Need a new VCR in 2018.
 

So my old AKAI gave up on color so i'm looking for a new one VCR.
I'd like to replace it rather then repair, its a very simple slow and low quality one with no remote.

We have a vast VHS Disney and Classic film collection so it will be regularly used.
Especially in the near future, we got a 9 month old girl :)

So what to get ??

I hope there is one out there with component or is it best to buy a dvd/vhs combo these days ?

I haven't been in the market for a VCR in ages.

You missed the boat, there are no longer any new VCRs being made. Instead look for a working used one. It shouldn't be hard to find one locally for cheap/free

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brittany...his-month/amp/

Except for DVD/VHS combos, W-VHS, and broadcast grade decks component video on VCRs was never a thing. Composite and S-video we're common though. If you are looking for a good picture on one of the LCD/Plasma sets made these days a S-VHS with a built-in TBC like some Marantz and Sony models...The Sonys have excellent picture quality, but are expensive and have a recurring loading gear issue.

Wonder where a company like Legacy Box that transfers old video formats to digital gets their equipment. Garage sales? ebay? And what do they do for parts?

Just like with people maintaing old computer systems there are vendors out there that will sell just about any replacement part or machine you ask for. You may be paying a very high price but the equipment ships working and with a warranty.

A lot of the smaller 2-bit video transfer places are typically a laundry room bench with whatever consumer devices they can find.

For a great, rugged machine with excellent built-in TBC, I use Panasonic AG-7750's. Have some depth of inventory, including parts machines. However, they are SP only and therefore not great for non-high-speed tapes.
For those, I use Panasonic AG-1980, a semi-pro machine that edits well, but has multiple speeds and a reasonable TBC.
Seldom get a call for VHS anything in the last decade, though.

90s Panasonic Omnivisions are good decks and are cheap these days.

I wouldn't get a pro/editing deck unless it was local and cheap (granted I've obtained pro decks local and cheap) The ones on ebay are expensive to buy and ship, and are usually wore plum out.

Quite true (though some omnivision models are not as reliable as others). All my better decks (S-VHS) were $10 or less goodwill finds...Heck my main workhorse JVC was $3. They still get decks here, but 3-6 decks VS the ~30 that would be there any given time 2-3 years ago is a downturn.

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If you just want something for your daughter to use that will be easy for her to operate and plain old reliable, pick up an old 90's Hitachi. You may have to clean the mode selector every few years, but the buttons are big, the remote is easy to use, and they just plain work. These units may not have the best picture (colors tend to be light), but for entertaining the kid, who really cares?

My first VCR was a Sharp VC-A593 (IIRC it was my birthday present when I was ~6). Mono sound average video performance (but SQPB equipped for god knows why) the only outstanding feature was the rapid rewind/fast forward. I still have it and it still works (killed the remote long ago though)...Probably the most reliable deck I've used...Heck because of that deck I kept an eye out for an S-VHS Sharp.

This. The DVD player part will probably be broken though :D

And silly expensive to boot. The bad SMD caps cause weird chroma noise, It has an unobtainium module that affects the video quality that's covered in literally leaky SMD caps.

Only way I'd get another AG-1970/80 is if it was free!

'98 and up Omnivisions shouldn't have bad caps. I've got two in use and they are ok. Now my '88 Omnivision the power supply "sings". No mystery there :D

Now i remember my parents Panasonic with super rewind or something, it sounded like a jet but rewound a 2 hour movie in a minute.

I think it was on 12/31/99 that I treated myself to a new VCR, a Panasonic that I chose because it proclaimed in big, bold letters on the box "made in JAPAN". A long ago lightning strike took out the TV/VCR switch but otherwise it remains my go-to unit. Like BetaFan mentioned, an above average rewind that sounds like it's about to take off! (continously variable speed, always sounded like quality to me)

Component video outputs on a VHS VCR would be pointless. VHS (and Beta) were not even SDTV. They were LDTV (Low definition TV). In NTSC systems, the vertical resolution was the same as SDTV (480i), but the horizontal resolution, and especially the horizontal chroma resolution, were inferior in comparison to standard OTA or CATV broadcasts. We just didn't notice it easily on a 19" CRT, and were glad to be able to watch a show we wouldn't be home for, watch a rented movie, take the cassette to watch with friends, and keep for decades.
Having to be content with half of the lume resolution and a quarter of the chroma resolution (the latter true even of S-VHS) made affordable and compact videocassettes possible. If the television pioneers knew people would be satisfied with VHS picture quality, there could have been 24 VHF and 140 UHF channels.

I would advise people to look for S-VHS VCRs. Most thrift store employees do not know the difference between VHS and S-VHS (nor, for that matter, the meaning of the "SDTV" mark on a television set), thus there is usually no price difference.

When a manufacturer made an S-VHS VCR, they knew their customers were paying a premium - thus S-VHS VCRs were more likely to be made of major brand parts.

Even with that awful 30-line horizontal chroma resolution, the increased horizontal lume resolution (about the same as broadcast resolution) is useful on sets 23" or larger.