After looking around to buy a blu-ray recorder, it appears they are only available in Australia and Japan. Why are blu-ray recorders not available for purchase to consumers in the USA?

Anybody know when we will be able to buy them instead of a DVD recorder?

Because the USA in general has a "Walmart mentality". At the prices they'd have to sell them for here, and what people have shown they are willing to pay, it's not even worth it to the manufacturers.

People in those other countries want quality, and they are prepared and willing to pay for it.

We just want and buy "throwaway" junk here. By the time the six months is up that (the cheaply Chinese-made) electronics generally last now, there's something new out and we want that anyway.

Sony and its allies are already taking a bloodbath selling BluRay *players* in the USA, so forget seeing a recorder anytime soon. Brand-name "entry-level" BD players introduced barely six weeks ago at $399-499 are now being blown out at $225-250 and will battle $169 no-name knockoffs next week at all the chain stores. Rammitinski summed up the North American "Wal*Mart" price conditioning nicely: this is a much bigger problem for electronics mfrs than most people imagine, they can't "subsidize" us any more. People living in thatched huts in the Congo are willing to pay more for their toys than we are, never mind Australia, Europe and Japan. The other recorder-killer in the USA is our heavy use of cable and satellite service: getting any recorder to work with these services is difficult at best and a nightmare at worst. Other countries are way more dependent on off-the-air sources of programming: for them, a pricey standalone recorder makes sense. Here, everyone opts for the dirt cheap Hi-Def cable/satellite box with built-in DVR.

Two other factors may be in play. First, what I call device overload, where a person figures they have too many different electronic devices for handling video and audio information. Not so many years ago, 20 years ago, you had a much more limited choice of how to store and play back information. Record players were still around, but fading fast as the price of CD players went down. Remember the scene in The Wedding Singer when Drew Barrymore’s boyfriend brags about paying some large amount, $600 (?) for a CD player in 1985 dollars. He was an "early adopter," willing to pay big bucks to be the first to have new technology.

You had cassette tape recorders equipped with that new marvel, Dolby C noise reduction. Seven or so years later, Dolby came up with S (for Spectral, I think) noise reduction, but by then home audio tape recorders were losing their popularity, except as a means to copy CD information to audio cassettes for use in car tape players. Home computers were still a very niche market, expensive, and Internet access was charged by the hour after the initial monthly allowance. So what most consumers had was a TV or two, a CD player, a record player collecting dust and a stereo system.

Sometimes all the audio playback devices were bundled together in a home entertainment system, with the different devices in one plastic shell which looked like individual stacked components on the face, with speakers on the side. Panasonic followed that philosophy of bundling different components together in the EH75 DVD/ hard drive recorder and VHS player, but gave up that approach in 2007.

While the Japanese electronic manufacturers do not want to use a “loss leader” pricing strategy to attract customers, the marketplace now has changed. Sure, iPods, multi-function cell phones and gaming devices have grabbed a good chunk of consumer electronic device spending. But there is a limit on how many devices most people have time to use and time to learn how to use, in some cases. Big screen televisions are always popular. To celebrate its 40th anniversary in 1986, Sony manufactured a 40” CRT television. It weight over 200 pounds, it had a control in the back to turn on a degaussing unit and it cost $10,000 retail. 22 years later, big TVs are still popular, only they weigh a lot less. Standalone DVD recorders are another matter, whether Blu-ray or SD format.

Consumers are talking with their wallets, picking those devices they think they will use. Storing ephemera like old TV shows on VHS tape is not something most people did, unlike many of the visitors here. So DVD recorders do not make the cut for most as a must buy item, even at relatively low prices. With too many choices, buyers apparently are reducing electronic device clutter and duplication by just using the hard drive recorder bundled with their cable boxes.

