groink wrote:

As for the prices, the starting bid price for the SONY units is at $150 for the deluxe editing models, which I have a eye on. There's one particular unit that appears to be fully functional, it just hasn't been re-furbished prior to posting on eBay. I've e-mailed the seller asking for shipping charges to Hawaii (he says he ships world-wide). There's a SONY service facility right in Mapunapuna, about a stone's throw from Pearl Harbor where I work, so if I do receive the unit, I'll head straight for there to get the belts changes and re-calibrated.

Good news. You can't go wrong with a Sony.

i myself have 2 S-vhs vcrs right now. one is a Mitsubishi HS U760 (which i bought 5-6 years ago at good guys, it was a floor display, and didn't have a remote, so i can't really do much editing with it). but i mainly bought it for the S-Video output. it has served me good since i've had it.
the other is a samsung worldwide vcr (which also S-VHS). i just mainly used this one for PAL tapes that i bought from amazon.uk.
like people have said, your best bet is to find one off of ebay or from an online store.
_________________

bmwracer wrote:

Good news. You can't go wrong with a Sony.

agreed, anything sony is great! I'm a loyalist to them

@ amrayu: ohh if you ever want to get rid of one of those I'm willing to pick it up at bart

eltinator wrote:

agreed, anything sony is great! I'm a loyalist to them @ amrayu: ohh if you ever want to get rid of one of those I'm willing to pick it up at bart

hhahaa.. not sure if im willing to part from them til i get rid of all my VHS tapes first..
i still have several hundred tapes to transfer over to dvd.

i bought the mitsubishi s-vhs vcr deck for $250.00 back in the day.
and the samsung worldwide s-vhs vcr deck for atleast $350.00...
damn.. why was i so crazy.. it had everything to do with capturing stuff digitally.
_________________

SARS High Quality Asian Drama FanSUBs:
http://www.sars-fansubs.com/
..dorama & fansubbing obsession blog.. http://blog.goo.ne.jp/amrayu78/

amrayu wrote:

hhahaa.. not sure if im willing to part from them til i get rid of all my VHS tapes first.. i still have several hundred tapes to transfer over to dvd. i bought the mitsubishi s-vhs vcr deck for $250.00 back in the day. and the samsung worldwide s-vhs vcr deck for atleast $350.00... damn.. why was i so crazy.. it had everything to do with capturing stuff digitally.

Whoa that's quite an investment. I basically use a normal VCR for capturing. I was hoping that my ATI AIW Radeon 8500 would make up for the lack of quality from a non s-video vhs but it didn't turn out too good. *sigh* oh well. I guess it's a good time for me to start saving up then

If anyone is still looking for a divx capable dvd player, there's one at CompUSA for oly $69.99

Philips DVP642

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=312093&pfp=srch1

No words yet on it being it region free yet, but give it time. Something bound to turn up. I currently have it hooked my 27" Samsung Flat Screen via component on some guage composite cables, and I'm more than happy with it as of right now. Much better than that dead Go-Video that I had

If any of you guys are still interested in the LiteOn LVD-2002, PC Club must've gotten a hold of a bunch of 'em, 'cause they're in stock and for only $109.99USD:

http://www.pcclub.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1546968

Buruburu wrote:

If anyone is still looking for a divx capable dvd player, there's one at CompUSA for oly $69.99 Philips DVP642 http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=312093&pfp=srch1 No words yet on it being it region free yet, but give it time. Something bound to turn up. I currently have it hooked my 27" Samsung Flat Screen via component on some guage composite cables, and I'm more than happy with it as of right now. Much better than that dead Go-Video that I had

How's the divx playback on this? I think I might get a divx player sometime soon. Or maybe once the Xbox gets to $99 I'll just get that, since that can be hacked to play just about anything, even OGMs.

you should invest in a dvd recorder. as long as your vcr plays the vhs tapes clearly, the dvd recorder will record them in very high quality, you basically get the same copy of the VHS tape on DVD-r.
i have a panasonic dmr e30. i dont bother with capturing w/the computer to the hard drive anymore..i save that precious space for my downloads of dramas..
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amrayu wrote:

you should invest in a dvd recorder. as long as your vcr plays the vhs tapes clearly, the dvd recorder will record them in very high quality, you basically get the same copy of the VHS tape on DVD-r. i have a panasonic dmr e30. i dont bother with capturing w/the computer to the hard drive anymore..i save that precious space for my downloads of dramas..

Haha I see. I actually have a DVD player that is a VHS and DVD combo. Not sure if that thing can record VHS to dvd though. I know it can go DVD to VHS. Hmm maybe I should read the manuel. It's by Go VIdeo.

eltinator wrote:

Haha I see. I actually have a DVD player that is a VHS and DVD combo. Not sure if that thing can record VHS to dvd though. I know it can go DVD to VHS. Hmm maybe I should read the manuel. It's by Go VIdeo.

It's not a guarantee that you can "dub"* on a DVD/VCR combo unit. Make sure that it does before you buy it.

