Any V.C.R. "fans"?

[Telecolor 3007]

Anyone still using the V.C.R.?

 

[Filmboydoug]

Not a fan, but I have a few movies not available on DVD. And I'll use it to record Desperate Housewives and such.

 

[OvenMaster]

Yes, on a daily basis, for both time-shifting and archiving of shows for future reference and viewing. I have three in my house, but mine personally is the only one connected to the outdoor antenna. It makes me smile every time I hear an announcer say, "To order a video tape or DVD of the program you've just seen, send $49.95 to...."
Tom

 

[uofmtiger]

I prefer Tivo, but for archiving high def television, I use the VCR. If they ever come out with a HD DVD recorder, I doubt I will use the VCR very often.

 

[madpioneer]

Currently have Mitsubishi HS-U57 a HS-U59 & a Toshiba. All have above normal speed RW & FF. Jog shuttles on both remotes and front panel, 4 heads & the 57 has a flying erase head. Just gave away a Mitsu HS-U48 to a friend. Have a few rare VHS movies and Rock videos unavailable on DVD. Will continue to keep one in the HT setups for as long as I can keep them operational. :yes:

 

[Micropassatman]

Hey Mark,

I have a Mits HS-U69 that I picked up recently from the SA here. Know much about them? I am looking for the remote and manuals for it, but I've gotten sniped a few times on both. Looks great inside, I'd even venture to say has VERY low hours on it. My other VCRs are a few Sharp hi-fi units from the mid '90s(solid units), and a few Sony editing VCRs. They were such magnificent machines in their day, that I just can't seem to get rid of 'em!

 

[madpioneer]

Micropassatman
If I remember right the 69 also has a flying erase head. Unless I am wrong uses the same remote as the 57. After opening my 59 at $12.99 at GW the self cleaning roller was completely virgin clean. I could almost say it never played a tape? The 57 was a mission for me. I bought one brand new in 93 or 94 at a staggering $583 after taxes. Snapped off a head while cleaning it about a year after owning it. Damn ex-wife kept playing these garage sell cheap a$$ excersise tapes after I warned her they could damage the heads. Too Late! :sigh: So I have searched the thrifts all these years and finally just last month landed one for $25. Fortunatley I kept the original remote and manual. After removing the crusty grease and re-lubing she is working great.

If I had an extra remote you would be welcome to it. Just keep trying the 'bay'. You could eventually snag one for cheap.
But please inform me if I am bidding against you on one, cuz I am out for one for the 59!

 

[uofmtiger]

Will continue to keep one in the HT setups for as long as I can keep them operational.

I plan on leaving mine in my HT, as well. We have a lot of commercial movies on VHS that I do not want to purchase on DVD. Also, it is the only thing that will play DVHS tapes with Dtheater protection. The model is a JVC HMDH30000U DVHS VCR and is also capable of delivering DD5.1. It can also be linked to a computer via the firewire.

 

[Micropassatman]

That's funny Mark, My 69 was priced at $12.99 too! Thing was - it stayed that way for three weeks! I kept going back and waiting for the price to drop, but it never did. They never put an original pricing date, so every week it was supposed to drop, but nobody knew when it got placed on the shelf. I finally asked the Mgr. if she would knock the price down, so she sold it for $9.99. What did this thing sell for new? Google doesn't turn up much. I found one post that said $700! Wow. Mits knows their VCRs. My tape guide pad was clean as a whistle as well. What's your bay username? Mine's the same as my username here.

 

[Micropassatman]

UOFM,

Got any pics? That thing sounds great!

 

[madpioneer]

What's your bay username?

madpioneer

Google doesn't turn up much. I found one post that said $700! Wow.

Although I cannot verify the exact price of your 69. If the 57 was around $545 to $550 not including tax you can bet the 69 was at least $600. It was hard to determine which one to get when they were new. The 57 has no jog shuttle on the face. I remember talking to the sales person at Circuit City where I got it. One model had vcr+ the other didn't. One had a flying erase head the other didn't. I wanted a jog shuttle on the face and the remote but liked the clean look and editing features of the 57 so I opted for that paticular model over the rest. I could have cared less about vcr+. Most of the models were not cheap. I think around $250 starting to $500 & upward.

 

[madpioneer]

The funny thing is my Toshiba that I purchased a few years ago @ $100 does just about all that the Mitsu 57 does but not near the $583 price. But than again the 57 has audio dubbing, recording balance adjust, recording level adjust plus those damn cool left & right colored audio meters! The on screen video adjustments are abscent from any recent vcr model I have seen. Not too many out there where you can actually adjust sharpness of the picture quality. This makes VHS movies look alot better not only do you set up your TV sharpness but you can tweak it at the Mitsu to get that just right soft or sharper picture you are looking for. Not DVD quality by far but damn it looks good for 240 line resolution vcr.

 

[Micropassatman]

Not too many out there where you can actually adjust sharpness of the picture quality. This makes VHS movies look alot better not only do you set up your TV sharpness but you can tweak it at the Mitsu to get that just right soft or sharper picture you are looking for. Not DVD quality by far but damn it looks good for 240 line resolution vcr.

Mark,

My 69 has nearly 500 lines of rez - it's the S-VHS model. Has all the bells-and-whistles of which you speak though. The audio-dubbing rocks(so do the meters!). My Sony 960HF also has the picture sharpness adjustment. My Sharp units also have the meters and recording input-level adjustment sliders. Love the meters! :thmbsp:

Toshiba makes a good product, but I'd like to see how it would hold up to the abuses our 'vintage' VCRs did for the past few decades!