Then there is that second factor. The amount of leisure time for most American workers has dwindled sharply over the past four decades. Part of the loss comes from the increase in commuting time to go to work. A bigger part is that with hourly incomes falling behind the cost of living, people are working longer weekly hours. One income families were common in the 60s, but no more. When I was in Hawaii 16 years ago, workers at the hotel said they had to work two jobs to make ends meet, due to the high cost of living there, an advance sign of the times for what is occurring now. Even with the price of gas dropping by almost 50% from its July highs, other expenses like the cost of college and of medical insurance are still going up.

In other Western countries, there are national laws requiring the payment of vacation pay. France has its four week summer vacations. The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not require some minimum amount of vacation pay for workers. See “No Vacation Nation” http://www.scribd.com/doc/70107/NoVacation-Nation

Even where there is a vacation pay requirement, employers often fail to pay vacation pay with impunity. In New York State, for a ten year period from 1994 to 2004, all the NYS Department of Labor did with vacation pay claims was to send out a collection letter, then bury the claim in file drawers if the claimant did not complain about inaction on the part of the do-nothing management running the Division of Labor Standards.

So device overload and no spare time for most Americans worked against DVD recorders making it into American households. The FCC helped rush the demise of DVD recorders as a viable consumer product, with its unprecedented and corrupt ruling that after April 2007 all tuner equipped DVD recorders had to have ATSC tuners. Even before the FCC action, the handwriting was on the wall. The USA now is not a very good place to make money off high quality electronic devices.
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As a footnote, with the collapse of many manufacturing sectors in China during the post-Olympic period, the availability of even low quality and Wal-Mart priced electronic devices may dwindle. 99 cents stores are now raising their prices and calling themselves $1.29 stores and higher, as China raises prices on its under priced export stuff.

After looking around to buy a blu-ray recorder, it appears they are only available in Australia and Japan. Why are blu-ray recorders not available for purchase to consumers in the USA?

Anybody know when we will be able to buy them instead of a DVD recorder?Blu-Ray recording (BD-R/RE) is in it's economic infancy so the costs of both the hardware and media are still too high for the mass market to embrace. Assuming it will be an eventual success, expect it to follow the same market path as CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW did before it. The drives will first be targeted at the PC market to provide the initial sales volume to bring the price down: first as add-on devices, whose purchasers will initially buy for storage backup; then, after a price drop, as OEM components for pre-built PC's. This is already in progress. Last year, Blu-ray burners (internal drives for PC's) were selling on-line in the $500 price range. Currently you can buy Lite-On or LG BD-R/RE burners for $230-250 on-line. As the drives penetrate the PC backup-storage market, the volume of consumable media purchased goes up and drives that price down. When the media gets down in price sufficiently, that brings in the PC video hobbiests which increases volume even more to lower hardware/media costs. Blu-ray burners are already an option for higher end PC's. Just as it is hard to find a mass-market PC today, without a DVD burner as standard, in a few years that will be the case for blu-ray. The overwhelmingly primary market for BD-R/RE will always be the computer market; it's adoption there will govern prices of hardware and media just at it does now for DVD-R/RW and still does for CD-R/RW.

When the PC market has driven the costs of BD-R/RE hardware/media down sufficiently, someone will test the waters and introduce a stand-alone consumer recording device. It will just take time. If you want a good barometer for when that might be -- just follow the cost of the media.

Can you guys give me some advice?

I have the original Star Wars films (IV, V, VI) on VHS. They are the versions before George Lucas bastardized the original version (e.g., by changing the end of Return of the Jedi to stupid music instead of the AWESOME ewolk music and showing the young anakin even though he was old when he died alongside the old Obiwan and Yoda). Lucas is a MORON. Anyways, I want to record these to DVD for archive purposes. The VHS wears out the more one watches it. Plus there's the risk of my VCR eating the tape--happened to me before.

