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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

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Old 15th Nov 2018, 9:55 pm   #1
collisr
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Default Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

Hi all,

Hope you don't mind me picking your brains;

I have recently acquired some great mid 80s TV shows on VHS tapes and was surprised to find they were recorded in long-play (LP). (The guy must have had one of the earliest LP machines).

I use a Panasonic Professional AG7350 with G2 multi-standard timebase corrector for standard play VHS which gives great results, but wondered what you guys recommend for LP?

The conventional wisdom of the 'net talks about the
Panasonic NV-FS200 but I suspect that's because most people need a TBC built in. They are usually disproportionately expensive when they do turn up, so any other recommendations?

Rob
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Old 16th Nov 2018, 1:16 am   #2
ben
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

The earliest LP machines were the Akai VS8, Panasonic NV-730 and Hitachi VT17E (all 1983 I believe). They were mono.

To be honest, you'd be better off getting any well made LP VCR and if necessary, doing a tape path alignment to match your tapes. Correct alignment is essential /critical at such a low speed. The best machine in the world will yield poor results if its tape path is not adjusted to be close to that in the deck used to record the tapes.

Don't neglect the linear audio whilst you're in there! Given the slow speed, that is likely to be pretty dire even when the azimuth is spot on, so it'd be unintelligible if it is 'out'.
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Old 16th Nov 2018, 1:37 am   #3
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

Panasonic NV-FS88/200 hands down…

Fivos
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Old 16th Nov 2018, 4:45 am   #4
terry vin
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

Late 90's Philips models using JVC S-vhs deck and electronics with a TBC are still quite cheap. Model number VR900 ? Was quite good on long play, most Panasonic decks seem to drop the HIFI audio on LP recordings, resulting in the mono audio kicking in at the worst drop out point on worn/ poorly stored cassettes. The ones that seem to be the best regarding LP audio are the NV F65 and NV D80.
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Old 16th Nov 2018, 11:39 am   #5
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

Another consideration is that you want a deck with the lowest possible number of hours on it. As said earlier, any adjustment is critical at LP, so things like drum and tape path wear will have a drastic effect before they show up in SP mode.
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Old 16th Nov 2018, 3:14 pm   #6
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

Thanks everyone. Food for thought.

I may try "tuning up" my Sony SLV-SE730 first and see what the results are like. Then check out Fivos' recommendation.
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Old 6th Dec 2018, 10:01 pm   #7
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

I've tested over 40 SVHS decks to establish which gives the best SVHS & VHS playback. Mostly Panasonic but I've tested a few JVCs as well.

I've not specifically tested LP playback, as I almost never get LP tapes.

For JVC, I've found anything from the HRS-5* HRS-6* & HRS-7* series to be pretty average. I've never tried the highest end of the JVC machines.

Panasonic - for SP VHS playback, either of the the HS860* or HS960* are excellent and probably your best bet. The HS850 is also very good, as are the FS88, HS800 and FS200*. Most other SVHS decks are good, to be honest, the only ones I'd avoid are the H830 (probably the most common on ebay - it's not bad but not the best), HS820, HS900, HS950 and most notably the HS1000 edit machine which gives much worse playback than its little brother the HS800 (just as the FS88 gives better playback than the FS200).

* denotes machines with internal TBC.

For SVHS, the best resolution I've seen is from the FS88, better than any of the later machines, although the colour rendition on the FS88 isn't as good.
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Old 7th Dec 2018, 3:01 pm   #8
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Default Re: Best (S)-VHS LP VCR for transferring tapes

I agree with terry vin here. I use a Philips rebadge of a JVC model. It's model number is VR1000. Gives very good quality in both speeds and being an SVHS machine has s-video output. They can be quite expensive to get hold of though. Not as sharp as some of the Panasonics in LP but I suspect this is more due to extra edge enhancement on the Panasonics. It has a built in line tbc and noise reduction. I also run it through a full frame tbc before capturing it.
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