Well, I lost the argument, and we are going to repurchase a VCR after 2-3 years without one. My wife has some kids videos for our 2 year old, and some excercise videos she is trying to get the dust off of. I want something really cheap, but since I have a new MX-850 coming, I need it to have discrete on/off buttons.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Greg

My VCR doesn't have discretes, but that hasn't stopped me from treating it like it does. I use the following macros as stand-in discretes:

ON:
• Play
• 0.10 sec. delay
• Stop

OFF:
• Play
• 0.10 sec. delay
• Stop
• 0.10 sec. delay
• Power

The operation here is simple, and in practice, it works every time:

Effectively every VCR responds to a Play command by turning on, so [Play, Stop] turns on the VCR and then stops it, leaving it in a known, power-on state.

For OFF, repeat the power ON macro commands to arrive at the known power-on state. Even if the VCR is already on and doing something else, the fact that you're now turning it off means that you don't care if it plays forward a second or two. And I've never seen a VCR that will abort a recording if you press Play, so that shouldn't be a problem. Now that you're at a known power-on state, the Power toggle is guaranteed to turn the VCR off.

I hope this helps!

Dale

I've heard that many VCRs do that. Certainly not "every", in fact I don't recall ever seeing (in person) even one that did so.

I have four brands (5 total units) of VCR in use at my house. I know the two downstairs do NOT turn on when you press play, because it can be hard to see whether they are on or off and I often press play, not realizing they are off, and get annoyed that nothing happens and I need to press power then play.

I'm nearly sure the other two brands of VCR I have also don't turn on when you press play, but I don't recall for sure that I tested that.

Okay, fair statement... certainly not "every." I guess my experience has been the inverse of yours: I don't recall encountering a VCR that won't turn on with a Play command—it must be the brands I've used. Still, touché, you are absolutely correct: I shouldn't say "effectively every."

Thanks Dale.

That actually helps quite a bit. I have another question for you on a different note. I noticed you put a .10 sec delay between each macro step. I am coming from a MX-500 which automatically sets delays for you. Is .10 a good rule of thumb to put between each and every macro step. Any advice on this for a soon to be new MX-850 owner.

Thanks
Greg

Go to bestbuy and get a cheap ass sony. they have discretes. I think they around $65

JVC VCRS have discrete power.

All of the Sonys have discrete power codes available, and many even have 2 or 3 code sets which you can select (although they stopped doing that about 5 or 6 years ago).

You can find a used one on eBay for even less than the low cost of a new one.

Yep, JVC and Sony. Discretes, and coincidentally, often turn on with a play command. **Some** Mitsubishis turn on with a play command, but I think they also have discretes. **Most** VCRs do NOT turn on with a play command.

The one that completely broke the mold for me was an old Emerson with no discretes but play woke it up.

Wow... okay well, the concensus is in:

I've been incredibly lucky with VCRs, and Greg has a lot of great resources here at Remote Central to turn to.

Thanks everyone!

Dale

All JVC & Mitsubishi's
Many Sony's
Some Panasonics
Some RCA's (used to be all - as well as GE's)

Never Samsung
" Sanyo
" GE (for the last 10 years)
" Sansui
" Fisher

Combo Units (DVD/VCR): Many Sony's - none else

How's that?

Awesome, dude.

Combo units are the DEVILS CCREATIONS! Concentrated Evil!

Newer JVCs do not, Sony's do however. i have never in my 12 years seen one VCR start on the play command.

Your kidding me! About 90% of the cheap vcr's do!

Even the Sony's(that have a discrete on and off)