Problem: my DVD recorder only records 2 hours in good quality. All the Star Wars movies run over two hours by at least a little. 124 minutes, 134 minutes, etc. So I'd have to lower the quailty. Blu-ray would appear to give me the storage capacity I need to record the VHS version in full quality onto DVD. The DVD recorder I have now does not record onto dual-layer nor does any DVD recorder currently on the market that I've been able to find (some guidance here would be appreciated as well).

Absent a blu-ray recorder, is there any other way to get the tapes onto DVD without lowering the quality of the transfer? VHS is already bad enough.

4 hour quality may be good enough for your VHS copies.

Problem: my DVD recorder only records 2 hours in good quality. All the Star Wars movies run over two hours by at least a little. 124 minutes, 134 minutes, etc. So I'd have to lower the quailty.
Does your recorder have a hard drive (HDD)?

If so, you can copy to the HDD and high-speed dub (HSD) to DVD with no loss of quality AND get more time on a disc than a real-time dub (RTD) or original recording.

My Philips 3575 with HDD can fit up to 2:10:00 on a std DVD using HSD. Even 134 minutes could be made to fit by cutting 4 min. of "fluff" at front or back? A list of HSD Times are in this help file. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298490&postcount=19)

Absent a blu-ray recorder, is there any other way to get the tapes onto DVD without lowering the quality of the transfer? VHS is already bad enough.Record to DVD-R using SP (2hr mode) to maintain the quality and use 2 disks. Do you watch them that frequently that it would be so onerous to switch a disk after 2 hr. If you have them in SP quality on 2 disks, then at some future time when you get a PC with a burner that does DVD+DL, you can combine the segments onto a single +DL disk -- all done digitally so no loss in recorded quality.

P.S. you will need an external Macrovision copy-buster box between your VCR and DVD recorder in order to copy a commercial tape.

How would I recreate one disc if I put them on 2 discs? I'd have to cut the movie at some point. I don't mind this as I mostly want to keep these so my kids can see the original versions when they get older. But once I cut the movie into two discs, how would I make one seamless DVD again in future?

Where can I get one of these Macrovision copy-buster things?

Does your recorder have a hard drive (HDD)?

If so, you can copy to the HDD and high-speed dub (HSD) to DVD with no loss of quality AND get more time on a disc than a real-time dub (RTD) or original recording.

My Philips 3575 with HDD can fit up to 2:10:00 on a std DVD using HSD. Even 134 minutes could be made to fit by cutting 4 min. of "fluff" at front or back? A list of HSD Times are in this help file. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12298490&postcount=19)

Yes, it has HDD. I have a Pioneer. I'll look and see if it has HSD to see how to use it. I've never used it before.

Yes, it has HDD. I have a Pioneer. I'll look and see if it has HSD to see how to use it. I've never used it before.
I've also got a Pio 640 and the Copy menu eventually gets to a final screen where it mentions high-speed... I think it auto-selects that if the file size will fit a std DVD. Otherwise, you have to pick a specific rec mode.

Not sure if the Pio will fit the same exact number of minutes, but it should be close to 2:10:00. For the 134 minutes, there should be something you can edit out before doing the high-speed Copy?

EDIT: My Pio 640 can fit 2:06:51 on a std DVD using HSD... prob. could go to 2:07:00, but the 2:06:51 is what I whittled 2 separate recordings down to for my test.

Panasonic DVDRs all have the FR mode which lets you choose from between 1 and 8 hrs./standard DVD. Full resolution is maintained up to 4hrs/disc. The more you go over 2 1/2 or 3hrs/disc the more macroblocking you'll get. Macroblocking is caused by bitstarving the recorder and is most noticeable in scenes of fast movement or especially with something like falling leaves or confetti.
Your 2+ hr. discs shouldn't be a problem. Also note all newer Panasonics will also record to DL DVDs which will give you over 3hrs/disc in the SP mode.
Edit: If you have a Pio w/HDD I'd be tempted to try the HS copy method for those 2:10 min movies, otherwise a Panny would work nice for the longer ones.

