I paid $600 for a Mitsubishi VCR back in 1990, so I guess I got my moneys worth.

All recording are coming out like crap, and I have cleaned the heads.

Good thing I have a TV card on my PC, as I often use it to record shows when the VCR is also recording.

Watching the playback on my 19" CRT is not really that bad, and the sound...
nothing like listening to a program in 5.1 and with a sub.

Found my lost PC to TV cable earlier in the week, so now I have TV out from the PC.
Rigged up another cable from the PC using a mini stereo plug from the Sound Blaster that converts it to a the white & red RCA plugs, and they plug into the TV set.

Now I can watch the recordings from the PC on the TV if I want to watch it in full view.

Not sure if I will get a new VCR in the future, I may look into the hard drive type of recorder if they make a non TIVO one.
I do not want to pay a TIVO fee.

Anyway, 15 years from the old VCR is pretty good, and it only ever went to a shop once for a tape being jammed in it.

 

they do make a non tivo one... my friend had setup in her house replaytv ... not sure if that comapny is stil laround htough... might want to @ least check them out or try to

 

Both Tivo and ReplayTV have subscription fees. If you don't pay the fees, it cripples the device. If you don't want to pay a monthly fee you're doing the best thing, and that is just using your computer.

 

VCR's are MUCH cheaper now, so if I were you, I'd just pick up another basic VCR and keep using the PC for Tivo purposes.

 

You should be able to pick up a 4 head hifi VCR for $50 or so. Who knows if it will last 15 years though.

 

Corey, you always impress with your positive attitude. It killed me to put my $500 SVHS Panasonic out with the trash last year, deemed unrepairable by the local repair shop. I replaced it with one that does almost everything the Panasonic did for $50.

When shopping for a DVD player last month I saw a slew of VHS/DVD combo player/recorders in the $150-$200 range at Best Buy. They allow VHS to DVD recording that could come in handy if you have a big VHS library. What I really need now is a DVD recorder.

About Tivo fees, I'm still with Dish Network that includes a PVR with no subscription fee. I pay about $10/month less than cable and all channels are digital. With a DVD recorder I could burn different music channels off Sirius (included with Dish) to play in the car...I think.

 

VC WHat ?

Thats like the tape thiny-mo-bob right ? VHS Has gone the way of the Doo-Doo or Beta.

I know the feeling, My VHS Died awhile back, and Im not about to buy another one, only problem is I had a great VHS Collection. !

 

Bob, thanks for the comps.
Yeah, I hate getting rid of something that was so expensive back in the day.
Probably why I still have an HP 560c printer hooked up to my PC.
$500 back in its day to from '95.

$50 is not bad for a player that is much newer than the one I have and does the same thing.
Yeah, mine was top of the line back then with S Video, stereo, ect.

I did not know all the hard drive type units required you to subscribe and pay a fee.
The nice thing about my TV/FM tuner card in the PC is there is no fee, and I have the same type of TIVO features.
I log onto this site.
http://www.titantv.com/TTV/Grid/Grid.aspx

You have to join which is free, but you enter in your info for your area and cable company, and it then shows you all the stuff on in your area.
All I have to do is look up a show I want to record, mouse over it, and a JAVA window pops up and lets me set the recording for it.

Or you can also click on "details" which tells you about the episode, and another window pops up that lets you set the recording of the show, pretty cool.

I save the shows in MPEG 2 format, which I think is the highest setting.
A one hour show comes out to around 2.80 to 3 GB each.

I may head out to my sister's this weekend, and see if they have an old VCR laying around they are not using right now.
But running the cables out from the PC to the TV in the other room works real great as far as picture quality, but with one drawback.

My wireless mouse will not hook up with its base from the living room to the PC room, so I can not fast forward through the commercials like I do with tape.

 

yeah VCRs are way cheap now, you should be able to pick up a new one without hurtin the wallet too much. I just got a JVC VCR/DVD combo for Christmas after my Sony VCR went kaput and I think those run between $100-$150.

 

Corey,

You have deffiantly have better luck than I do with VCRs. I averaged maybe 2-3 years with a VCRs. Now with TIVO I have gone 4 years and have not even pulled off the cover.

According to TIVO tech support, they dont even want you to clean the inside. Once you unscrew the cover the warranty is void.

 

First off I have had two problems with running my PC to the TV in the other room.

Problem one:
Oh I had sound and picture, but the picture was in black & white.
This is a known problem with ATI cards, but not with NVIDIA.
The problem stems (as seen in an old post by me on color out on the TV card) with a standard S Video cable with the RCA video input working with the NVIDIA cards to output color to the TV.

ATI cards however need this adaptor.
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2538012


It converts the 4 pin to 7 pin, so color can go to the TV set from the ATI card.
I was over at member Drew's yesterday, and he had this connector.
Brought it home, hooked it up, had color.
So that problem was solved.

Problem two:
Sitting in the living room chair I can not aim my remote for the tuner card to the PC.
I would have to get up to fast forward or pause a recorded show.

The remote IF cable has a 1/8" stereo plug on it that plugs into the card, and the other end has a small receiver you aim the remote at.
I stopped by Radio Shack today thinking a standard 20' cable would work, and I was right.

I ran the cable out to the living room, and now sitting in the chair I can aim the remote at it and have total control over my tuner card.

At this point in time, I see no real reason now to even get another VCR.
The picture and sound quality from the PC to the TV is far better than a VCR is.
I save all shows in a MPEG 2 format, which yields a very high quality viewing.

This is just like TIVO, but free.

 

My Zenith 4 head Hifi vcr that was given to me by someone due to it having a problem (person knew I worked with electronics. Thought I might be able to get some kind of use out of it) in 1992 is still kicking. Never saw a problem with it. The only issue is that its started making a static sound just recently from the speakers when it has a picture with a lot of white to it. I need to replace it soon I guess. Im not going with the combo vcr/dvd players. I figure the vcr part would crap out quick and then it would be just a dvd player or id be out a vcr and dvd while its being fixed or replaced.

 

Not sure if you have COMCAST or not but they have DVR (digital video recording) for $10 a month, and you don't have to purchase a box. So far I am extremely pleased. I can even record HD channels!

 

Ahhh, you guys need to look into Microsoft's "Media Center Edition" 2004 or 2005 (05, supports HDTV) computer.

I've had MCE2004 for over a year, no fee's... Burn (rented)DVD's, TV shows, Music... My MCE is hooked up to standerd "cable TV" Pause TV shows (DVR) record TV shows three weeks in advance via DSL (automatic download program guied) I no longer watch tv comercials!!!! or BUY DVD's , computer also has 5.1 SurSund

But the real reason I like it... it's also a gaming compuer, halflife, call of duty, doom3... web surfing, email... PORN...!!!!

Monitor- Sony WEGA 36" HDTV connects via DVI cable.