[jhalphen]

Hello Gentlemen,

Maybe you are a little bit interested in what we used on the other side of the pond, in Europe, France to be specific.

- The JVC HR-7600S, a SECAM single standard VHS VCR, JVC's flagship model in 1982, costing around US $2000.00 back then. One of my Broadcast customers stopped its duplication activities and were selling them off at 20% of list price. Nearly everyone in the office wanted (and got) one.
Well, believe it or not, 2 out of the 3 units i purchased are still going strong. Every 3 years i sent them in for maintenance (belt, capstan idler change) + drum check, and these 25 year-old machines just keep on working.

- Next, a big jump in time with the Sony SLV-767B, a beautiful high-end deck produced in the early 90s. Full editing with a flying erase head, full Jog/Shuttle on the deck and the remote, Hi-Fi Stereo recording and dual standard PAL/SECAM compatability. Have two, regular maintenance, both work fine.
Around 2005, a heck of a lot of purple electrolytics to change. For those who know, same caps as in the Indextron TVs with 100% bad caps guaranteed!

- Next, another jump in time, this time to S-VHS technology with the JVC HR-S7600E. Another high-end deck, purchased new in Germany last year, apparently S-VHS was a big hit there. The machine has Jog/Shuttle on the deck, but not on the remote, full insert/assemble editing, a Time Base Corrector,...

Now, why did i buy a tape deck in 2007 when you can record digital video onto a hard disk, a DVD, etc.?

Simple! the life span! My first VHS tapes, best-quality then, Fuji Beridox were recorded in 1976. 30 years later! i replay them with just an occasional long dropout. I was seriously considering a DVD burner/HDD combo, but 4 friends who have experience with these products reported difficulties playing back recordings as early as 2-3 years old, so NO WAY! for me.

Last machine is highly original: the Panasonic AG-W1, a VHS machine with built-in full standards conversion, so for instance you can dub an NTSC 3.58 525/60 USA tape to Euro PAL or SECAM 625/50 or vice-versa.
This machine came out in the late 90s before cheap digital standards conversion was available and was immediately embraced by the corporate world as the solution for solving tape/format standards problems in offices worldwide.

The one i acquired saw minimal use, and after changing 12 caps, works like new.

Hope i haven't bored you,

Best Regards

jhalphen
Paris/France