Posted in this forum about a month and a half ago:

Panasonic to sell Blu-ray recorder in 2009 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1075777)

The current state of the economy might change those plans, though.

Panasonic DVDRs all have the FR mode which lets you choose from between 1 and 8 hrs./standard DVD. Full resolution is maintained up to 4hrs/disc. The more you go over 2 1/2 or 3hrs/disc the more macroblocking you'll get. Macroblocking is caused by bitstarving the recorder and is most noticeable in scenes of fast movement or especially with something like falling leaves or confetti.
Your 2+ hr. discs shouldn't be a problem. Also note all newer Panasonics will also record to DL DVDs which will give you over 3hrs/disc in the SP mode.
Edit: If you have a Pio w/HDD I'd be tempted to try the HS copy method for those 2:10 min movies, otherwise a Panny would work nice for the longer ones.
Only thing with FR tho... isn't it a real-time copy/dub rather than a lossless high-speed copy/dub?

My Pio 640 will only fit 2:07:00 or thereabouts... I tested with 2 titles, edited to 2:06:51 total, which gave me HSD option.

Actually you can use FR to the HDD and then HS off the HDD to a DVD, but I was more thinking about a realtime copy direct to DVD from his VHS.
If using FR to the HDD it automatically calculates the space based on a standard DVD size. It doesn't give the choice to size FR based on a DL disc. Also on the EH-55 (the last Panny with a HDD which is no longer sold new) you cannot directly copy from a external source to DL discs. It has to come off the HDD. Starting in '07 with the EZ series you could record directly to DL discs, but it wasn't until the '08 EZ-x8's that you could straight through on both layers. With the '07's you needed to close the first layer before recording to the second, not very handy.
On Pannys w/hdd you can fit ~2:07 to a standard DVD if using HS, sounds similar to the Pios.

How would I recreate one disc if I put them on 2 discs? I'd have to cut the movie at some point. I don't mind this as I mostly want to keep these so my kids can see the original versions when they get older. But once I cut the movie into two discs, how would I make one seamless DVD again in future?

Where can I get one of these Macrovision copy-buster things?To answer your question, since you have a HDD recorder it is very simple. Record the complete title in SP mode to the HDD. Go into edit mode and split the title at a convenient spot, like a scene change. Then HS-Dub each piece to a separate DVD-R. The title split you did is done digitally at a frame boundary so you don't lose any content -- it's a clean cut. Later on, you can transfer the 2 pieces to a PC and any decent authoring software will join the 2 halfs without any loss at the boundary and make it into a single title again.

As far as the Macrovision box, there are lots of threads and commentary here on the various models available. Just do a search.

Final note: I have both the VCR tape originals of ep 4-6 and the new DVD versions with the CGI "improvements". No matter how you do it, a DVD transcription of those VHS tapes will look and sound like crap on a big screen TV compared to the DVD versions. IMHO the minor editing Lucas did on the DVD's is far outweighed by the widescreen video quality and 5.1 soundtrack of the digital re-masters.

But, if your objection to buying the DVD versions is only that of the purist to the originals, are you aware that all three episodes have been released on DVD as the original theatrical versions without any CGI enhancements or script changes. Each release contains both the 2.35:1 aspect ratio of the theater release and the 1.33:1 aspect ratio of the pan-n-scan version on tape. Soundtrack is only Dolby 2.0 (i.e. common stereo).

So, your best possible solution to all of this is to just go out and buy the theatrical release DVD's.

Thanks so much for all your insights guys. I'm going to try them out. I really appreciate it.

Anybody know if this recorder can burn to dual-layer discs? The amazon site doesn't mention anywhere I can find that it does.

Panasonic DMR-EZ28K

Can you guys give me some advice?

I have the original Star Wars films (IV, V, VI) on VHS. . . Anyways, I want to record these to DVD for archive purposes. The VHS wears out the more one watches it. Plus there's the risk of my VCR eating the tape--happened to me before.