 

[madpioneer]

My 69 has nearly 500 lines of rez - it's the S-VHS model.

Yep! Forgot that part, just saw one on the 'bay' and sur nuf S-VHS!

Speaking VCR here what the heck happened to the dissappearing recording speed EP or LP 4 hour mode?

Remember vcrs had :

SP-2 hour Standard Play

LP or EP- 4 hour Long Play or Extended play

SLP- 6 hour Super Long Play

Then LP/EP was gone after a few years and now EP is the 6 hour mode on newer models. Some vcr's will play an older tape recorded in the 4 hour mode but cannot record in that mode! WHY!? WHY!? :dammit: :gigglemad

 

[Micropassatman]

Maybe it reduced their cost of manufacturing? I vaguely remember something being said about SP(2HR) and EP(6HR) having better quality audio/video than LP(4HR) did, for some reason. Can't remember why though.

 

[Markw]

I use mune tor time shifting and the hundred or so VHS movies I have in my collection. DPL2 still sounds pretty durn good, considering it's an obsolete technology. Just watch "Iron Giant" on VHS for example.

If I wasn't for VHS*, I'd most likely never be able to keep up with "Smallville", at least without sacrificing major parts of my life.

*I'm too cheap for TIVO and DVD recorders yet.

 

[Micropassatman]

Ahh yes...Smallville. I have just aquired Season 4 on DVD, and am planning a marathon weekend to catch up. DD-5.1 and letterboxed! Yeah! VHS isn't dead yet, but there are too many reasons to use my Tivo and DVD burner in place of the VCR. I need to order some true S-VHS tapes, and see what all the hype was about!

 

[uofmtiger]

Got any pics? That thing sounds great!

I do not have pics, but I can get some. The great part of this machine is its ability to record HD programming right onto SVHS tape. I actually had to open up the machine and clip off a plastic sensor to get it to work with all of my HD recordings, but it was very easy. You can read about how I record HD to the VCR and then move it to my computer on my webpage in the "firewire" section midway down the page.

If you still want to see pics, let me know and I will take some this weekend. The VCR features two firewire ports, component inputs and an optical output. The only downside is that it cannot record HD off of component (although it will play HD over component), so you have to have a firewire equipped cable box or HDTV to get it to record. My cable company was in no hurry to get me one of these boxes, so I had to be very persistent.

 

[Jeffhs]

I have a Panasonic VCR in my entertainment system, along with a Cyberhome DVD player. I use the VCR mostly for time-shifting and watching old movies and TV series I taped from broadcast and cable 20+ years ago (I have about 70 VHS cassettes of such programs, and am adding more all the time, whenever something comes on cable I really like and want to keep; the newest addition to my library is a recent episode of America's Funniest Home Videos on WGN, in which talking cats [!] are featured). I really don't see the sense in spending hundreds of dollars on TiVo, which also requires a subscription fee, when very good DVD/VCR combo players are available these days for less, in many cases under $200. (I recently saw Emerson VCRs at Big Lots priced at $23.88, and combo VCR/DVD players for only about $30 or so more.) A VCR does basically the same thing as TiVo except, of course, TiVo is digital whereas VCRs are, always have been and always will be analog devices. Blank VHS videocassettes are dirt cheap now as well (I can get them at Big Lots for 98 cents apiece, so whenever I am in the store I try to get at least two).

BTW, I get a kick as well out of those TV ads where the announcer mentions "to order a videocassette of (name of program), send ($...) to..." Why send away for a prerecorded cassette when you can tape the same program while you are watching it? This is not copyright infringement if you don't show the tapes commercially or try to copy and sell them; besides, viewers have had the freedom to tape TV shows with VCRs for decades, starting in 1975. It seems to me that the sales of prerecorded cassettes of TV shows is just another way the producers of these programs have of lining their pockets--in other words, corporate greed at the expense of the consumer. I realize it costs money, and a lot of it, to produce these prerecorded VHS tapes (which probably accounts for the high cost of these copies, not to mention mailing, shipping and handling charges), but as I said, one can always tape the same show on any garden-variety VCR for the cost of a blank VHS cassette. The same thing goes for ordering printed transcripts of TV programs such as Meet the Press, et al. If these are ordered from the network's supplier, the price is very high (in many cases over $5, which includes postage, printing costs and other expenses--I can remember when one could order a MTP transcript from Merkle Press, later Kelly Press, for less than $1 in the '70s; boy, how times have changed--Burrelle's Transcripts, which prints the MTP transcripts today, charges an arm and a leg). However, in these days of the Internet and the instant availability of transcripts of any such program on a network website, all one need do is log on to the site, click Print or Ctrl+P on a computer, and a few minutes or seconds later...voila, a printed transcript of the program in question. Again, the driving force (behind the networks' sales of printed show transcripts at highway-robbery prices) is, IMHO, corporate greed at our expense, keeping in mind the normal expenses incurred in printing, mailing and so forth. The need for the networks to supply such transcripts is not as great as it once was, but it is still there; the TV networks are and will be making money on them as long as they can possibly do so.

 

[hakka26]

Just picked up a Go Video GV3000Z in as new condition with remote and manual. Six head dual cassette copier. Suppose to have some special software or something in it. Haven't got around to replacing my other VCR yet, but it sounds interesting.