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Recording from the VHS tapes

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Hopefully someone can give me some good answers here. Like everybody else, i refuse to give in and buy the special edition DVD's. I do not know anyone who has the OT on laserdisc, but i do own the OT VHS box set that came out in 1995. I recently watched them again to see if the picture quality has deminished, but lucky for me, it still holds up very well. Not as well as the laserdiscs mind you, but very well for VHS tapes 9 years old.

I'm thinking of buying a DVD recorder just for the sole purpose of transfering these movies to DVD just in case Lucas is serious about not letting the OT EVER being released on DVD. I just want to get some feedback from some people to determine if this is a sane proposition or not.

Let me know, and thanks for all your help.
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Ask Spider. He made the perfect set with his DVD recorder.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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I have the same 1995 VHS set - THX, widescreen, Dolby Surround - and I was originally planning to copy them onto DVD. After doing a bit of research, I found that the recommended device for playback of VHS tapes is an SVHS VCR with built-in TBC. In the UK, brand new VCRs of this type by Panasonic or JVC go for around 140GBP. You can now get a top of the range laserdisc player, that used to sell for 800GBP, for less than 100 on eBay, which leaves you 40GBP to try to get the discs. So I decided to go the laserdisc route.

I can't really say anything about DVD recorders because I've never used one, I know they have built-in circuits for picture enhancement - noise reduction (do they have TBCs as well?) but it takes all the fun out of it! If you want a quick fix, get the recorder, but if you want to take your time and start learning, get a capture card for your PC (it is also a lot cheaper!)

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I had my 95 THX Widescreen VHS set (mint condition) transferred to DVD a few months back in a professional studio using some state of the art Sony VHS player (don´t know the model). It really made a huge difference from the video player I have at home, basically excluded almost all audio and video problems I had noticed at home. Those transfers are pretty darn good, especially the sound which is amazing, and I made do with them for a little while, that is until I got a set of the brilliant TR47 transfers. Those are much cleaner looking and much more steady than the VHS ones. Plus there are no audio and video bugs to speak of other then maybe the 4 second pause on ESB. Now I only watch the TR47´s cause going back to VHS quality is not an option for me. There´s a big difference. And as for the 2004 DVD´s - I still haven´t bought them, and don´t plan on doing it. George "lost his marbles" Lucas ain´t getting more money from me - until he releases the unaltered OT on DVD!

This VHS to DVD process is sane alright, but having both and comparing, I´d go for the laserdisc transfers any day. That´s my two cents.
peace,

Rebelscum
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One VHS you will have macrovision problems this copy protestion for VHS. You need a small box to remove it www.facetvideo.com has one CompUSA sells Sima one. I have had two Sima boxs in the past one works great and the other one had tons of problems. Do not know how good the new ones are. If I was you I would buy a Laser Disc player from Ebay and get the THX face set. And get a Panasonic DVD recorder this is how I made my set. I even have the closed Caption subtitles. Or just get a set from some one else that made a DVD set. Forget about VHS.