I asked my brother, who works in the television/video industry, to give me his expertise and advice on the purchase of my next VCR.
He recommended Panasonic, so I went to their web site, which was quite helpful.
But I can’t really tell the difference between them. I wish they had a model comparison table to make things easier.
Future Shop currently has the PV-V4522-K on sale for $119.00, but I think the PV-V4612-K model has the minimum features that I want. It has the “Time Stamp” feature I love on my Sony!
I like the idea of the Advanced Video Head Sensor System on the PV-VS4821-K model. “This model features an advanced video head sensor system that will offset gradual picture deterioration due to normal wear of the video head. This system will result in continually optimized picture quality by adjusting automatically to the usage/wear of the video head.”
Here is what he replied:
First. This will be the LAST VHS machine you will buy. They will become very rare in the next few years, and by the time it is worn out, a replacement will be hard to find. DVD is outselling VHS 10 to 1!!!!
Get all the features you desire on this machine— you won’t have an opportunity to upgrade next time.
You might want to start thinking about switching your movie purchases to DVD, and eventually, burn or restock your existing collection. DVD burners are getting cheaper by the month.
We buy panasonic at work as I have said, and I believe we use PV 4522K as our “vanilla flavour” machine – logging and dub carts for the most part — I can’t beat the future shop price – I think we pay $139 for the same machine. You take your own chances with future shop on anything you buy there. As for the head sensor – I haven’t heard of that – it may be an offshoot of slo mo piezo head technology.
If the head sensor technology is only a few bucks more, it might be worth while, keeping in mind that the cost of heads for it are very expensive, and when you need to replace them, you might be SOL. And do you have any way of proving that in fact, it is doing what it says? Your eyes will fool you every time. Only a waveform monitor, and test signal of a known value, can prove it. On the other hand, If you are making dubs, it might be worth the extra coin. (see previous comment about dubs and DVD burns)
I don’t have time to go to the web site right now, but my money would be on the slightly better machine with the date stamp.
If you want to guarantee your collection, you better buy 3 machines, and put 2 of them away. And the rubber will continue to deteriorate in them also— so they may not last even in an unused condition.
Such is the crap that new technology brings.
forward this to 10 people and a bunny will dance across your screen! (it really works) (g)
(He made the mistake of sending me that “little crying boy in the toy store” chain mail this week!)
And then my Dad responded with:
What’s a shellac disc? What’s an acetate disc? What’s vinyl? What’s an reel-to-reel audio and/or video tape? What’s an audio and/or video cassette tape? What’s a CD? What’s a DVD? What’s a BVD?
Where’s it going to end, Oscar, where’s it going to end?
