Well, I bit the bullet today and bought my first S-VHS machine, the JVC in the subject line. Best Buys just dropped the price on them to $217, and I couldn't resist. However, I do have 30 days to put it through its paces and see if it really does record like advertised.

I DO NOT have a satellite dish or digital cable. I do, however, have constant use of a digital video camera, and I have hooked up my DVD player to it through a SIMA Color Corrector using the S-VHS inputs.

So far, I'm having trouble telling whether there's a big difference in the tapes I'm making with my Sharp $125 VCR and the new machine.

Who else has this machine, and what should I look out for?


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N2DVD 'cause may license plate says so!

Get a test dvd, like Video Essentials or that other one, Avia?, and a/b the playback. There should be obvious differences.

I bought a 3800U and am pretty disappointed with the lack of improvement from VHS to S-VHS. I've been recording cable programming using Maxell XR-S black S-VHS tapes, and I was told that the recordings on the tape would be indistinguishable from the original cable broadcast...completely, entirely untrue.

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My DVD list | My homepage | bigwolfoncampus.org

[This message has been edited by ctyner (edited September 09, 2000).]

I have the same model. I also have satellite TV. I have only used regular tapes in S-VHS ET mode and their is no difference. However I have not used S-VHS tapes yet as they are expensive and I very rarely make permanent recordings so I don't know how well it performs using those. I did get a good deal on it as it is a discontinued model and I bought an open box unit from Good Guys for $150.00. At that price I can't really complain as a good 4 Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR would have cost me between $100 and $150.

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MY SHORT BUT SLOWLY EXPANDING DVD LIST

"The earth does not belong to people; people belong to the earth. Everything that happens to the earth happens also to the sons and daughters of the earth." -Chief Seattle.

[This message has been edited by cloud (edited September 09, 2000).]

I'm just kinda irritated because I bought it for the sole purpose of taking screen caps for a website, but with the quality being as bad as it is (it's not BAD, but it's certainly not GOOD), it's completely useless to me.

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My DVD list | My homepage | bigwolfoncampus.org

I have the JVS S9600U and the quality is awesome. That is, both the playback and recording quality is far superior to any other playback of a VHS tape I have seen. I have recorded things on television (cable broadcast) on a tape that was used over and over again and it actually looked better than the actual live broadcast.

Just thought that I would add my 2 cents. I know it is not the same model as yours and the mechanics of it may be a little different, although it comes from the same product line.