That Digital S tape will kill off your video heads since it contains a metal-particle formulation which S-VHS head assemblies were never designed to tolerate.

A few thoughts on the SVHS ET decks.... First of all, they came out towards the end of the format's life, so even the oldest ET deck will be newer than most decks out there for sale. Second, because of their 'newness' they feature the advances of late model VCRs, most importantly they seem to all be beltless. Third, these absolutely provide a cleaner picture on your old regular VHS tapes over any normal VHS deck or even SVHS deck. If you want to have any hope of blowing up a VCR image to a 12 foot or larger screen, it's imperative you focus on the first step which is extracting even the weakest color signal with the least amount of interference. These decks do this task very well in order for you to hand off a clean signal for processing to your scaler and deinterlacer or digital capture method.

10:31 That startled the hell out of me...

I have worked in the TV Broadcast field for almost 15 years and have never seen a Digital S tape or machine before. Worked with U-Matics, DVCPro, Beta, and 1-inch, but never a Digital S. I doubt I ever will now that everything is coming in from servers via Pitch Blue and Pathfire. I'm sure that the infomercials, the last thing to be delivered via tape, will be coming in via a digital connection in the next few years. That said this VCR had to have cost a pretty penny in it's day. Very nice indeed. On another note, it's nice to see KETC back on our cable lineup here in Moberly. Now we can watch both Channel 9 and KMOS-TV 6. Super!

I have the HR-S3600U, which is probably the previous model to this. I never had a need for the Super VHS functions, and it as some issues with fast-forward and rewind in recent years. We've owned this for over 20 years.

I have a JVC Super VHS ET machine. It was great for analogue TV. great quality. I recorded some Digital TV onto it an it was almost indistinguishable from the broadcast.

I have one of these, with the metal bar that's been removed, at 13:56. I've been trying to figure out how to put it back in, so I can use it as a VHS tape. I can't wait to get it going, so I can enjoy it.

JVC all you need

I have a JVC HR-S7300U S-VHS VCR. It's very similar.

I have panasonic hs830 hifi svhs et aswell very nice

I turn the video calibration thing off because it blurs the picture on my JVC s-vhs. (it might be the exact same model) I also turn off the on screen messages because I don't like vcr messages to show up on a tape that I'm converting to dvd.

Does the VCR have a LP recording speed? I like that this VCR does a little better job when rewinding and fast forwarding then the other VCR's I have and seen on KZfaq 3:17. Another thing I need to know does this VCR have a great quality picture for playing VHS tapes though a capture device onto a computer?

I have a Panasonic VCR VHS only and it has the exact same case but in silver I wonder if they licensed the design to JVC.

If I remember correctly, you don't have to drill a hole when using "ET" VCRs. That was the idea - to boost interest to SVHS by allowing people to use ordinary VHS tapes w/out modifying them. Cheap & cheerful)).

I have a Fisher six head deck ... very high-end when I purchased in early eighties. Is this something I should hang onto? I haven't tossed it because it cost over five hundred on sale, and I'm funny like that. The picture, as I recall, is beautiful. This unit is three times heavier than any deck I've seen and loaded with features. Are there people out there who dig VCRs?

I just bought this model at goodwill with remote in mint condition for 8 bucks in s-vhs mode nice picture and i can afford 75 cents a movie lol

Hello. Do you have this video recorder yet? I have a question about the mechanism

Your going to need to modify the erase head and increase its erasing power on Digital S tapes. Shame you don't have a direct capture card. hard to see the difference.

Please show me how to transfer a pre-recorded VHS to a blank VHS. Also show me what accessories that are needed.

I have this same model. The picture is great, but it has drop outs like yours and you can't see a picture when you do a slow fast forward.

You could just get a cheap Chinese Easycap usb capture card to take your composite or s-video input into your pc or mobile and deinterlace the NTSC/PAL signal in post

Very nice video, really informative, as always. But could you please explain to me what that spinning wheel is to the left of the video head with two notches in it? I own 5 VHS units myself, but none of them have that little wheel. I also noticed that little wheel in other VHS units that you featured on your channel... I was wondering if this has anything to do with the fact that I own european models and your devices are (I suppose) all U.S. models? Thanks!

why is it that my old vcr from the 80s and even my jvc s7600 which is top of the range model wouldn't want to work properly when the upper housing is removed. sometimes it works, but other times it then refuses to accept the tape. it just loads it in, wants to play it but then decides to kick it out. as soon as the cover is put back on, everything works fine. Anything to do with sensors?

10:32 I experienced similar inteference while capturing a video from my cellphone and at the same time receiving a text message. But the sound is different from yours because my phone is GSM. It's a GSM buzz which is faintly audible during playback.

i have a jvc video cassette recorder hr-d1610um but it don't work correctly because when I push the stop button the jvc eject the vhs but with the tape inside, do you know what can I do top fix it?

A tape is actually never in contact with the drum when it's spinning.

I have a JVC s3600U It sometimes fails to eject tapes. When i press eject it will rewind for a while, and then power off. Usually after trying several times, or moving to a different section on the tape it will allow to eject. I opened it up and observed it eject a tape. The roller guides seemed really slow and jerky while coming towards the front of the VCR to disengage the tape from the head. Not fast and smooth as in this video. Do you know what would cause that?

I'm kind of tempted after you said it plays regular VHS In SVHS. So if I buy one your saying I can put any standard VHS in and it's going to look more saturated and high resolution?

What is that Digital S tape for if it does not work in a regular VCR?

hey databits the show you have been taped for testing is the 2015 reboot of bob the bulider

I still have mine!! I bought it in Costco around 1997 or so. It was expensive if I recall. I no longer buy electronics as I am done. I stream off Putlocker.co.

I hate to be 'that guy', but Isn't S-VHS tape actually physically different in the way it stores the data on the tape? I might be wrong, but it seems like if you make the mods to your cassette housing, the vcr will attempt playback in SVHS mode in higher resolution, but you're not actually getting 'the full SVHS experience'? I'm not sure if there is a huge gap or not, it very well may not be noticeable, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Digital S? Wow, a format i've never heard of.....see if you can track down a machine for that format :)

This is the type of VCR to take back in time to the 70s, as absolute proof that you are a time traveler. lol People back then would never believe how sparse and cost-cutting that thing is. One small motor for loading, head motor PCB on the top, no belts (probably) nor pulleys, tons of analog stuff merged into single ICs or hybrids, tiny switched-mode PSU etc. Show them a modern tablet or laptop, and their brain would melt. I guess people in the future will be saying the same about us, though. lol

databits....Try it with a large screen TV. Do you think that you can fool us ?.

please use LCD tv ..that thing TV is not used...

Found one for less than one thousand pennies.

making my way though the comments

It is useless to record from composite to S-VHS, S-VHS recording meant to be from a S-Video input not composite.

Why do you have to use that old terrible TV for testing tapes, get a more modern flat CRT screen for testing a VCR's image quality.