GROUP TEST
STRAP
NICAM VCRs
HEAD
SOUND DECISIONS
INTRO
If you find PDC perplexing and NICAM gives
you nightmares then allow Rick Maybury to guide you gently by the hand through
the stereo VCR jungle
COPY
Twelve years ago, in January 1984 to be
precise, Panasonic launched the very first hi-fi stereo video recorder. Today’s
stereo VCRs are vastly more sophisticated, not to mention smaller, lighter and
easier to use. They’ve got stacks of additional features -- including NICAM
digital stereo -- picture and sound performance has improved, and you can pick
one up for less than £350. Back in 1984 the NV-850 cost a whopping £777, that’s more than £1000 at today’s prices!
Just think how much money you’ve saved waiting all that time...
In another twelve years they’ll probably be
given away with packets of cornflakes, but if you’re in the market for a NICAM
VCR right now why wait any longer? It a great time to buy, there’s a stereo VCR
out there to suit every pocket and purpose, whether you want to time-shift TV
programmes, watch movies, or even make your own; the trick is to decide what
you want from a NICAM VCR, before you set foot inside the showroom.
Broadly speaking the stereo VCR market breaks
down into four fairly clearly defined segments: entry-level or budget machines
come first, followed in ascending order of price and complexity by mid-range,
top-end and Super VHS models. Entry level and mid-range hi-fi VCRs sell for
between £350 and £450, they account for
more than 60% of NICAM VCR sales and are the most suitable for the majority of
time-shifting and home cinema applications. Top end VCRs costing, from £450 to
£700, generally have extra performance enhancing gadgets, and additional
movie-making features. Super VHS video recorders start at around £700; they’ve
developed into a niche product, mainly due to a complete lack of pre-recorded
software. Nevertheless, they’re still quite popular with owners of
high-performance camcorders and demanding home cinema enthusiasts.
In this brief roundup we’ve concentrated on
the first three categories, and confined ourselves to VCRs costing no more than
£530. You can spend more, but it’s often a case of diminishing returns.
So what are the features to look out for? You
can take it as read that all current NICAM VCRs have Video Plus+ timers and
most of them have PDC (programme delivery control) as well, so setting the
timer is no longer a major issue. Even so, some machines still manage to make
it easier than others, and one of the most helpful facilities in this respect
is a good on-screen display system.
Auto installation has become very popular; if
you’ve ever had trouble with instruction books -- i.e. reading them -- or
adjusting the time and date on a VCR, put it high on your list of
priorities. Steady multi-speed replay
is a useful way of checking how good (or bad) a VCR’s deck mechanism is. But armfuls
of fancy-sounding features, that purport to improve picture performance are far
less important. Some companies trumpet every minor tweak, that might only put
their product on an equal footing with machines from other, less noisy
manufacturers. Here’s six machines that illustrate some of the finer points of
VCR shopping.
ON TEST...
Grundig GV-540 £400
Brand loyalty
is clearly very important to Grundig, and something they have sought to capitalise
on with the GV-540. This tidy-looking mid-mount machine is reasonably
well-appointed, it replaces the GV-450, bringing them up to date with Video
Plus+, PDC and a rudimentary auto
tuning system. This stores all locally available TV stations though unlike many
recent VCRs with full-blown auto-install, it doesn’t set the time or date.
Installation is very easy if you’ve got a recent Grundig TV, equipped with
‘Megalogic’; this simplifies a number
of set-up and control functions. If not you have to battle with the deeper and
darker sections of the instruction book,
it’s not at all user friendly.
The control
systems takes some getting used to; for example, the record button has to be
pressed for several seconds before anything happens, and AV inputs are
mysteriously designated ‘CV’ and ‘HI’. It’s somewhat unforgiving nature extends
to the on-screen display and the remote handset. Not only are the Video Plus+ keys difficult to locate,
several buttons have no discernible function at all.
Nevertheless
it’s quite well disposed towards home cinema applications, and it’s one of the
few machines we’ve seen recently that has a manual recording level control.
NTSC replay is definitely worth having if you’ve got contacts or relatives in
the US, and there’s a few movie making facilities, including front AV sockets
and three insert functions. These allow the picture, or the sound or both to be
replaced. There’s multi-speed replay, controlled by a jog/shuttle dial on the
handset, and Quasi S-VHS replay. This comes in very handy if you’ve got an
S-VHS-C camcorder.
On-screen
performance is mostly satisfactory. Definition is good, our sample was able to
resolve around 250-lines on VHS test recordings, and just under 320-lines on
S-VHS tapes. However, picture noise levels were just a little higher than
average and some recordings made on other machines had a tendency to look a
little ragged around the edges. Still and slow-motion replay are both very
steady, though the deck is not especially agile, and the picture looses lock
for a second or two when changing direction. Audio quality is fine, it has a
clean, open response and there’s very little background noise on the stereo
soundtracks. The GV-540 isn’t as instantly likeable as it predecessor but it’s
still worth thinking about, particularly if you’ve got a suitable Grundig TV.
