Anyone familiar with this VTR?

D

DVXnNYC

Active member
Hi all,

In an attempt to save some wear and tear on my DVX100's heads, I saw this ad on Craigslist for a JVC SR-VS20U.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/pho/702470291.html

Is anyone familiar with this? Anyone using it and can tell me whether it's good or bad? I don't think I would ever use the VCR portion, but I suppose you never know. Anyway, any and all feedback would be appreciated.

Of course, for this price, I could find a cheap camcorder...would that be any better?

Thanks in advance!:thumbsup:
K
 
I've spent a lot of time with that deck, and it's successor, the VS30. They're pretty decent decks. They'll play DVCAM, although they'll only record in SP and LP. They do a great job of analog to digital and digital to analog passthrough.

I'd be a little wary about that one saying it needs a push to accept a tape. Might be worthwhile having it cleaned and serviced. Regardless, that is an excellent price.
 
I've used the VS30U for more than a year

I've used the VS30U for more than a year

editing with Adobe CS2/Production Studio Premium. It's not SDI, but has been fine for DV work when capturing in PPro 2.

My biggest complaint is it can be a little slow to get to a specific frame when rewinding or FF'ing. It moves fast until it gets near the frame, then slows down and moves frame-by-frame to the target. I've learned to live with it, and for the money, I'm glad I got it.

The VHS side can come in handy if you need to digitize VHS or S-VHS tapes.

I've even loaned this to someone who used it on an Avid system set-up for SDI. After some finicking around, we got it to work. If you try that, make sure to read the user manual. There are some settings that must be made in order for it to work.

Last issue is I wish it had been a little less expensive. But, it's held up pretty well. My HVX has 125 +/- hours on it, and the 30U has been used even longer than that, what with capturing, rewinding, FF'ing, etc.

Hope this helps.
x
 
I have a vs30. We also keep a couple of them at the public access station I moonlight at.

The worst I have seen out of the ones at work is consistent dropouts after about 30-50 hours of rough use. Then we send them in for a head alignment. But these decks were bought new and have definitely been ridden hard and put away wet.

My VS30 is in better shape, it works pretty seamlessly for DV and VHS capture through firewire.
 
Thanks for all the responses and info!


Any advice on a unit like this versus a camcorder? Somewhere else I read that the quality of parts on these JVC units is not very high.

I haven't moved on this - perhaps it's not even available anymore..don't know - but like a lot of others on here, my budget is getting tighter and I'm not sure I want to buy this only to spend a bunch of money getting it fixed.

But wouldn't a sub-$400 camcorder also have cheap parts?

All opinions wanted - all help appreciated!

Thanks!
:thumbsup:
 
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