An analog question for those who record

I do exactly what you want to do, and I use finely tuned and aligned Nakamichi 682ZX cassette deck with reference metal tapes. It sounds good with better type II tapes too.
Good reel to reel will sound better but will be most likely more expensive as others said.
Revox cassette decks could be an alternative to Nakamichi.
I never tried to use high end VCR for this purpose.
How close to the sound of vinyl do you want your recording to be?

Davidnboone,
Way back in the 80's I owned a Sony superbeta vcr. I was having a party so I recorded quite a few songs off of cds onto a beta tape so I wouldn't be bothered with constantly changing cds during the party (I wanted to be free to concentrate my attention on the liquor and ladies).
As I recall, you could record at regular tape speed and have 6 hrs worth or at the higher tape speed for 4 hrs capacity. I used the higher tape speed for the best fidelity. I'm not sure why but the recorded cds sounded better than the cds themselves.
The recording sounded smoother and more analog without sacrificing details. I paid about $1,000 new for the vcr but I bet you could get a used one dirt cheap now. I know its obsolete technology but for your purposes I think it would be great (beta was superior in both sound and picture to vhs according to the experts at the time). But I don't know about blank tape availability but would think someone still sells them for beta video cameras which were nice because they were smaller than vhs cameras.
Since you like vinyl, I think the superbeta would be a good fit and you'll save a ton of money compared to a reel to reel deck. And it's much easier to load. Just something to consider.

Forget reel to reel, for all the reasons previously stated. I have a few reel to reel machines and they are all used for playback of pre recorded tapes. Go with a Nakamichi Dragon, the best cassette tape machine ever made. Tons of features. Also, look into the 'D-VHS' decks which tape the VHS format to the highest level. I have such a machine and have made a few recordings that do sound better then the Dragon. Tapes are expensive and getting service would be impossible.

Like Noble100, back in the 80's I used to record to a hi-fi VHS machine specifically for the long play time, and also found the sound to be more to my liking than playing the CD direct. I seem to recall though, that my VHS deck was somewhat unique in that it would record audio without a video signal present. I believe that a video signal had to be present for hi-fi VHS and it would internally produce some sort of signal for the audio to ride on. It's been a while though! I'm not sure about Beta, but believe it was an entirely different audio process.

If sound quality is your top priority, a 1/2 track reel to reel which plays 15 ips is your best option. Aside from sound quality, its a very impractical way to archive as you'll need to store these huge and somehwat costly tapes, hunting for a track is time consuming, and you'll need to align and de-mag the heads on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, you'll lose some of the vinyl magic if you convert to digital no matter how good your chain. Trust me I've tried for years with my very high end recording studio (Manley, Weiss, Cranesong etc, etc,).

My solution is to buy back up copies of my favorite vinyl and leave it at that.