Opinion of JVC HM-DH40000U D-VHS?
 

Was thinking of picking this up since I wanted a new VCR to back up my VHS onto DVD and hell, might as well go HD while I'm at it. Anyone have it? Seems to get nothing but great reviews across the board.

I don't have this unit, but I was checking it out on Amazon and the reviews weren't very good. Of course, there were only six reviews, so that doesn't mean much. Also, I know you have to take all Amazon reviews with a grain of salt, but I just thought you should know.

I'd just like to pick up a new VCR for transferring VHS to DVD and if there was one that would be able to record HD at the same time, might as well spring for it.

This might not help... but I had the model before this one (JVC HM-DH30000U) which I bought for my VHS to DVD project and it was total garbage. My main problem is that tapes I'd recorded on other VCRs looks like garbage on this "advanced" deck. A $30 cheapie played them much better.

If you want a good unit for VHS to DVD, JVC does make a better deck for this purpose. It's the HR-S9911U SVHS VCR.

It's really only for recording HD. If you aren't going to do that, skip it. And if you are going to do that, make sure your HD source has Firewire.

Holy shit. I can't imagine spending more than $300 on a regular VCR. What's so much better about this one?

I'd also skip the D-VHS for your copy project. While it can play regular VHS, it's main point is to play and record digital tapes. In otherwords, analog playback is something they can do, but usually isn't something they do particularly well.

You get these decks to record HD and watch true HD movies, that's about it.

Well, it's a solid machine with numerous playback enhancements that really do help the conversion process. Check out http://digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/capture/playback.htm for some more gushing about this unit.

But the main reason for the cost? VCRs are a dying breed, and so makers can charge whatever the hell they want for units where no one is making a competing model.

I bought a JVC HM-DH5U last spring. Off the top of my head it only adds HDMI and DTS decoding over the 40000U. I really like the machine as it is good for HD D-theater demos and it's HD recording features, which I'll probably stop using when HD recorders come out in the next year or so. The machine is awesome if you are used to old style VHS recording.

If you do buy one, make sure you pick up a copy of I, Robot as it is pretty much the best looking transfer I have ever seen.

VHS: 240 lines of resolution. Or less.
SVHS: 480 lines of resolution. Or less.
DVHS: 1080 lines of resolution. Or less.
DVDR: 480 lines of resolution. Or less.

With DVHS and DVDR/HDD down under $500, I agree that $300-400 is a bit much for an SVHS unit, even the vaunted 9 series from JVC. But to compare them to VHS is not appropriate. I guess the point is, it's not a "regular" VCR.

I'm well aware of that. I already have a JVC SVHS vcr and have had it for years now. It works great but I'd rather have something clearer if i could.

Gotcha. I was wondering, figured you knew this stuff already.

I don't think upgrading to the different resolution VCRs will give you better playback. And better VHS players no longer exist, it seems. Back when they cost this much, I spent $300+ on good standard VHS players (instead of around $150) because they had better playback capability than other models, but nobody bothers to try anymore. If your current one can't overcome the source deficiencies, I doubt the other JVCs will, either. Just can't make clear 1080i out of 225i or whatever the exact typical VHS format is.

What's on the tapes, incidentally? I'm guessing this is some footage you shot or something that is not replaceable or available to purchase?

Oh god yes. I have hundreds of hours of footage from Harrison Ford films, Star Wars, Indiana Jones...and all of the musical artists I like...amongst other "making of" and film footage from other movies.

If you have footage from Indiana Jones, you have to be the same digitalfreaknyc I've seen elsewhere.

You should really consider a more robust form of archiving this stuff since it is important to you. Capture to PC would be the best start, archiving from there. Lots of options for playback and storage at that point. Actually, sometimes the companies that do this are relatively cheap. Compared to the time you'd spend and the cost of the media you'd have to buy, anyway. At least here in the "little apple", the big one may be different.

Considering I'm not the only one keeping copies of this stuff, it shouldn't be a problem. Besides, at home I have about 350 blank discs sitting there. Media is so cheap that I'm spending more on CD-R's at this point than I am DVD-Rs. I don't have a problem with that.

Did you think there would be another with this name? :)

In that case, I enjoy your work. :)

Why....thank you. ;)

so I'm thinking about getting this deck to use for both doing back ups as well as some HD recording. I can actually use this with my tv since I have firewire and a built in HD tuner. would this be my 2 in 1 machine?

Depends on what you're looking to back up. Regular VHS tapes recorded off TV over the years will not play back well on this machine. You'll end up with worse DVD copies of your stuff.

Pre-recorded stuff it plays fine.

thanks for the reply. I am basically doing all prerecorded stuff. almost everything I recorded from tv is now on dvd so I'm pretty good there. I do however have a few tapes that are svhs recordings of a movie or 2. so those will those not be very good, correct?

Agree 100%. I've got the HR-S9900U (pretty much same) and it is, dare I say, the best VCR i've ever had. The digital TBC is awesome and it's built like a house. The JVC 9xxx series SVHS are of the highest quality. But hey, then again, I guess it all depends on what your uses are.

I ended up skipping the DH40000U and picking up the HR-S9911U instead. thanks again for the help.

Cool. Where'd you end up getting it from? I know they're somewhat hard to find.