Viability of cheap VHS capture

[spoRv]

I'd say yeah!

[crissrudd4554]

Well I got the machine and remote off eBay. Expect more questions when they arrive.

[crissrudd4554]

Someone on VideoHelp suggested getting another VCR because all my VCRs are 'garbage'. I think this partially gets discredited by the fact that one of my VCRs is the same model my friend had. Yes I understand using a separate machine that's still the same model as another may not necessarily give you the same results but still. Furthermore the kind of VCRs that he's suggesting are in the $200-$600 range. Sorry not spending that much for another VCR. So I've made my decision. If the DMR-ES15 doesn't help, I'm just going back to what I was doing before and use the two Dazzles. They may not be perfect but they're the closest to perfection I've come to in 6 years.

[spoRv]

My hint is to get an industrial S-VHS or VHS player/recorder, or as alternavite, a consumer S-VHS recorder.

Stay with JVC and Panasonic (National) and avoid the others.

If you are lucky, you can spot a good used S-VHS at a very low price - I've found one at 30€, while I paid around the equivalent of 800€ brand new around 1995, and it was a very good price at the time!

[crissrudd4554]

Thanks but I'm calling it quits after I try out the DMR-ES15. I already purchased it for $70 and Im already regretting it. Im afraid someday my bank account is gonna be empty before I even get the results I want. Odds are I'd get the VCR, something goes wrong, then I'll get a suggestion for this, then this, then this, then this, then this, and so on and so on and so on. I've been messing with this for 6 years already. I need a break. I just wish I knew what my friend had right but for some reason I don't.

[crissrudd4554]

For the record that last post wasn't an outburst or anything. I'm just being honest. I'm grateful to all the suggestions everyone's given.

[spoRv]

But maybe the solution is in the DVD-R + VHS combo... try to find a dirty cheap S-VHS recorder (if the TBC in the DVD-R would not work) and give it a try; at least, you should be able to resell both for the same amount of money... probably!

[crissrudd4554]

I'm hesitant to try a DVD/VHS combo based on a period where a friend of my fathers use to burn a lot of our VHS tapes to DVD but a few of mine he could not due to the Macrovision (Star Wars and Frankenstein springs to mind). From what I understand he used a combo deal. Also there's this (not my video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_afXIYiaf9E

I'll keep the S-VHS player under consideration but let me try the DVD Recorder first.

[Koopa Luath]

Ah, yes. Fox, Universal, Disney... when it comes to Macrovision, they were the most persistent (I don't think Paramount joined in until later, but I know from experience their '90s tapes were pretty bad in that regard unless recorded in SLP mode).

[crissrudd4554]

Yeah it's strange. The only Universal and Fox tapes that this friend of my dad was able to burn that I can recall off hand was a Goosebumps tape, an old 1980s Jaws 3 tape, and a 3D tape of Creature from the Black Lagoon.