After being subjected to unusual movement during a larger furniture re-arrangement in my room, my old french Thompson VCR died. As the device reenforced my inherent dislike of french high-tech products, I am not particularly sad that it got out of the way more or less voluntarily.

But: now I am faced with a critical technology question. Should I go directly for a harddisk-based recording solution (as I wanted for several years now) or should I get another VHS device for legacy compatibility reasons? I have quite some VHS tapes here that contain archived material in volumes that can not be easily digitized and that also can not be thrown away or made completely inaccessible by not having a compatible player around.

So I probably wont be able to skip a new VHS device. On the other hand, I dont want to have these bulky tapes piling up for all eternity. So it boils down to the question: is harddisk recording already consumer-grade enough to be the recording media of choice? Using DVD-R* for backup and transport is fine with me. Not fine with me is the complete absence of an ethernet port on all harddisk VCRs I have seen so far, except for the built-your-own PC-based kits. I need to be able to get the files from the VCRs harddisk to a computer, otherwise the recorder would only be moderately usefull. Also, I need a VCR that can decode both digital and analog cable. And the capability to put in larger harddisks. Of course the whole thing must be fan-free, and the harddisk soundproofed very well.

Yes, and the cost issue. I am not prepared to spend more then 500€ for such an device. Lets see if it can be done these days, or if waiting for next year is more advisable…