I stumbled onto the JVC (Victor) HR-W1 the other day.  I'd never even heard of W-VHS format--Hi-Def (1035i) recording on videotape.  I guess this was the last great effort from JVC before everyone abandoned tape altogether.  Like the champagne color?  Images below found on the "W-VHS Museum (Japanese):  http://movie.geocities.jp/w_vh...vhs_museum/1f/a.html

Does anyone still cherish VHS or BetaMax or has everyone gone digital?

I still have two new Sony S-VHS recorders I purchased right before I decided to move on to the DVD format. I use every now and then to watch movies and shows that were recorded quite a few years ago. Laser disc was a format I always cherished, not so much for the video quality, but for the sound and the artwork.

wow thats interesting...never heard of the W format,,, i use to record some programs in S-VHS in the 90s... my favorite tv series episodes that were worthy to go on super V....but later bought a dvd recorder a Phillips, it cost me a bundle back then when they first came out and they were bulky compared to now....i started dumping almost all of my VHS onto disc...especially some movies that never made it to dvd...and still never made to dvd till this very day....

W-VHS was a Japan-only & JVC specific format Hi-def format

Video signals were recorded using a weird time compression method which separated signals on the video track & as video signals are recorded in component form and not S-video image quality was much higher due mainly to the reduced level of video 'noise'.  Interestingly audio was captured digitally.

I guess it was another short-lived format, hampered further by lack/price of players/recorders and I'm assuming tapes were hard to find and pricey.

Looks nice quality though

I have a nice Sony unit I didn't have the heart to throw out - and kept it in it's box for the last 4 years

When I got it out to watch some VHS-C tapes last week - I realised "someone" had left their original Empire Strikes Back tape in the machine - and it had stuck in the mech

That was a fun 1 hour of pulling tape out all over the floor

Did you use Force

Sorry

Nice. Alway`s thought, it was a conspiracy, how vhs got to to be the video norm, when betamax, was way ahead. The sony C9, is a fantastic machine. We had a C7, for many years, good it was too.

I really liked recording with super V the tapes were very costly but were worth it...I had you could say one of the last machine models myself. it was JVC HR-S7900...it had a special feature called the TBC (Time base corrector)...it was a picture stabilizer ...it helped in playback in some damaged tapes or off tracking and other problems....its a feature many vhs enthusiasts were after at one time and not too many Super V machines had it....so it was going for a pretty penny on ebay...i sold mine...some time ago...but do recommend that unit...for vhs use...i also had another JVC Super V machine before that....forgot the model number but it had stereo LEDs on the screen...very cool machine...i use to record long hours of radio programs on EP..to get certain mastermixes they would play that couldnt wait all day for them at times...or over night...

What was laserdisc like? Alway`s remember, seeing them for sale, but, they never took off.

Sony made great machines, they were expensive.  Recently I've been looking for something to transfer the video off of some old beta tapes and even the old decks on eBay are in demand.

As to why VHS won, I think it had to do with recording time.  Most of the people I knew always set the VCR tape speed on SLP to get a million hours of recording time, didn't matter if the picture quality sucked.

Paul you could try and see if some tv repair shops do any tape transferring...they maybe have an beta.......i know i had a few PAL tapes of certain music videos....and one repair shop i knew did the transfers for me onto disc....or they have a few in ny midtown area where they specialize in transferring media...i had a u-matic broadcast tape with some rare vintage car videos i needed transfered and they were the only ones that could of done it

Wow never heard of seen such a thing either.  Definitely has look of very high quality expensive build. Wonderful find.  You should shoot Maurice RetroPCDOS  a PM he has some very high end vcr cameras /players he collects like the JVC used in BACK TO THE FUTURE ;-) 

That is very nice! W-VHS was HD standard for VHS  

There are places around here that will do the transfer.  I've been doing the VHS stuff on my own and it's fun playing with settings to get the ideal picture.  At least I know how it's going to come out, you never know when you get someone else to do it.  But maybe I'll have to with the Beta tapes.

Thats true...

Not sure how W-VHS compares. But back in the days before blu ray and true HD content was available widely, I bought two JVC D-VHS VCRS. JVC HM-DH30000U and JVC HM-DH40000U DVHS VCR. 

http://www.shopping.com/JVC-HM-DH30000U/info

http://www.amazon.com/JVC-HMDH...corder/dp/B0000ACY2B

Both of those could record and play 1080i and 480p and 480i content. There were also special pre recorded 1080i video tapes, and special D-vhs tapes. Of course you could play and record on regular vhs tapes also. But content recorded in 1080i and 480p would play only on these decks. 

I still have both of these. They are in excellent shape, but rarely use them. 

I saw a demo of this W-VHS at some convention a while back

but I dident even have a dvd player then

so it was a bit ahead of its time sorta thing

and expensive.

Still have my fathers philips vcc video from 1983

Regardless of technical ability and stylistic panache

Sony is the devil when it comes to proprietary hardware/media

they royally f-ed up DAT, Elcaset, Betamax, Hi-MD and so many other possible world class mediums

Quote of the week. Such formats are now just for the enlightened few.

Well digital definitely not for me sir!

This is the configuration i m using to see a VHS tape.