DATA STREAM
Grundig GV-540 £400
Features: Video
Plus+ timer with PDC, 6-event/31-day timer, auto tuning, S-VHS and NTSC replay,
multi-speed replay, jog/shuttle control, insert edit, video dub, index search,
continuous replay, parental lock, Megalogic control functions with Grundig TVs
Sockets 2 x SCART AV, stereo line audio
in/output (phono), satellite control (minijack), aerial bypass (coaxial), front AV (phono), headphone (minijack),
Pros: Great for
Grundig loyalists, fair performance plus some handy features, reasonably good
value
Cons: some of the more eye-catching features
only work with Grundig TVs. The instructions and controls are quite heavy-going
OVERALL TOTAL 80%
Telephone Grundig UK on (01788) 577155
JVC HR-J825 £530
One of JVC’s finest. This machine is squarely
aimed at home movie-makers, and in particular those with VHS-C camcorders. This
machine has a built-in edit controller that can be programmed to automatically
plays back up to 8 scenes -- in any order --whilst at the same time controlling
the record-pause mode on a ‘slave’ VCR. A special cable links the 825 to other
suitable JVC decks; on other makes of VCR it’s necessary to buy an optional
multi-brand remote controller, costing around £45. It also has insert edit and
audio dub, so it’s possible to put together quite slick-looking productions.
It’s a handsome-looking machine -- it could
easily pass for a more expensive top-end model -- though the mockwood side panels are a bit tacky. Installation is
reasonably straightforward, auto-tuning seeks out, stores and identifies TV
channels, sets the time and date, and checks the clock every hour.
Amongst the other more useful convenience
features there’s NTSC replay, hyper bass, repeat play and a multi-brand TV
remote that can control the key functions (on/standby, volume and
channel-change) on eight other popular makes of TV.
The fly in the ointment is the lack of an
on-screen display, which makes life a little more difficult that needs be. It’s
not always easy to see what the machine is up to, across the wide-open expanse
of a typical living-room. Fortunately the remote handset has an LCD panel,
which helps with Video Plus+ code entries and manual timer programming. At the
risk of sounding picky it could do with a manual recording level control as
well.
Picture quality is superb. It manages to
resolve a crisp 250-lines, picture noise levels are very low. Colours are sharp
and natural-looking, multi-speed replay is rock-solid. The deck is incredibly
nimble and switches speed or direction quickly with hardly any picture
disturbance or the usual clinking and whirring noises. The lack of a manual
recording level control is made more acute by the very clean hi-fi sound
system, which has a broad, uncoloured response and minimal background hiss. This
machine is extremely well built, it has plenty of useful features, AV performance
is outstanding. It’s a bit pricey but well worth short-listing, particularly if
you’re a VHS-C camcorder owner who’s interested in home cinema.
DATA STREAM
JVC HR-825 £530
Features: Video
Plus+ timer with PDC, auto install, multi-speed replay, NTSC replay,
multi-brand TV remote, hyper bass sound, audio dub, insert edit, on-board edit
controller
Sockets: 2
x SCART AV, stereo line audio out (phono), front AV (phono), edit control
(minijack)
Pros: purposeful looking machine, outstanding
picture performance and a real boon to owners of VHS-C camcorders looking for a
quick and simple way to tidy up their holiday movies
Cons: the lack of an on-screen display is a
disadvantage, and we would have liked to have seen a manual recording level
control on such a capable machine
OVERALL TOTAL 83%
Telephone JVC UK on 0181-450 3282
Mitsubishi HS-561 £480
Following a succession of fairly uninspiring
machines over the past couple of years Mitsubishi are back on top form again
with this highly-specified all-rounder. The headline feature has to be
satellite control. It’s linked in to the Video Plus+ timer and it makes
time-shifting satellite channels as easy as taping BBC or ITV programmes. Just
tap in the Plus Code for the show you want to record -- nowadays they’re
printed in most newspaper and TV listings magazines -- and the HS-561 does the rest. Just before the programme begins
the 561 sends out a stream of infra-red control pulses, to switch the nearby
satellite receiver on, and set it to the right channel for the duration of the
recording. When it has finished, it switches the satellite box off.
That’s the icing on a very attractive-looking
cake, that also includes a full auto-install, colour co-ordinated remote
control and on-screen display systems,
multi-speed replay, super-fast deck mechanism, rental play, tape optimisation,
a parental lock, audio-dub, insert edit, NTSC replay... The list goes on,
suffice it to say this compact midi-sized machine is extremely well-equipped.
