Reccomend me a VCR

[yeedog]

I tried searching but i couldn't really find much. Hopefully this is the correct section to post in.

I have a lot of old VHS tapes, mid 90's and earlier that i want to convert and put on DVD. I want it in the best quality possible and figure that my bargin bin $50 VCR won't cut it. I'm all set on the PC side in terms of editing and encoding. I just need to get it into my computer somehow.

A lot of these videos have issues with this like alignment and not all of them are masters. Some of them are copies that i got off other peoples vhs tapes. They were taped with a wide range of vcrs over the years as well.

I'm looking to spend at most $1000 on the equipment i need. I figure a good VCR and a TBC is needed at minimum, but what can I use for the AD conversion? Something that has firewire or usb that i can connect directly to my computer would be fantastic!

I have a DV camcorder, but it doesn't have digital pass through so i would have to tape it to a miniDV tape first and then bring it into the computer which would be annoying and double the time it takes to transfer it to the computer.


Thanks for any and all replies

[rfmmars]

Here is a good pro deck, I have one of these. Remember these play only SP speed

http://cgi.ebay.com/JVC-811-SVHS-Edit-Deck-Org-Owner-NR_W0QQitemZ110057035014QQihZ001QQcategoryZ21168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For $500.00 there is the HR U 9900 series with TBC. It will handle all speeds however there is no standard for LP and SLP speeds.

So if you have some LP & slp stuff you might want to buy several used decks for best compacabilty. Your copies will be a nightmare anyway. Sometimes using composite in on these is better than SVHS in.

Get an "analog capture card" ATI for Mpeg2 capture or a Phillips 713x chip set card and use either VirtualVCR or DeScaler for capturing software.

Richard
photorecall.net

[yeedog]

Here is a good pro deck, I have one of these. Remember these play only SP speed

http://cgi.ebay.com/JVC-811-SVHS-Edit-Deck-Org-Owner-NR_W0QQitemZ110057035014QQihZ001QQcategoryZ21168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For $500.00 there is the HR U 9900 series with TBC. It will handle all speeds however there is no standard for LP and SLP speeds.

So if you have some LP & slp stuff you might want to buy several used decks for best compacabilty. Your copies will be a nightmare anyway. Sometimes using composite in on these is better than SVHS in.

Get an "analog capture card" ATI for Mpeg2 capture or a Phillips 713x chip set card and use either VirtualVCR or DeScaler for capturing software.

Richard
photorecall.net


Thanks for the reply.

I honestly don't think i'd know how to use that pro deck if i got it. Plus many of the videos are multiple speeds so that pro deck wouldn't be used all that much.

Also buying any kind of addon card for the computer would not be an option. I don't have any extra pci/pciE slots available to install it in. I would need some kind of external DAC that i could connect to via firewire or usb.

I'll have to check out that HR U 9900 vcr and see what it can do.


EDIT:

So i looked around for this HR U 9900 vcr and i figured out through some google searches that it was a JVC HRS-9900U. Sadly nobody seems to sell this vcr even if somebody wanted to buy one....


EDIT2:

anybody have opinions on this model: JVC SR-V101US ? It seems like it has all the features of the above mentioned 9900 and can be found for about 230. Anybody ever used it?

I was also looking at the Datavideo TBC-1000 (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=185957&is=REG&addedTroughType=search ) and a Datavideo DAC-200 ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=434634&is=REG&addedTroughType=search )

So the chain would be vcr -> tbc -> dac -> computer ( via firewire )

Would this give me some good results to start with? I assume i'll be getting a DV avi file which should be fine as the content vhs anyways.

[rfmmars]

I looked at the JVC SR-V101US. The low 101 number normally means its a entry level model. Also look for 7700 & 8800 series on ebay.. Yes get a USB capture unit...I like the ATI unit. You can capture Mpeg2 at 20,000 BPS CBR with no dropped frames.

Also look at the used Panasonic series Model AG 1970

Edit: I forgot to say that the low model numbers like 101 have not been good units at all in the past. Remember no engineering is going into the design of new SVHS machine, it is a dead market.

Richard

[yeedog]

I looked at the JVC SR-V101US. The low 101 number normally means its a entry level model. Also look for 7700 & 8800 series on ebay.. Yes get a USB capture unit...I like the ATI unit. You can capture Mpeg2 at 20,000 BPS CBR with no dropped frames.

Also look at the used Panasonic series Model AG 1970

Edit: I forgot to say that the low model numbers like 101 have not been good units at all in the past. Remember no engineering is going into the design of new SVHS machine, it is a dead market.

Richard


Thanks for the suggestions. How much should I be looking to pay for a used Panasonic series Model AG 1970? I see there is one on ebay for 100 bucks buy it now. The auction said it had limited use and everything was working.

Ideally i would like to capture to something like a DV avi since I would be editing the video before putting it on a DVD. I'd like to encoded to to mpeg2 after the editing with my custom combo of avisinth scripts and cce. Though maybe the better vcr would allow me to eliminate the avisynith scripts...

[rfmmars]

Thanks for the suggestions. How much should I be looking to pay for a used Panasonic series Model AG 1970? I see there is one on ebay for 100 bucks buy it now. The auction said it had limited use and everything was working.

Ideally i would like to capture to something like a DV avi since I would be editing the video before putting it on a DVD. I'd like to encoded to to mpeg2 after the editing with my custom combo of avisinth scripts and cce. Though maybe the better vcr would allow me to eliminate the avisynith scripts...

The general price range for a AG 1970 is $150 -$200.00. Also there is the AG 1980 which I think has a dropout compensator. I would recogmend ATI's Mpeg2 or Leadtool's Mjpeg capture over DV.avi , just a lot more options. I have done all three, roll your dice!

Richard