S-VHS VCR questions

[John Jennings]

I'm thinking about getting an S-VHS VCRs whilst I wait for DVD-R to come down in price. Only looking to spend ~£250 max

Just a point in the direction of some decent reviews would be appreicated, or things to look out for when buying one as I don't know a great deal about S-VHS VCRs (never had one before).

I'm looking at the following two;

1) JVC HRS6855

2) Panasonic NV-HS825 (HS860 sounded good, but can't seem to find them in stock anywhere. Possibly a deleted model).

Anybody have either of those, and have some comments? Alternatively, recommendations for a different recorder would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
John

[pjweston]

You could try the usual audio/ home cinema mags e.g.

www.homecinemachoice.com
www.home-entertainment.co.uk

VCRs do not seem to be the flavour of the month, though. TBH, I doubt that you'll see too much difference in picture and sound quality between S-VHS recorders these days. The technology is pretty mature now and it's mostly the 'quality' brands that make S-VHS decks anyway. It may well be a case of buying the cheapest machine that has the feautures you need.

FWIW, I bought a Panasonic 820 (an 825 minus a few gadgets) simply because it had the basic features I wanted: S-VHS ET, 16 timer entries & 12 hour EP mode. I've always been impressed with the picture/ sound from my on Panasonic VCRs and the 820 is no exception - certainly it makes much better recordings than my old VHS Panasonic (as you'd expect). I'm sure that the Sharp & JVC models are fine choices too, though.

[MikeK]

I have a JVC 6600 SVHS deck - been very happy with it.

I think they all sport ET now, which means near SVHS quality on standard high grade tapes, which are a lot cheaper (eg average E180 SVHS tape is about £4-5, whereas TDK EHG can be bought for abot £1.50 each or less. But I'd double check the deck in question does have it. (PS mine doesn't - and those SVHS tapes do seem a bit wallet busting when you are shelling out £40 or so for 10 :) )

I wasn't too fussed about editing features etc etc, so I got a relativley basic unit, but it still has the features most people want, plus in my case 3 AV in/outputs.

I doubt there's anything signficant in performance terms between JVC or Panny - although the JVC decks look better value to me.
The 6855 should be available for around £170ish delivered.


Performance of SVHS varies though - from a bit better than normal VHS on broadcast recordings, to far better with a high quality source.
But given that the price difference is now only £50 or so between a VHS deck and it's similarly specced SVHS sibling, I'd definitely go for SVHS every time.

[John Jennings]

Cheers guys, some useful info. I might have a look at the Panasnonic 820, I think the only things it's missing is the jog/shuttle editing features, which realistically I'm never going to use (other than to play around with).

Browsing on some other forums a couple of guys mentioned that Time Base Correction was a really useful feature to go for. Any thoughts as to whether it's important to the average guy (apparently it restores the sync pulses on worn out old tapes)?

Cheers,
John