Author Topic: State of the VCR market? (Read 6491 times)

ChuckNet · « **Reply #15 on:** September 26, 2004, 09:25:12 PM »

I just won a Sansui DVD-R/VCR combo off eBay and plan to start converting my VHS collection as soon as it arrives...however, since most reliable sources advise against recording anything in SLP (6-hr.) mode on DVD, there's gonna be a good amount of re-arranging taking place.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

roadgeek · « **Reply #16 on:** September 26, 2004, 10:54:08 PM »

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Sep 26 2004, 08:25 PM\'] however, since most reliable sources advise against recording anything in SLP (6-hr.) mode on DVD, [/quote]
Uh-oh. Do you mean recording in SLP mode directly to DVD, or copying an SLP tape to DVD?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #17 on:** September 26, 2004, 11:13:34 PM »

[quote name=\'roadgeek\' date=\'Sep 26 2004, 10:54 PM\'] [quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Sep 26 2004, 08:25 PM\'] however, since most reliable sources advise against recording anything in SLP (6-hr.) mode on DVD, [/quote]
Uh-oh. Do you mean recording in SLP mode directly to DVD, or copying an SLP tape to DVD? [/quote]
DVD recorders have settings just like VHS ones do for how much time you can get on a disc. What Chuck is referring to is the fact that the DVD's six-hour setting gives you results that are just this side of unwatchable, regardless of whether the original VHS source was recorded on SP or SLP. (Naturally, though, the better the original source, the better your end-result DVD is going to be.)

For watchability, I don't go any higher than the three-hour setting, and only then if I absolutely have to in order to fit something that long on a single disc. My recorder has a 2.5 hour setting and I use that if I want to get an entire week's worth of shows on one disc, but even then the quality gets a little iffy.

For those of you who archive tons of shows and just want to refer back to them now and then, you might get away with using the DVD recorder's six-hour setting. I know some people who are doing that. But if quality of the final result is even remotely a factor for you, plan on getting no more than two or at most three hours on a disc. Naturally you'll be able to experiment and determine fairly quickly which setting gives you the quality you're looking for. And as we said before, if quality is the MAIN factor, you're burning these things on your computer anyway.

trainman · « **Reply #18 on:** September 27, 2004, 01:36:05 AM »

I've had TiVo for almost four years now, but I still archive shows to VHS. My circa-1997 Sony VCR recently decided to start eating tapes, so I replaced it with this Samsung model, which so far seems to be working very well. (I actually bought it on eBay from a company that had a lot of overstock units...for all I know, they all "fell off the back of a truck," but I didn't ask any questions.)

ClockGameJohn · « **Reply #19 on:** September 27, 2004, 07:35:40 AM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Sep 26 2004, 11:13 PM\'] What Chuck is referring to is the fact that the DVD's six-hour setting gives you results that are just this side of unwatchable, regardless of whether the original VHS source was recorded on SP or SLP. [/quote]
Matt,

Just curious if you are referring to taking old tapes and then putting them to the 6 hour DVD format, or recording straight off of TV?

If it is a very special show, I will save it with the 1 hour format. (Perfect aired quality), but if I'm saving about 6 shows, I use the 6 hour format and generally the quality on my discs doesn't look any worse than what an SP VHS tape would be. I [generally] record from my TiVo to DVD. Am I a freak of nature or am I overlooking something that may change in the future? (In case I'm oblivious to some DVD bible rules?)

MSTieScott · « **Reply #20 on:** September 27, 2004, 04:09:27 PM »

On the subject of DVD recorders, has there been any indication of a trend toward either DVD+RW or DVD-RW? Since I primarily use my VCR for time-shifting shows, I don't want to get a DVD recorder until I can be reasonably confident there will be media for it a few years from now.

--
Scott Robinson

ChuckNet · « **Reply #21 on:** September 27, 2004, 10:04:16 PM »

Quote

But if quality of the final result is even remotely a factor for you, plan on getting no more than two or at most three hours on a disc.

Guess it depends on the model...I've recieved some shows in trading that were recorded in 4-hr. mode on DVD, and despite some minor compression artifacts, the quality was VG-E, I'd say.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #22 on:** September 28, 2004, 02:28:29 PM »

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Sep 27 2004, 10:04 PM\'] Guess it depends on the model...I've recieved some shows in trading that were recorded in 4-hr. mode on DVD, and despite some minor compression artifacts, the quality was VG-E, I'd say. [/quote]
Also, ClockJohn said:

Quote

If it is a very special show, I will save it with the 1 hour format. (Perfect aired quality), but if I'm saving about 6 shows, I use the 6 hour format and generally the quality on my discs doesn't look any worse than what an SP VHS tape would be.

Ultimately, it's not the model, it's the "eye of the beholder". What is satisfactory to one person won't be satisfactory to another. In my job, I'm making DVDs from original Mini-DV tapes using a digital firewire connection, so after that, anything off-air or dubbed from a VHS tape is going to look much worse. And sure, a lot of it depends on your original source. Something recorded straight off the TV is going to look a lot better than a dub of an SLP tape.

Everyone treats their collections differently. I'd like to think you all have some shows that you want to keep looking the best you can, and a whole lot more for which that's not as important an issue. That's why I suggest the first thing you do is use +RWs or -RWs to experiment and find out what your personal quality threshold is going to be.

But a warning: Those of you who have six hours of shows per tape and are planning to fit those onto a single DVD are probably going to be bitterly disappointed with the result.

mystery7 · « **Reply #23 on:** September 28, 2004, 03:16:44 PM »

To expand on what Matt just said: all this wonderful new digital technology can't compensate for bad source material. Those tapes you recorded in EP will look just as bad on DVD as they do on the VHS tapes you're burning from. If you burn those tapes to a DVD at the lowest quality, they'll look even worse - some could be downright unwatchable.

ClockGameJohn: You may be overlooking the fact that there's quite a difference in resolution between your DVD burner and a VHS recorder. A DVD is good for about 540 lines of resolution, while VHS gives about 250. What you're doing is basically cutting out over half the picture detail by burning DVDs in the 6-hour mode, and that's why you don't see the difference. Not sure how good your TV is, but that could be another reason you don't see it.

Moral: sometimes it pays to pay more for a few extra blank DVDs.

melman1 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 29, 2004, 02:22:15 PM »

Wanted to wrap up the VCR part of this thread. I found a Walmart with two VCR's - a no-name brand and a Sanyo model with no front display panel. (Remember when front panel displays would show tape time, clock time, and the channel at the same time?) Sears, Best Buy and Circuit City all had the same two models - the Panasonic 4524 that I bought and a Sony model (which uses the same remote control as the Sony I already have, so I can't buy that).

The folks in alt.video.vcr seem to like Mitsubishi units (they still make one VHS model), but they do not use 19-micron video heads which the rest of the industry converted to years ago.

A local store (Ultimate Electronics) carries the JVC SVHS-ET model that mystery7 recommended. I'm going to check that out tonight. And I will start thinking about DVD recorders a lot more seriously.