How do I PVR H2H?

[Corrado]

There's nothing wrong with using a VCR, if you could find one. Simple and it works for SD. I've seen worse quality broadcast over digital today.

I used to have a high end Samsung S-Video output VCR. Too bad it was ruined by lightning. Back in the analog C band days the tapes I made still look pretty good today and some are more than a decade old. I converted many old home video tapes to DVD to extend their life.

 

[Anony55]

Magnavox is Funai From what I have seen Funai is junk I owned some of their stuff, it don't last.

Beware of Walmart / Magnavox recorders, they are not all that reliable. Need recording media?...

I guess I've just been lucky so far. I bought one of those Magnavox VHS/DVD recorders off the flea for about half the price of Wally World, and it's been going like a champ. It was even a refurb, but you couldn't tell by its appearance. I guess time will tell.

I chose the DVD recorder over the analog in ports on my HTPC because I wanted to capture the CCs as well. The analog capture ports on a PC won't capture CCs (at least, none that I can find). Plus, it seems like the DVD recorder provides a little better picQ.

I just record to a DVD-RW and import into my HTPC for processing. I'm building quite the Gunsmoke collection.

Anyway, if CCs are important to you... you'll wanna skip the PC capture card route & go with an external device.

Cheers

 

[tvropro]

There's nothing wrong with using a VCR, if you could find one. Simple and it works for SD. I've seen worse quality broadcast over digital today.

You got that right. A good videotape can look better then a lot of the digital out today.

 

[NotTy]

Have you looked on CL or e-bay? They're a dime a dozen. I have 3 VHS VCR's. I paid $3.00 for one, $5.00 for another with some tapes & $15.00 for the last one that had about 40 tapes that came with it. Several movies that came with this last VCR have very recent releases. They all still work. They all record.I haven't had any issues with any of my VCR's recording but it sounds as though DVD recorders may have issues. I wonder if I should just keep using my VCR or get a DVD recorder?

 

[Frijid]

I am currently using a couple JVC S-VHS that record at 400 lines of resolution vs 250 of standard VHS. I record in SP using the S-Video input, so I am putting 2 Hours on a T-120 tape. I do have to set the timer on the 4DTV receiver as well as the VCR. Both of these units were picked up for 10$ or less each at local thrift stores. The quality of video and sound playback is very acceptable and still enjoyable on later playbacks. The quality is noticeably better compared to a standard VHS recording at the same speed. I do not have a DVD recorder to compare image quality.

If you are using SLP, I could see how the quality would would be noticeably worse. If you have not done comparisons with SLP, EP or SP, it may be worth trying to find an acceptable image quality.

 

[tvropro]

I have old SLP tapes made off of analog feeds in the 90s on high grade tape. They look awesome..

 

[NotTy]

My thing is to record an hour a day & watch it on the weekends. Therefore the longest possible time is needed. Picture quality ain't really that important as long as you get the jiff of the show.. If I were to record something to keep, then quality would be more important. So for now, I'll keep my VCR's doing their thing. Maybe later I'll get a DVD recorder. .

 

[Asket]

I have old SLP tapes made off of analog feeds in the 90s on high grade tape. They look awesome..

The DVD images vary from good to worse than any vhs depending on the time settings. There can be serious problems with playback on other machines
and there is not any tracking control to fix it when that occurs.

 

[Anony55]

The DVD images vary from good to worse than any vhs depending on the time settings. There can be serious problems with playback on other machines
and there is not any tracking control to fix it when that occurs.

Yep. When you put 6 to 8 hours on a single layer DVD... it doesn't look so hot. 1 hour looks great, 2 hours looks good, and so on.

It also depends on the quality of the source. Gunsmoke on Dish Network's SD version of TV Land, which is the only one they have (no HD version on Chuck)... the picQ is poor enough that there's virtually no difference between the 1 hour mode & the 3 hour mode. However, if the source is a respectable HD channel, there's a whopping big difference between those two modes.

If you record to DVD-R (instead of -rw, +rw, or +r), you won't have any compatibility problems with older players. I actually do the rw thing, then import/edit in my HTPC. Then I burn to a DVD+R and booktype it to DVD-ROM. In that case, there is absolutely no compatibility issues.

LOL @ the S-VHS deck. I still have one active in my setup. But I don't use it for tape recording / playback. I use it as an RF modulator, and to get one more input (it has 2 separate inputs). I do still have some old S-VHS tapes that I need to record to DVD though. Can you even still buy S-VHS blanks?

Cheers