Plunge taken with hard disc drive JVC recorder + comments on resissue DVDs

Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

Things happen in cycles! Well the second of our 10 year old S-video recorders died (for s-video) and same story, the ICs unobtainable. I tried everywhere to get parts for the other recorder but no success so did not even try with this one (it is even older).
So, after lots of hesitation I succumbed to the purchase of a JVC s-video recorder with a 40 gb hard disc inside - an HM-HDS1EU. The local store had one on which I was able to organise a good discount as the model is about to change so it is already obselete.
Surprise, surprise, it is user friendly AND gives superb video, quite indistinguishable from the original. I have now switched over to s-video completely and, from clean (PAL) images via satellite am recording crisp images which project on the 112 inch screen with better quality than most (component video) DVDs and (s-video) LDs.
But such s-video resources are a waste of dollars with "free to air" TV as is now being broadcast here. The slight smearing which occurs takes the edge of the sharpness so that the added resolution of s-video is lost. We are due to switch to digital transmissions here next year so maybe then the situation will improve.
Overall I'm discovering the same frustration with video as with audio - the software quality. Movies via satellite which are earlier than 1985 are generally (not always) of lesser video sharpness but most of the documentaries, particularly those coming out of Great Britain, are crystal clear with great (pro logic II) surround audio to match. Some DVDs have excellent video quality but most do not and we have some LDs here which project (via the Pioneer HLD-X9) better than DVDs. This was driven home to me recently when I discovered that the set of Wagner's "Ring" cycle on LD was far superior to the reissued DVD set. Somewhere, someone messed up the analog to digital video transfer (the original video recording was done with "state of the art" [for then] analog techniques). Moral of this to me is that reissues on DVD are not necessarily better and may be worse than the original LD release so that "remastered" may not equate to better. Frustrating.
John

Peace at AA

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Topic - Plunge taken with hard disc drive JVC recorder + comments on resissue DVDs - John C. - Aussie 17:01:01 10/14/02 (0)

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