Anybody have any tips? I never thought I’d have to invest another nickel in this dying technology, but people still want tapes more than any other format. Any suggestions on what to look for? I need a consumer machine that will make the best possible recordings.

Consumer deck and good recording are almost mutually exclusive. You might try looking for an S-VHS deck. They sometimes have wider head tracks and are more optimized for SP recording. Sometimes they have larger diameter drum assemblies, also.

Would S-VHS be able to record on regular cassettes? I thought that was an entirely different format. I need to record tapes for people to play on their home machines.

There is a small hole in the bottom of S-VHS tapes that allows the tape deck to automatically determine whether to record in S-VHS or not. If no hole, the deck defaults to VHS. Some Pro decks have a switch to enable S-VHS recording.

Use VHS tapes in the S-VHS deck and you'll have no problems.

JVC manufactures cheap SVHS decks that make good dupes imo.

How much for the JVC?

Also, are there any Fire Wire Controlled?

They have several models depending on your needs. The two I
purchased several years ago, HR-S4500U were under $300.
I don't know what the current model numbers are.
Keep in mind, no bells or whistles . . . no audio adjust, no meters, etc.

They are not firewire controlled. For that, you have to get one of their
duel decks. They are miniDV on one side and SVHS on the other.
WARNING: There were a few issues with the duel decks, so before you
jump in that direction, take some time to surf around and make sure
they will cover your and your system's requirements.

Too bad the new JVC HD/VHS/D-VHS firewire decks cannot be
controlled "reliably" from a computer, nor will they output NTSC
via firewire. I think had (or if) JVC solves that at the $500 price point,
they'll sell a BUNCH.

I just picked up the JVC one that has s-video out and s-video in .. the hr-s3911U

Thanks for the tips. Just what I was looking for.