Vhs Recorder Is Dead. Replacement?

[Siki]

Trusty but rusty VHS finally died. I don’t see VHS recorders in the stores any more and I am looking for a cost effective way of recording my TV shows.

Is it best to buy a Video Capture Device, stand alone DVD player, or special card for the computer?

Has anyone in Bangkok gone through this decision making process recently? What did you purchase? Where did you purchase? Why? What about the cost?

Aloha

Siki

[bkkmadness]

Haven't DVD recorders come down to a reasonable price yet?

this might want to be moved to the technology forum BTW.

Edited June 1, 2005 by bkkmadness

[daveb1]

If i were you i would go for a dvd recorder or a hard drive/dvd recorder combo the prices are much better now and the picture quality is great!

[duke69]

If i were you i would go for a dvd recorder or a hard drive/dvd recorder combo the prices are much better now and the picture quality is great!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The problem is that (knowing a friend in Singapore Eng on microchips) also for DVD recorders and DVDs the days are numbered.

Plasma TV is already obsolete with LCD being much better (and in Europe already affordable, in BKK still very expensive).

The Future is a TV with HD inside, an ibrid between TV and PC, they will start with HD of few Gyga and then increasing quarter by quarter to keep demand up .....

it's a mess and it will kill our pockets..........

If I was you I would go for the cheapest DVD recorder (alone) on the market .... knowing that after 2-3 years will be like a dinosaur

[Highwayman]

There should still be a few VHS recorders about. Places like Carrefour and Central still carry a couple of models, sometimes combined with a DVD/VCD player. I bought an LG VHS/VCD combo model last year at Carrefour.

If you have any electronic repair shops out your way try asking them if they have any VHS models in stock. Thai's don't use them anymore, prefering VCD. I'll still be using VHS for a while yet, l'm even bringing over one that l had in storage as DVD recording models are not what l'd call cheap just yet. I was in an electronics shop yesterday and the price range was 25,000-85,000 baht.

Here's a selection starting from 20,000 baht.

[sajal]

why not try to find a DVR?

like tivo( www.tivo.com ) i guess its $100,....u can transfer the files to yr pc for archiving onto DVDs....

if u got the cash wait around till windows mediacenter based PCs get popular...

[Firefoxx]

There are a lot of options:

Get another VCR, if you can find it. Quality won't be great, won't last long, but at least it's easy to use and familiar. Less than 10k baht.

Get an AV or TV card for your computer. Quality will be pretty good and you'll be able to do time-shifting and programmed recording. Not expensive (around 2,000 baht), but you'll need to leave your computer on and close to the TV/antenna.

Get a DVD-recorder. Nice and compatible, good quality, fairly easy to use. Too bad they're still very expensive, 10k++.

Get a TiVO device. Easy to use, but it's not available here, and it's only really useful when you have a program listing service.

Or you can do what I do: Use your DV camcorder to record, like a VCR. Excellent quality, cheap (using existing equipment, or buy a cheap one for 15k... it does more than just record TV). It can be a bit tedious to convert to other formats.