For example, on a couple of SONY units I read about on www.dvdrhelp.com, SONY doesn't mention a single word about dubbing anywhere in their documentation. Then, when one of owners called SONY about it, SONY basically said "Actually, you can dub on the XXXX model, however we cannot tell you how because doing so infringes on copyrights!"

*dub - meaning you can copy a protected DVD to video tape.

--- groink

groink wrote:

It's not a guarantee that you can "dub"* on a DVD/VCR combo unit. Make sure that it does before you buy it. For example, on a couple of SONY units I read about on www.dvdrhelp.com, SONY doesn't mention a single word about dubbing anywhere in their documentation. Then, when one of owners called SONY about it, SONY basically said "Actually, you can dub on the XXXX model, however we cannot tell you how because doing so infringes on copyrights!" *dub - meaning you can copy a protected DVD to video tape. --- groink

HAhaha I see. Won't go reverse though eh? tape to DVD?

It's perfect from what I can tell. Xvid, DivX 3 4 and 5 all fine. even fast foward and rewind perfectly.

eltinator wrote:

HAhaha I see. Won't go reverse though eh? tape to DVD?

Is there a such animal as a DVD-writable/VHS combo unit? Didn't know if one does exist. Otherwise, about two years ago I purchased the Canopus AVC-100 unit that converts s-video or composite video to Firewire. Then that way, my Macintosh thinks my VCR is actually a DV camcorder. I use this same device today to covert stuff to DVD.

There's a much better solution out there now... And that's the Pinnacle Studio Moviebox DV:

http://www.pinnaclesys.com/ProductPage_n.asp?Product_ID=1884&Langue_ID=7

It has the same features as my Canopus unit, but it also includes Pinnacle Studio 9 which has helped me a great deal! The Moviebox DV along with a DVD burner -- killer combo!!!!

--- groink

eltinator wrote:

HAhaha I see. Won't go reverse though eh? tape to DVD?

most likely yours won't do that. mine is actually a stand alone unit, it looks identical to a DVD player (maybe a little bigger), but all you do is stick a DVD-r (or DVD-ram) into the thing, and plug your vcr up to it, and press play on the vcr and record on the recorder.
the dvd recorder unit also has a tv tuner, so u can hook up your cable and record tv shows straight to dvd.
so its just like a VCR, but does DVD-rs instead.
_________________

SARS High Quality Asian Drama FanSUBs:
http://www.sars-fansubs.com/
..dorama & fansubbing obsession blog.. http://blog.goo.ne.jp/amrayu78/

amrayu wrote:

most likely yours won't do that. mine is actually a stand alone unit, it looks identical to a DVD player (maybe a little bigger), but all you do is stick a DVD-r (or DVD-ram) into the thing, and plug your vcr up to it, and press play on the vcr and record on the recorder. the dvd recorder unit also has a tv tuner, so u can hook up your cable and record tv shows straight to dvd. so its just like a VCR, but does DVD-rs instead.

Ohhhh I get it now! WOW, these are like super machines!

I seriosuly gotta try them out. Sadly I dont even have a dvd burner for my comp! Yes I still live in the stone age

eltinator wrote:

Sadly I dont even have a dvd burner for my comp! Yes I still live in the stone age

Hey, same here, E. But it's impossible to keep up... It's evolving so fast...

bmwracer wrote:

Hey, same here, E. But it's impossible to keep up... It's evolving so fast...

Yea seriously, I upgrade my comp like 2 times a year to stay fresh. Too bad stupid Intel isn't giving me a good deal for a CPU and motherboard combo this spring for their ICC. I really wanted to try out the 3.4ghz Prescott

groink wrote:

Is there a such animal as a DVD-writable/VHS combo unit? Didn't know if one does exist. Otherwise, about two years ago I purchased the Canopus AVC-100 unit that converts s-video or composite video to Firewire. Then that way, my Macintosh thinks my VCR is actually a DV camcorder. I use this same device today to covert stuff to DVD. --- groink

Panasonic is releasing any day now a Panasonic DMR-E75VS DVD Recorder VHS VCR Combo.
http://www.videodirect.com/panasonic/dvd/panasonic-dmr-e75vs-dvd-recorder.html

There is a model also by Go-video. But from my experience with their dual deck vcr models I would not touch one.
http://www.govideo.com/?GV=VR4940

Scorpion wrote:

Panasonic is releasing any day now a Panasonic DMR-E75VS DVD Recorder VHS VCR Combo. http://www.videodirect.com/panasonic/dvd/panasonic-dmr-e75vs-dvd-recorder.html There is a model also by Go-video. But from my experience with their dual deck vcr models I would not touch one. http://www.govideo.com/?GV=VR4940

Without further review of these DVDR/VHS combo units, I expect the mainstream companies like SONY and Panasonic to have the macrovision detection enabled out of the factory to prevent their products from being used for bootlegging or backing up macrovision-protected VHS and DVD products. What you'd then need to do is wait until someone on www.dvdrhelp.com posts a macrovision hack for any given make/model. Like I mentioned in an earlier message on this topic, SONY says their products can be used for dubbing -- they just won't tell you for copyright reasons.

--- groink