Problem: my DVD recorder only records 2 hours in good quality. All the Star Wars movies run over two hours by at least a little. 124 minutes, 134 minutes, etc. So I'd have to lower the quailty. . . is there any other way to get the tapes onto DVD without lowering the quality of the transfer? VHS is already bad enough.

In the last dozen years the laws have changed. The entertainment industry, in collusion with government, won. The law prohibits the copying of copyrighted material, in the same quality as the original, to removable media (DVDs).

If your "original" VHS versions are recorded in "full screen" (narrowscreen pan and scan) you should buy the original widescreen DVD versions. If you want to make backup copies that the kids may play there are a variety of computer software programs that decode and copy DVDs to a dedicated folder on a computer. That allows a computer DVD burner to copy the material back to DVD. Then you will have backup copies of the original versions in the original aspect ratio. If the kids manage to trash those copies just burn replacements.

ghomner, if your primary goal in asking about this topic was to back up your original versions of SW, you're going about it the wrong way and at great expense (assuming BD recording was even affordable at this point). Three movies, no matter how collectible, don't merit blowing $500 on a new recorder when other options exist for the task.

First of all, as Kelson mentioned, super-idiot Lucas finally bowed (grudgingly) to movie purists by offering the original, un-tampered versions as "bonus discs" included in the last "re-re-re-release" of the trio a couple years ago. Look for these, some stores still have them new and they are also all over eBay second hand. They cost about $20 each set, $60 total. Being a vindictive, arrogant, spiteful ass, Lucas punishes the purists by crippling these bonus discs: they contain the original untouched versions of the films, but they are deliberately not remastered for best quality and deliberately presented as "letterboxed" widescreen in a 4:3 frame. While this is still *way* better than trying to dub the films from old VHS or LaserDisc sources, it falls short on large flat-panel displays because the recordings are not "true" anamorphic: the result is a smaller, lower-res widescreen image windowboxed on all four sides. You can zoom in to fill the screen with your TV or player controls, but it will lose quality. This is the best we can get until dumb-ass kicks the bucket and his estate wises up and remasters the originals for anamorphic.

If you don't mind a do-it-yourself project, you already have the equipment to make your own backups to DVD-R. (You will need to to wire a $20 Macrovision filter between the VCR and your DVD recorder, or it won't record.) All Pioneer recorders have infinitely variable manual recording speeds, so you can set a recording speed of 130 mins exactly which will usually fit about 134-136 mins on a standard single-side DVD-R. You could dub directly to the DVD but I would advise going to the hard drive first: you can trim any lead-in and lead-out tape bits you don't want, and place chapter marks where you want. The recorder can then make a DVD from the hard drive in about 10 minutes flat.

Note that Pioneer ships their recorders with the manual speed option turned off: if you have never used this feature you will need to turn it on the first time (its a mystery why they felt this is necessary). In the initial setup menu, go to the Recording section. Arrow right and highlight "Manual Recording", to the right it will either say "off" or show a manual speed like "MN27". If it shows as "off", click on it to activate and select a manual speed when it asks you (I leave mine set at MN20, which works out to 130mins). Exit the menu system. Now, whenever you cycle thru the recording speeds on the remote, after offering the usual XP, SP, LP, EP and SEP you will see a manual speed of "MN20" or whatever. The manual speed will remain on screen for a couple seconds, you can change it with the arrow keys while it is visible. It can also be set and changed in the timer screen, to fit the exact running time of any program and maximize use of DVD-R capacity.

There is no point whatever in using DL media for this task: VHS is quality-limited from the start. You will not get visibly better results using DL media at a faster recording speed than you would by using MN20 speed on a single-layer disc. Also, most DL media (aside from early batches of Verbatim) are trash, even the good ones have suspect durability, and many DVD players do not cope well with homemade DL discs. Seriously, dude, if you love these movies enough to ask about backup solutions then you really should just buy the studio releases that include the original versions. While slightly flawed, they are still far better than you can ever hope to make from your VHS tapes. Buy them now while you still can, no telling when George-the-Jerk will cop an attitude again and remove them from circulation.

