[Steve Bruzonsky]

I've seen this for sale by a dealer for $750. Is this a W-VHS VCR????

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Yes, the SRW5U and SRW7U are the 2 WVHS models I have seen. If that VCR is new at $750 that is a great price. I would buy it.


Chris

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Its not new. Its rates a 7 out of 10 conditionwise and has been used as a demo deck.

 

[XFactor]

The media for that VCR costs over $30/tape. Also, it doesn't have the ability to record 5.1 sound. I wouldn't buy that deck for $10.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Funny. My video engineer Phil has one for years and he says he gets better picture quality with its analog inputs than the JVC D-VHS deck which he also has. Interesting.


Yes, the media is expensive.

 

[Glimmie]

Do some searches on this. There was some discussion a while back about using alternate tape stock such as DVHS and D9 professional tape. I'm bot sure if anyone ever tried it though.


But for $750, I would get it just as another toy. Those decks retailed for $5K new. And as long as analog HDTV is still available, it's a highly reliable solution for HDNET. Not quite as good as the 169 soultion in terms of picture quality and 5.1 ability but it is a very dependable system.


Note however it WILL NOT WORK with an RCA DTC100 even through a transcoder. The raster timing is not standard on this box and the WVHS cannot lock to it.

 

[Bill]

Note however it WILL NOT WORK with an RCA DTC100 even through a transcoder. The raster timing is not standard on this box and the WVHS cannot lock to it."

"What about the raster timing adjustments in the DTC-100?

 

[HiDefGuy]

Quote:

Originally posted by Bill "What about the raster timing adjustments in the DTC-100?

I haven't had my DTC100 connected to DirectTV for about a year or so, so I don't have the most recent firmware, but the last time I tried adjusting the raster timings on the DTC100, it made no difference; I still couldn't record off it.


Greg

 

[Glimmie]

Bill, it's not just the front and back porch timing, the entire line frequency is different. I could look at it with a scope and find out but nevertheless it's not going to work into anything that expects SMPTE274 based timing. In otherwords anything that expects standard analog HDTV signals.


I tried to send my DTC100 into an HDSDI convertor to record some things off HDNET onto a professional HDCAM VTR. It could not get it to lock even after I made the signal true tri-level sync. The Samsung and rare Panasonic TUHD20 STB however works fine.

 

[dreggman]

I bought the JVC-SR-W5U on ebay for a little under $1,000 a while ago. They used be like $5,000 but with HD PVR and HD DVD-R going mainstream next year - the demand isn't that high for these units anymore. They are a great solution for recording HD for demos to show your friends! I have recorded tons of shows from my Comcast HD Digital Cable Box (SA 3100HD) as well as my DirecTV HD Receiver (HD200).


The tapes are expensive. Like $40 a tape. But this VCR can also record SD to VHS and S-VHS tapes. So you don't lose that capability. Replaces your existing VCR. The quality of recording HDTV to W-VHS is fantastic - literally. It is not perfect but it is still very very very sharp. And this is a good unit to archive and tape special HD broadcasts. I even managed to obtain some W-VHS demo tapes from PBS and HDnet - they look amazing.


W-VHS is not as good as D-VHS, but does allow you to record HDTV from ANY HD tuner (except that cheap RCA one people keep yapping about). If you are interested I know someone that is selling a W-VHS HD VCR with a bunch of new blank tapes and about 5 pre-recorded HD specials. let me know. Good Luck.


Doc

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

A thirty year video engineer gave me this info re the consumer and the professional JVC HDTV decks:


"Hi Steve

Yes all of the audio inputs are RCA stereo, no digital audio and records in PCM hifi

just connect the satellite receiver left and right audio out's to it.

There are two W-VHS models the SRW-5U and the SRW-320U, The SRW-320U is

the broadcast version and has HDcomponent ins and outs on BNC connectors, org cost around $13K.

The SRW-5U (released about 1 year after the SRW-320U) is a more consumer oriented device

similar functions to the SRW-320U but all video on RCA jacks, HDcomponent in/out, RGBHS out

org cost $5K."


Photos of each are attached.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Here's the other photo:

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I'm not gonna get it. Its over at Audiogon if anyone wants it. I get some great stuff OTA HD with my JVC D-VHS deck and Mitsub 1100U D-VHS deck. And the consumer deck just ain't quite the pro deck - I think if that deck was available at $750 I'd seriously consider [email protected]@@

 

[Glimmie]

Quote:

Originally posted by Steve Bruzonsky I'm not gonna get it. Its over at Audiogon if anyone wants it.

Looks like an auction. Any experience with these folks? Is this an extension of EBAY or a seperate company?

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

An auction at Audiogon can have a reserve, or not have a reserve. With a reserve set, the item isn't sold unless reserve is met. No relation to E-Bay. I have bought some stuff and sold lotsa stuff at Audiogon - a good site.

 

[mbuchana]

I ended up with the Audiogon unit, which showed up about an hour ago. It looks like it is in nice shape. My blank tapes haven't arrived yet, so I haven't had a chance to try it.


It did not come with a cleaning tape. The manual says it should be cleaned every 20 hours of use. What type of cleaning tape should I use? Digital-S? Regular VHS?


Mark

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

What did you pay for it???

 

[mbuchana]

The asking price was $650. That seemed pretty good to me, so that's what I paid. It came to about $675 with insured shipping.


Thanks for this thread, or I would never have seen it!


Anyone have any advice on what kind of cleaning tape I should use? It seems odd that I can't just use my old wet-type VHS/S-VHS cleaner. Are the tape path or heads different in some way such that those type of cleaners don't work well?


Mark