Best DVR/VHS combo for manual dubbing control?

[FredGarvin]

Hi. I'm in the market for a DVR/VHS combo to preserve my old VHS footage on DVD (not tv shows, movies or anything with copyguard...this is stuff I shot myself on a VHS camcorder). I've given up on customer reviews because every unit out there gets about 3 stars on average....an equal mix of 1 and 5 star reviews. I'm hoping for feedback from someone who has actually used a unit in the way that I want to.

I'm not a big fan of automated/one-touch processes. I need a unit that will let me stop, pause and put short segments from multiple tapes on a single disc. The bulk of my tapes, however, are 2 hours in length. I definitely want XP mode recording capability (1 hour DVD) for best possible quality. I want to dub the first half of a tape on a disc, stop when it's full, and then start a new disc for the remaining hour of the tape....so I want a unit that won't freak out when it sees that I want to use XP mode to record a 2 hour tape.

If you've used a unit in this manner and had good results, please let me know.

(I've learned that older Panasonic models, like the ES35V, have a flex recording mode, that lets you establish the exact length of the DVD. If you have experience with these models, I'm curious...will it let you set a total disc time that is less than 1 hour, or is there a 1 hour minimum?)

Thanks for your help!


Fred

 

[majorloser]

Welcome to Audioholics!

I had to laugh at the username

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=2399

You might want to look at the combo players at the Audioholics Store:
http://store.audioholics.com/section/78/1/dvd-vcr-combo-decks

 

[FredGarvin]

You might want to look at the combo players at the Audioholics Store:

Thanks, but I've looked at every unit available. I've read specs sheets, user reviews, downloaded full instruction manuals, and even called customer service. None of those have given me any info on manual dubbing control. The only place left to turn is actual user experience.

Fred