playroom. That's why we are looking for another VCR to put in to our stereo rack. Most of their videos are Scholastic's The Magic Schoolbus which I could replace with 3 DVDs but that's $30 each (IIRR) which is a 1/3 more than the VCR replacement he found for us.

(I also need to find a channel that broadcasts The Magic Schoolbus and record all the episodes that Scholastic doesn't sell.)

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

I just saw a 4Vhead-2Ahead RCA VCR for $60 (new) at my local Best Buy. I'm bias about RCA's, since my 6 old one is still running strong.