Cheap Vhs for TV viewing. The UN tivo
Written: Aug 07 '05
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Pros: Cheap, easy use,setup and program, ET mode useful
Cons: Weak tape transport, so so picture quality,poor build, but most vcrs' are that now.
The Bottom Line: Cheap way to enjoy your collection, but transferring to
DVD-R better still.
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| vincedog3's Full Review: JVC HR-S3800 S-VHS VCR |
How primitive 20th century can you get?? Who wants to use tape anymore with DVD-R machines in the low $100.00 range or so. Seems stupid doesn't it?? Well my collection of tapes being rather unique with no DVD releases in sight in the future mean I got to keep a VCR here until I get one of those DVD-R machines and transfer them over. This will be soon.
In the mean time, my ancient Mitsubishi U91 S-Vhs finally gave up the ghost. 4 motors, great picture detail, but color saturation could have been better, a great servant for me for many years. Transport failed. Ate my tape and would not give it back. In the dumpster it went jammed tape and all.
In with the new JVC HR-S3800. While I am not going to kid anyone how great this unit is built. It's NOT. Like all VCRs' today, save the professional units. This thing is a toy. It can't weigh more than 10 pounds. Upon opening it up, you see the requisite transport components, lifters, guides, Rotary head stack, and head stack guide. You see cheap stamped metal everywhere, and plastic galore. By the way since I had the cover open I snapped off that useless auto clean wand that brushes against the rotary head stack upon initialization. The foam auto cleaning wands deteriorate their foam and later on your rotary head stack gets damaged from that plastic wand less foam hitting it. If you have some tech skills get rid of this useless feature asap. Just properly clean the head stack and guides etc. once a year like you are supposed to and all is well.
Oh well back to putting the flimsy cover back on. I go through initial setup. Clock,date,my rear input select attributes. Auto calibrate on, etc. I love JVCs' great easy setup. One of the best I have seen. Simple and not fancy with useless graphic icons. Just straight forward text menus thank you. I run S-video out to my 32" Loewe Calida TV and run the audio left/right to my Sony A/V receiver. I have cable so I just run S-Video out of it and the left and right audio into the JVC, and use "L-1" input and not use the tuner at all.
Video performance with S-Vhs is very good but not the best I have seen. Picture detail is alittle soft and while it does black and white well, color saturation is about average to slightly better than average. Using my Ampex S-VHS tapes gave me the best results. Originally for ADAT format use, these tapes have a better layering of oxide density and a better binder to allow good data integrity necessary for the ADAT format. It just so happens to do well in my JVC since it is using the S-VHS standard.
Ironically for fun, using JVC XS tape in SP mode and using the ET process was only fair. EP was worse seeing some image bleed and poor line detail.
My Maxell and TDK tapes do better here using either EP/SP modes with the ET encoding. Though again SP is superior here. Good color saturation and detail here.
Audio performance is good. While not as good as my professional Panasonic, It is a notch better than my old non S-VHS hifi JVC and a notch lower than my old Mitsu U91.
Clear midrange and decent midbass response. Highs are clear, but lower bass could be better defined. Sometimes you may like to use a VHS Hifi unit as a long play audio tape recorder/playback of which this unit would be competent but nothing very special here.
Extra features and connections. A front panel connection "F-1" which includes composite video input and left and right audio input. Handy for a camcorder as long as you didn't want to use S-video here. Pretty weak here. How much extra would an S-video input cost?
Rear apron has the requisite Antenna RF input/outputs and and S-video and composite video and left and right audio input/outputs. Some of my VCRs had dual input and output for audio. A very handy feature if you want say copy over to another tape recorder and your tape loops on your receiver were all tied up. This VCR just gives you the bare essentials here.
Tape handling and reliability. This is one of the lamest excuses for a tape loading mechanism. It is way too delicate and flimsy. I notice if I load my tape quickly, sometimes the cassette will get cocked in the loading mechanism and not feed the tape correctly to all the guides and idlers and subsequently around the rotary head stack. One time the carrier got cocked and biased on one side more than the other. Being of technical mind, I rectified this faux pas, and from that point forward I load a tape much slower and mindfully. My Panasonic with its' IQ transport is a model of quick in and out for tape handling with no fuss at all, and never "eats a tape".
The "F-1" connection for video has failed to operate but I have to just use the L-1 input to get around that when special projects call for me to do so. Otherwise no other failure modes or concerns.
Routine cleaning is a breeze since everything is out in the open with no Mu shields or anything else on top of something else. So maintenance wise it is much better than other VCRs' I have had in the past.
Final thoughts. The VCR cannot go away fast enough. Tape thankfully is doomed to die a great death thanks to high density digital optical storage technology and multi-layer media. If you are looking to record you favorite shows on the cheap please buy a DVD-R machine/recorder. No tapes to eat, rewind and you'll be amazed how much better your picture will be. If you have a VHS collection, now is the best time to convert and toss all those space eating VHS tapes. This is after all the 21st century. Provisional recommendation only if transferring tapes to DVD-R is your goal. Otherwise this machine is nothing special.
Competent Rating overall is appropriate.
Thanks for your time.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 120.00
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Epinions.com ID:
vincedog3
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Location: Los Angeles,Ca.,USA
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Experiencing Technology, and helping others, with my experience to enhance their experience.
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