Yeah, I would like to see a realtime recording of a DVD-recorder. Safe to say that pre-recorded DVDs are way ahead of VHS simply because the master copy has generally been carefully encoded presumably by high-end encoders (pro stuff). I have yet to see a DVD recording made 'on the fly'.
Oh, I have a VHS copy of Lord of the Rings too. The picture quality of pre-recorded VHS tapes is awful due to poor quality tape. Home-recorded VHS movies always look better.
VHS: always avoid recording pictures containing solid reds
