freeview and VCR's

Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like to know
is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my signal output
is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the menu where I can
select 4:3 or 16:9, is this the same on vcr's?.
just would like to know before I plash out my money.

Thanks Keith

"Keith Hampson" wrote in message
...
Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, ....

Surprised at buying a new VCR would have thought a DVD Recorder would be
more up to date think to do.
--
Regards,
David

Please reply to News Group

Cheers David the oter half has about 200 videos, so I said I would buy a
vcr, but I will treat myself to a dvd recorder very soon.

"David" wrote in message
...

"Keith Hampson" wrote in message
...
Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, ....

Surprised at buying a new VCR would have thought a DVD Recorder would be
more up to date think to do.
--
Regards,
David

Please reply to News Group

What about the JVC combined DVD/VCR? I bought one for a friend's aged mother
and she finds it easy to use.

Or what about a freeview PVR and getting a cheap VCR for your wife? I've
been told most VCR's are built in Turkey now with not much difference in
quality. Just badge engineering.

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 09:24:35 +0100, "Keith Hampson"
wrote:

Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like to know
is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my signal output
is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the menu where I can
select 4:3 or 16:9, is this the same on vcr's?.
just would like to know before I plash out my money.

Go for an S-VHS one if you can - it is worth it for the extra quality
and will play all your old tapes.

Legacy items such as VCRs are likely to go up in price soon as DVD
takes over. I would recommned getting your old tapes transferred to
DVD ASAP.

JPG


Thanks Keith

"Keith Hampson" wrote in
:

Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like
to know is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my
signal output is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the
menu where I can select 4:3 or 16:9,

First thing is, it doesn't matter, the VCR will record what's in the frame,
however it's been manipulated.

You can straighten it out on your telly.

Why not buy a DVD recorder now? If the old machine is running at all,
transfer the tapes to DVD. They will be much improved due to timebase
correction and stuff.

mike

"mike ring" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Keith Hampson" wrote in
:

Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like
to know is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my
signal output is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the
menu where I can select 4:3 or 16:9,

First thing is, it doesn't matter, the VCR will record what's in the
frame,
however it's been manipulated.

I assume that the OP will want the VCR to record anamorphically (squashed
horizontally) and then expanded automatically when viewed. This won't happen
unless the equipment can do it and is compatible.

--
Max Demian

In article , Keith Hampson wrote:
Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like to know
is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my signal output
is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the menu where I can
select 4:3 or 16:9, is this the same on vcr's?.
just would like to know before I plash out my money.

If the output signal from your Freeview box is set to widescreen, then whatever
you use to record it will record the whole picture, so it will be possible to
view a correct widescreen picture on playback.

However, what is not certain is whether the playback will switch automatically.
You may have to switch your TV between 4:3 and 16:9 manually if it doesn't
happen automatically. One type of switching signal is carried in the blanking
period between fields of the video signal, and if your Freeview box outputs
this signal, then a VHS machine will record it. If it is the signal your TV
responds to, then it will also respond to it on playback, because it will be
part of the playback video signal. The signal that is always present is the
voltage on pin 8 of the SCART connector, on the assumption that the Freeview
box would normally be connected directly to the TV set, but not all Freeview
boxes include the field blanking widescreen switching signal, and not all TVs
respond to it anyway. Good luck.

Rod.

Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like
to know is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my
signal output is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the
menu where I can select 4:3 or 16:9,

First thing is, it doesn't matter, the VCR will record what's in the
frame,
however it's been manipulated.

I assume that the OP will want the VCR to record anamorphically (squashed
horizontally) and then expanded automatically when viewed. This won't
happen
unless the equipment can do it and is compatible.




But, (as you correctly imply), any old VCR will record anamorphic widescreen
material correctly.
It is only the automatic switching that is missing in a non-16:9 machine.
As most viewers don't like to watch 4:3 material in a pillar-box on their
wide screens the lack of switching may be an advantage!

Does anyone know exactly how it is implemented by the way.
I assume it isn't a WSS because, like teletext , it wouldn't survive the
restricted VCR bandwidth.
Presumably it is flagged by adding something else to the VBI, but what
exactly? Is it associated with 'Closed Captioning' (guessing)

--
Graham.



%Profound_observation%

"Graham" wrote in message ...

Hi, I have freeview and wish to buy a hitachi vcr, what I would like
to know is will this record in widescreen ok, 16:9 off my freeview, my
signal output is set at widescreen. my dvd player has a option in the
menu where I can select 4:3 or 16:9,

First thing is, it doesn't matter, the VCR will record what's in the
frame,
however it's been manipulated.

I assume that the OP will want the VCR to record anamorphically (squashed
horizontally) and then expanded automatically when viewed. This won't
happen
unless the equipment can do it and is compatible.

But, (as you correctly imply), any old VCR will record anamorphic
widescreen
material correctly.

I don't imply that. I have a Freeview box (GDB3) set to output to my 4:3 TV
and if I switch it to widescreen it comes out letterbox, on TV and video
recordings. Perhaps if I switched the box to widescreen it would record
anamorphically: I haven't tried. Idealy the VCR would record a signal that
tells whether the recording is widescreen (anamorphic) or normal 4:3 so it
would switch the TV automatically. I understand that some VCRs produce such
a signal and some widescreen TVs (and fewer 4:3 TVs) have such a system.
I've no idea how to tell whether particular models do that.

--
Max Demian