need a new vcr that is good with tracking on very old vhs tapes to capture in Premiere..thoughts?

[Steve Brame]

What the heck is “VHS”????

Just kidding….

Might be a ‘hit and miss’ situation at Walmart, but you can always save the receipt. Hadn’t thought about VHS in a while, but your post prompted me to jump over to eBay, and sure enough, there are quite a few professional VHS decks there for under $100.

Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions

[Joe Daniels]

well I am glad my post made you think haha! I haven’t thought about vhs too much either until recently my brother sent several vhs tapes to me to digitize and my current vcr is on the fritz.

I remember a vcr awhile back that had a firewire port that you plugged directly into your computer, I would like to find one of those, and am leary to buy off ebay for fear of it just being junk.

Oh what to do lol.

[Steve Brame]

We used to have a JVC model that was a combo MiniDv and VHS, with firewire. However, the firewire would only output the MiniDV signal, since it didn’t have a built in converter to convert the analog VHS signal to digital. I would imagine that this would be the case in most instances. You’re bets bet will probably be to locate a workable VHS deck, and combine with a converter, which may also be found rather cheaply these days.

For what it’s worth, I have made over 200 purchases on eBay, and quite a bit of them were equipment purchases. I have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions

[David Eaks]

We used the Panasonic AG-1980 in those days (and still do on occasion), I bet they aren’t that expensive now.

FWIW Ebay is pretty reliable… So long as you buy from a decent seller. Check the sellers feedback and rating. If they sell tons of stuff related to what you are shopping for and have a high rating you will get what you expect. If the seller has only sold 3 items which were children’s socks and hello kitty stickers and they already have negative feedback, I wouldn’t buy a Sony PDW 700 from them…

[Joe Daniels]

Thanks for the tips guys, I may have to peruse eBay then!

[John Frey]

You may want to look for a used “DVHS” deck from JVC. I have one since buying it new for our studio years ago. For most VHS source tapes, it puts out the best playback signal of all of our source decks, including pro edit decks. There are several tweakable settings in the menu that you might try as well. Try Ebay.

John D. Frey
25 Year owner/operator of two California-based production studios.

Digital West Video Productions of San Luis Obispo and Inland Images of Lake Elsinore

[Nick Brown]

I like Joe’s suggestion. I have a JVC DVHS deck it is very versatile. I won’t sell my DVHS deck but I have VHS decks I’d sell if you’re interested. A rare Sharp VC ML5 that plays VHS NTSC or PAL has an LCD monitor and speakers on the front panel in like new condition. I also have used a Mitshubishi U55 deck that I’ve used for dubs because of the quality playback in very good condition.

Another suggestion, go to a Salvation Army or Goodwill store and buy a deck for $15.00. They usually have a pile of them sitting around.

I use a Digital Rapids system to digitize VHS. It has a deinterlace filter that makes the file look noticeably clearer than the original tape. It also greatly reduces noise on poor quality tapes.