[poynerc]

Here's a good one (and please no laughter)


I have lots of DirecTV pay-per-view movies that were recorded on to SVHS tape before I bought a DVD-R recorder.


Is it worth backing these off to DVD-R and displaying them on my new 65" 1080p DLP.


Would an upconverting DVD player clean things up any.

 

[jjeff]

You're not going to get the PQ of say a commercial DVD of the same material, and it will be in 4x3 format, but it could be done.

If you still have your S-VCR I would suggest using that for the player, since I don't know of any VHS/DVD combo's that actually use the effect of S-VHS. Some have S-VHS quasi playback, like the Panny's, but you'd be better using a true S-VCR.

IMO the upconverting isn't gonna gain you a thing. You'll still be limited by the source.

 

[Purple Laser]

Try the excellent JVC SR-MV45US Pro series dual deck. It offers full S-VHS play and record resolution on S-VHS tape and VHS tape( with S-VHS ET mode). It records DVD-R , DVD-RW , and DVD-RAM. DVD resolution is 500 lines at 1 hour mode and 350 lines at 4 hour mode. Flex recording is offered in 5 minute increments for best use of bit-rate per show. S-VHS resolution is in excess of 400 lines at SP. I own the previous model SR-MV40US and am very pleased with performance. The current model does not have a tuner but makes excellent copies from a cable box, both tapes and discs. Dubbing in either direction, tape to or from disc, renders great copies. I think this would be a great way to effectively clone a film collection from tape to the more robust medium of DVD.

 

[kjbawc]



Quote:
Originally Posted by poynerc /forum/post/12869245


Here's a good one (and please no laughter)


I have lots of DirecTV pay-per-view movies that were recorded on to SVHS tape before I bought a DVD-R recorder.


Is it worth backing these off to DVD-R and displaying them on my new 65" 1080p DLP.


Would an upconverting DVD player clean things up any.

I have a 56" 720p DLP set, and many hundreds of SVHS tapes. I have dubbed some of them from a SVHS VCR to my Pio 640, in SP, and most look a little less than comparable to a SD signal on my Comcast cable, except for B&W SVHS programs, which are pretty much comparable, and color animation, which looks good. My dubs DO look as good as the original SVHS tapes, or a bit better.


I would recommend transferring anything which you are never likely to see again, i.e. see released on DVD (or Blu-ray) or shown on TV again. Modern color favorites, I would wait until they are available on Blu-ray, and buy them then, or if you must have them sooner, buy them on DVD. If you have good looking copies of B&W favorites, transfer a few of those, and see how they look to you on your display. Then, I would just hang on to the tapes, in case you want to watch anything, before it is released in hidef. And hope they don't change formats again, before you rebuild your collection!

 

[CitiBear]

Its kind of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" question. Quality SVHS decks have a habit of breaking down if you don't use them much, so leaving the tapes sitting indefinitely until you think you might want to watch them is risky. Then again, in a few years BluRay or solid-state storage will have taken over from DVD and you might have to do another transfer anyway.


You're probably better off archiving them to good DVD-R like Verbatim or TY, just so you have them in a digital format for fast future conversion. I have hundreds of similar recordings archived this way and I'm working on a thousand more, because I need to get rid of the tapes: they take up too much storage space, and there isn't much difference between the transfers and the original tapes when viewed on most displays. It will be quite some time before BluRay recorders and media become as cheap as current DVD, and in any case BluRay is overkill for dubbing VHS. DVD-R seems the affordable and sensible option.


Just be aware that the jury is still out on how long DVD-R really lasts in storage. You may lose a few transfers here and there over a few years time due to random "bad" discs (unlike tapes, you can't always tell a "bad" blank disc by looking at it or using it normally). Also, very VERY few flat-panel HDTV displays present SVHS or other standard def nearly as well as an ordinary Triniton CRT tv. Make a couple of test transfers and see how they look on YOUR big screen. If its acceptable to your eyes, do a lot more. If not, wait for re-runs and then make fresh recordings direct to DVD-R (although this might only make a slight improvement).


Finally, BEWARE of spending money on JVC "Pro-Series" SVHS-DVD combo recorders. When they work they're great but there have been WAY too many reported problems with the DVD drives being defective out-of-the-box on these units, and they're failure-prone even after repair. New ones at dealers are also insanely overpriced (you could buy studio DVDs of all your cable recordings for the price of one of these lemons). Standard VHS/DVD combo recorders from JVC are OK, best one is the DR-MV5 available for well under $100 used. But if you still have the original SVHS deck you recorded your tapes on, you'll be better served by just connecting that to your existing DVD recorder.