In the last dozen years the laws have changed. The entertainment industry, in collusion with government, won. The law prohibits the copying of copyrighted material, in the same quality as the original, to removable media (DVDs).

If your "original" VHS versions are recorded in "full screen" (narrowscreen pan and scan) you should buy the original widescreen DVD versions. If you want to make backup copies that the kids may play there are a variety of computer software programs that decode and copy DVDs to a dedicated folder on a computer. That allows a computer DVD burner to copy the material back to DVD. Then you will have backup copies of the original versions in the original aspect ratio. If the kids manage to trash those copies just burn replacements.

How exactly do I get the movie onto my computer? The only connections I have are USB, a monitor female port and ports for headphones and mic. Do I need a video card with a video in port to accomplish this?

ghomner, if your primary goal in asking about this topic was to back up your original versions of SW, you're going about it the wrong way and at great expense (assuming BD recording was even affordable at this point). Three movies, no matter how collectible, don't merit blowing $500 on a new recorder when other options exist for the task.



Thanks for this info. I'm going to try it. Where can I buy this MACROVISION FILTER?

My VHS tapes are in letterbox format. Considering that MORON Lucas has not released an anamorphic DVD of the original Return of the Jedi, I am not going to give more money to him than I already have to buy the VHS tapes. So I will copy the VHS I have to DVD-R as you laid out.

Please direct me on how to get this Macrovision thing.

How exactly do I get the movie onto my computer? The only connections I have are USB, a monitor female port and ports for headphones and mic. Do I need a video card with a video in port to accomplish this?

To make a backup of a DVD you place the DVD in the computer's DVD drive. This procedure utilizes no hardware other than a computer with a DVD burner.

ghomner, DigaDo's advice concerns making backup DVDs of the studio DVDs discussed, assuming you opt to go that route and have kids who might wreck them if they handled the originals. Tons of software is available to make backups of DVDs using your computer's drive. You may have misunderstood his tip as regarding VHS transfer to your PC: that was not his point.

The filter you need has been covered here on AVS in many many threads. Basically, just Google "video clarifier" and see what comes up. For VHS, you only need the least expensive type: it usually looks like a black cigarette box with video in/out sockets on one end. There are scads of these available new or on eBay. All are generic, no need to pick a specific brand. Don't spend more than $30. But again, while I understand your rage and not wanting to give Lucas yet more money, I honestly think you need to take a breath and think about buying the studio re-releases. I have seen them very cheap in some shops: as little as $40 for all three. Used mint, even less. Considering you would need a $20-30 filter box to dub the tapes, you're already almost at breakeven.

Trust me on this, I have both: dubs from my VHS and the studio releases- the studio blows the VHS dub into the weeds and is really quite good. On material this visual and fast-moving, you really see a difference and dubbing from VHS is silly when the studio release is finally available and affordably priced. If we were talking about some crummy slasher film or dumb comedy, a VHS dub is often an effective option, but for something like the original SW trio it doesn't pay off. Buy the newer editions with the original versions, and give your existing unwanted "tampered" versions to some kid who might enjoy them and not know the difference.

how do I identify the original version of the trilogy? How is the original SW trilogy DVDs packaged and marked? I don't want to buy the stupid new version by mistake.

There's this which is obvious. http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-VI-theatrical/dp/B000FQVX6Y/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1228335386&sr=8-7

But do I have to buy them individually? obviously this is too expensive. And I don't even want the NEW version. I prefer to just buy the original version and hopefully save $ by not getting both.

