she (01/11/83)
I am shopping for a VCR, and have my eye on the Panasonic 5500. However, I have recently seen a new GE portable consisting of a IVCD 3020 recorder and IVCT 615 tuner which appears to be identical to the 5500. I assume that the GE machine is manufactured by Panasonic. The advantage of buying the GE is that, although it costs about $40 more, it comes with an AC adapter for the recorder that costs $90 (discounted) as an option to the 5500. Assuming one wants the AC adapter, is there any reason not to buy the GE, rather than the 5500? Also, is there any clear preference as to brand of VHS tapes to buy, and whether the best brand varies with tape length (I am most interested in T-120 format). In particular, I know that TDK has a good reputation, but is it deserved, and how does TDK compare to Maxell and BASF "chrome" which one expert(?) has been touting to me? Thanks in advance... Steve Ellis ..!houxn!hogpc!she
mom@sftri.UUCP (M.Modig) (12/14/84)
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I am an occasional follower of this newsgroup, but I have never seen
a great deal of traffic covering the pecuiliarites of my situation,
so..
Here goes:
Dumb question #1
I am considering getting a VCR. I eventually want to have a Beta
Hi-Fi VCR. I want the Hi-Fi, and would like a reasonable length
timer with a reasonable number of events. (14 day/6-8 event would be
great, somewhat less might be acceptable, depending). I am not
particularly interested in having all sorts of wonderful doo-dads
like super search razzmatazz, a wireless remote, etc. I just want a
solid Hi-Fi VCR that has a good picture. Most of the extra bells
and whistles I can do without. I am looking to spend absolutely no
more than $800 (closer to $650-700 would be great); I have no idea
where that puts me in regard to list prices, since I am assuming I
can get a reasonable discount with a little looking around. I am
not interested in getting a portable VCR, and I understand these are
usually more than I am willing to pay anyway.
Now,
what would you recommend? [which of the following would be your response]
a) There is no such animal. What you want costs at least $-----.
Brands and models to consider are: __________,.....
b) Yeah, you might look at the following brand and model:_______
A fair price for it would be about $----.
In particular reference to a), I have heard that some VCRs come
"Hi-Fi ready" in that you can add Hi-Fi to them later. What is
known about them? Finally, I have no real need for Hi-Fi right
away. I would like to get something fairly soon to start taping
some shows, and maybe rent/buy a movie now and then. If you think
it would be a good idea to just get a so-so VCR now (VHS or Beta)
and save the deluxe later, I would appreciate recommendations.
Second Dumb Question (of 2)
I will obviously need to hook up the VCR to my TV. Now, my TV is
<cringe> black and white. I have access to a color TV, but really
only for tuning purposes, and such access is not very reliable. Will
this cause a problem? I plan to get a color TV in the future, but
the stuff I want to tape will be on and gone long before I can
accumulate enough resources to get both a decent VCR and a decent
color TV.
Thanks for your help. If there are enough requests, I shall post
responses to the net; if there are only a few such requests, I will
just mail them anything I get that is not otherwise proscribed from
being remailed or posted to the net.
Mark Modig
ihnp4!attunix!mom