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From: mlf@teddy.UUCP (Matt L. Fichtenbaum)
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Re: Top of the line VHS
Message-ID: <809@teddy.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Oct-84 08:36:10 EST
Article-I.D.: teddy.809
Posted: Tue Oct 30 08:36:10 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Nov-84 02:29:48 EST
References: <1418@emory.UUCP>
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
Lines: 46

> My 6 year old VHS machine finally broke down, so
> I went shopping for a replacement. If I stay with
> VHS, I want HIFI. I also record almost everything
> using the timer, so the programming features are
> important to me.
> 
> The first machine I looked at was the new RCA VKT700
> in the dimensia series. It has 5 heads, VHS-HIFI, and
> on screen programming. The demo tape looked ok,
> but it was recorded in 2 hour mode. However, when I
> did some test recording at 4 and 6 hours speeds, I
> was surprised at the poor quality. The 6 hour speed
> looked very bad. The 4 hour speed was somewhat better
> but the special effects work badly at that speed
> (including visual fast scan).
> 
> I am used to using 4 hour mode (the slowest speed
> on my old machine) for time shift. The quality of
> these recordings was not as good as the original
> if you do a real A/B test, but good enough to confuse
> with the original from memory. The 6 hour recording
> on the new RCA could not be confused with the
> original, no matter how bad your memory is.
> 
> I hate to give up the on screen programming, but I
> guess I should look at the other top of the line
> recorders. Any comments on the competition would
> be appreciated. In particular, are any of the 6 hour
> recordings any better? Perhaps a reasonable choice
> is the Panasonic Tech 4 line (like the 1730), where
> the special effects in 4 hour mode should be better.
> 

   I have a one-week-old RCA VKP950 (portable VHS VCR with
VHS hi-fi sound).  It is too new to determine how it will
hold up, of course, but the picture quality on slow (SLP
or 6-hour) speed is very good.  It too has on-screen program-
ming from the remote, which is neat except that it requires
that you turn the TV on to program the recorder.

   For completeness, I'll mention that it's back at the
dealer at the moment to correct an after-it's-warmed-up
problem with the channel memory.  But that's clearly a
problem with the particular unit and not with the design.

				Matt Fichtenbaum