SW 4,5,6 are sometimes called the "original version" by way of reference to that they came before 1,2,3. I'm after the original version BEFORE lucas bastardized 4,5,6.

how do I identify the original version of the trilogy? How is the original SW trilogy DVDs packaged and marked? I don't want to buy the stupid new version by mistake.I believe they are only sold packaged as a set with the 2004 versions. Look here (http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-IV-Widescreen/dp/B000FQJAIW/ref=pd_bxgy_d_img_c). These are the widescreen versions and if you scroll a little down you can buy all three for $45.

Can you guys give me some advice?

I have the original Star Wars films (IV, V, VI) on VHS. They are the versions before George Lucas bastardized the original version (e.g., by changing the end of Return of the Jedi to stupid music instead of the AWESOME ewolk music and showing the young anakin even though he was old when he died alongside the old Obiwan and Yoda). Lucas is a MORON. Anyways, I want to record these to DVD for archive purposes. The VHS wears out the more one watches it. Plus there's the risk of my VCR eating the tape--happened to me before.

Problem: my DVD recorder only records 2 hours in good quality. All the Star Wars movies run over two hours by at least a little. 124 minutes, 134 minutes, etc. So I'd have to lower the quailty. Blu-ray would appear to give me the storage capacity I need to record the VHS version in full quality onto DVD. The DVD recorder I have now does not record onto dual-layer nor does any DVD recorder currently on the market that I've been able to find (some guidance here would be appreciated as well).

Absent a blu-ray recorder, is there any other way to get the tapes onto DVD without lowering the quality of the transfer? VHS is already bad enough.


This should be on a seperate thread but let me participate in the threadjacking.

If you really want to back up your VHS, it is going to cost money, about $200. You will need a macrovision blocker, a DVD recorder and a DVD burner on your computer and the appropriate soft ware. You can copy the movie to the DVD at 2 hr quality splitting so it will fit. Then rip both DVDs on your computer, merge the two files and burn them onto one DVD DL.

BTW, I have found that for some reason, copies of VHS look a little better on the DVD, I can't explain it. Maybe MPEG compression does a little dynamic noise reduction.

Thank you for posting that link, Kelson, it should clear this up once and for all: ghomner, click the link and take a look. These are the versions you need to buy, and at $14.95 for each of the three *brand new* from a legit dealer, you can't lose. These official DVD releases include the original versions as you already have them on VHS, only better because they're DVDs. I don't know how to make it any clearer: this is exactly what you wanted. You can just ignore or discard the included "bastard" versions: you cannot get the "originals" without them, they're a "twofer". Hands down, they beat rolling your own from the VHS. By a mile.

Of course, don't forget that those won't be the high def versions of the films, which are sure to be released on Blu-Ray as soon as they have all the money people spent on the DVD versions. :D

Maybe other people have seen this but I was at Sams the other day and they had a BR camcorder. I think Hitatchi. It recorded 1hr of full HD to a small 3" BR RE disc. They also sold 3 packs of those little BR discs, they weren't cheap but not too bad either. Oh the camcorder also recorded HD to it's built in HDD and you could transfer your recording back and forth. Sorry I didn't get more specifics but I was so amazed by looking it over I ran out of time.
So why the heck can't they make something similar using full sized discs and include a tuner instead of a video camera? I'd gladly pay the $799 they wanted for the camcorder. I'd guess DRM has more to due with it than anything else. After all I can't believe they'll sell more of this camcorder than a similar unit for recording TV, maybe I'm wrong. It looks like the technology is here, now we just need someone to make one.
I figured out capacities and if 1hr would fit on the little disc then 4 hrs should fit on a standard BR disc. 4hrs of full HD would sure be nice.

Of course, don't forget that those won't be the high def versions of the films, which are sure to be released on Blu-Ray as soon as they have all the money people spent on the DVD versions. :DA high-end upconverting player like the Oppo 981/983HD or Denon can make an SD/DVD look so close to HD on a good 50" display you may not care about blu-ray. It really works for me.