My VCR died
 

I'm feeling rather pathetic about this. VCR cassettes are on their way out, for sure, but I have enough still on tape that I need to replace it.

It seems you can't buy just a VCR anymore, they only come in combo units with DVD players.

Also, if you still want to be able to record off of a raw cable feed, it seems you need to also buy a combo unit that includes a DVD recorder, which pushes the price from about $100 to about $300, and I was hoping to stay under $150. The $100 ones don't seem to come with tuners.

But, from the other side of things, this will probably be the last opportunity for me to buy a VCR; when this one breaks, they'll be gone, so I want to find one that will last a while. And I have no idea if anyone is still building quality VCRs.

Can anyone give me a suggestion?

If you have a cable box, that acts as the tuner. All you do is put your TV on 2 or 3, or run it off the aux with AV jacks.

A quick check of the net, turned up a combo for $49.99, plus tax.

http://www.buy.com/retail/searchresu...y=col&dclksa=1

ebay should give you a ton of choices. or the local pawn shop.

I don't use a cable box, so I'd still like to find an internal tuner.
I'd like one that still has life left in it, so I would prefer to avoid used.

Have you looked in any non-chain stores? You know, the stereo/AV stores found in run-down shopping plazas that cater more to the local immigrant communities?

I imagine low rent discount stores that sell everything from rice cookers to indoor waterfalls might be the place to go.


On a sidenote, my parents still have a working beta machine.

Keep in mind that after the HD switch over (if it ever happens, 2009 now) you will need a new tuner.

I was able to find a lot of old school VCRs by searching amazon and google with "vcr -combo -dvd", but which one would ultimately be up to your personal tastes.

Incorrect. The HD switch over only affects over-the-air transmisisons, not cable or satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-de..._United_States

Wrong, the NTSC tuner will become obsolete with the absence of analog OTA broadcasts also cable and satellite will have to adapt or omit the analog rf output from their boxes.

Do you just mean to record with the VCR? We bought a cheapie $100 combo unit (no DVD burning capability) at the grocery store that takes a single coax feed and the VCR records as normal. There's a DVD/VCR toggle button. You can either record straight from cable to VHS or uncopyrighted DVD to VHS.

ya i'd like to put my vcr stuff onto dvd. Could never stand the FF and rew to get through the tapes.

One day... maybe they'll have VCR USB device.... just like that turntable USB device.

That'd be neat, and it'd solve your problem.

I ended up with a Panasonic with a DVR-writer in it, and it'll handle digital when that comes around as well. Thanks for the help, everyone.

And Nimetic - I got a Canopus converter box, which takes RCA inputs from the VCR and outputs Firewire. I run it through iMovie and iDVD, and can put in chapters and titles and all that good stuff.