Dvd Recorders

[albertchampion]

i finally decided to archive my vhs collection to dvd.

i thought that the jvc dr-mv1s would be the cat's meow. two tuners would be making this more versatile than others.

bust buy had it as a clearance item. new in the box. will be taking it back, because from its design and where i have to place it...i can't read its display.

but, it had some other deficiencies.

it didn't make very good dupes all the time.

it also had this other oddity, it wouldn't dupe in the background. duping would apparently take over the tv.

and even the jvc tech rep confirmed this. but he was wrong. if you started the dub process manually from the device, you could keep the tv on cable and watch other channels while dubbing.

but the quality of the dubs left a lot to be desired. so, i decided to try another manufacturers bit of kit.

a panasonic dmr-es30v. as long as the tv is connected to this device via a coax from the rf out, dubbing controls the tv.

i consider this a design defect. there is no legitimate reason for this.

on the other hand, i must say, the quality of dvd dupes created by this machine in the sp mode are fabulous. has duped 30 year old color vhs tapes that were into the gray scale of deterioration and rendered them splendidly.

but i still hate the fact that i cannot do this dubbing in the background.

called the panasonic customer service line. the tech i talked to confirmed the reality of the design. two workarounds he said, connecting the tv to the recorder via video/audio cable or use a 2-way splitter and connect a small monitor to the recorder.

he did agree that the circuit design was faulty.

called sony to learn about their rdr-vx500. after one rep who surrendered, unable to find the answer, i was able to find one that did. once again, if you are dubbing, using rf connections, then you will be unable to use your television and its tuner.

what nonsense.

why do any of these designers think that i want to watch what i have watched previously. all i want to do is transfer the contents of the vhs tape to the dvd-r.

my tv does have video/audio in, but on the front of the chassis. and the panasonic-supplied isn't long enought to get there. but i am going to try that recommendation.

on the other hand, a splitter and a small monitor may be the perfect solution.

any thoughts out there in the peanut gallery?

all eyes and ears.

[devoid]

Welcome to DIY. No piece of equipment is perfect for anyone. Therfore one must configure and work around what has been chosen. Switchers, lots of switchers...

[madpioneer]

A couple of things you may consider when using a DVD recorder. First off getting one with a hard drive will make editing much easier. One thing I discovered was that when trying to dub from Laserdisc or VHS was some of the detail, sharpness was lost along with slightly faded color loss. The copyguard on certain VHS and DVD screwed me up also. The cure for all this was the SIMA SCC2 Color Corrector box. I have no affiliation with SIMA so you won't be lining my pockets any. But the corrector gives you the ability to do just that correct your color and sharpness, contrast and so on. Things that you cannot do just connecting straight to the recorder. It will also eliminate any recent copyguard for personal use backing up your VHS's.
(please no lectures on copyright enfringment here guys! we all know already!thanx!)
That little box is amazing a little expensive but worth it once you see the difference. After my first few recordings without the SCC2 and seeing the after results I wiped my hard drive clean and started over using the SCC2 to fix all my color and sharpness problems.

[MannyE]

Cool advice on that box. I'm going to look into it. I have had great success with my Zenith (can't think of the model number now, but it's a year old so moot point anyway..the current model is probably just as good) recorder. I think the quality and flexibility of this unit is great. I especially find that copies of VHS look outstanding. At under 200 beans, I recommend the Zenith.