A couple of those features deserve a special
mention: auto install is virtually foolproof and also takes care of satellite
set-up. The very well thought out on-screen display system is unusually helpful
and never leaves the user feeling lost or confused. Moreover, the displays are
closely tied in with colour-coded buttons on the remote handset; you would have
to be really stupid, and/or determined to make a hash of this one.
The only minor omissions on this otherwise
very complete package, are a manual recording level control, and a jog/shuttle
dial on the handset. Ironically Mitsubishi used to have them on all of their
mid-range machines. It’s a shame really, the trick play facilities on this
machine are outstanding. Still and slomo are both very steady, and the
fast-acting deck changes speed and direction with minimum fuss; it’s simply not
possible to get the best out of it using buttons to control picture speed and
direction.
Overall picture quality is very good, samples
we’ve tried can resolve 250-lines without difficulty, and noise levels are just
a little below average. Colours are accurately defined, with no spillage or
smearing. It sounds good too, the response is very flat with hardly any
background noise on the hi-fi stereo or NICAM tracks. The price is realistic,
performance is good, and there’s plenty to play with, what more could you want?
DATA STREAM
Mitsubishi HS-561 £480
Features: Video
Plus+ timer with PDC, satellite control, auto set-up, tape optimiser,
multi-brand remote control, rental tape playback, NTSC replay, insert edit,
audio dub, CM edit, index write/erase multi-speed replay, child-lock
Sockets: 2
x SCART AV, stereo line audio out (phono), front AV (phono) edit terminal
(minijack)
Pros: A
superbly well-equipped machine, bristling with useful features covering a wide
range of applications, from satellite time-shifting to video movie-making.
Cons: It
could do with a proper jog/shuttle control for the remote and a manual
recording level control
OVERALL TOTAL 90%
Telephone Mitsubishi Electric UK on 017072)
76100
Panasonic NV-HD650, £500
The higher than average price tag indicates
this is no ordinary VCR. Panasonic have closely targeted the NV-HD650 at camcorder
enthusiasts, with a range of features designed to appeal to owners of both
VHS-C and 8mm camcorders. That’s unusual, normally the editing facilities on
camcorder-friendly VCRs are tied in with a manufacturers own product range.
However, the edit sockets on the HD650 are compatible with control protocols
used by a number of other manufacturers, including arch rivals Sony, Sanyo and
Canon. It also has a set of front-mounted AV sockets, audio-dub, insert edit,
quasi S-VHS replay (owners of S-VHS-C camcorders take note), plus a good range
of trick play options, controlled by a jog/shuttle dial on the front panel.
The HD650 was launched last year and was one
of the first Panasonic VCRs to have auto-install and on-screen displays. They
obviously did their homework, it’s very easy to set up and use. Other handy
features include NTSC replay, a multi-brand remote that will operate the main
functions on 33 different makes of TV, and Panasonic’s very quick Super Drive
deck mechanism.
Panasonic are still lagging behind in some
areas though; the cosmetics are on the dowdy side, and this must be one of the
few remaining VCRs not to have a centre-mount deck mechanism. It doesn’t have a
manual recording level control either, and they’ve added insult to injury with
a pointless flickering bar-graph display.
One very welcome spin-off of this machine’s
movie-making facilities is better than average picture and sound quality, which
obviously benefits home cinema users. Resolution on samples we’ve tested topped
250-lines, close to the theoretical limit of the VHS recording system. Noise
levels are well below average, thanks presumably to the CVC (crystal view
control) tape tuning and video processing circuitry. Colours are clean and
accurately defined. In spite of loosing a couple of Brownie points with the
daft bar-graph display and lack of manual recording level control, audio
performance is excellent. The stereo soundtracks are open and uncluttered with
plenty of impact. The HD650 is a specialist product but don’t let that put you
off, even if you haven’t got a camcorder yet, you might one day, but if you
really can’t make use of the editing facilities check out its cheaper
stablemate, the NV-HD600.
DATA STREAM
Panasonic NV-HD650, £530
Features Video
Plus+ timer with PDC, auto set-up,
multi-speed replay, on-screen display, audio dub, jog/shuttle dial, NTSC and
quasi S-VHS replay, insert edit, RMC
editing terminal with LANC control, multi-brand remote handset, index search
Sockets 2
x SCART AV, line audio out (phono), edit control (mini DIN), front AV in
(phono), sync edit & headphone (minijack)
Pros: an
extremely well-equipped edit deck, and no mean home cinema performer either
Cons: it’s
strengths are also its weakness, and unless you’ve got a camcorder and a
hankering to make polished video movies you could end up paying for features
you may never use
OVERALL SCORE 85%
Telephone Panasonic UK on (01344) 862444
Philips VR-757 £430
You never quite know where you are with
Philips video recorders. Some models
behave so strangely you wonder if they’re taking the Mickey, others are perfectly
normally and stand alongside the best the industry has to offer. Unfortunately
the VR-757 falls into the former category.
How’s this for weird? The front AV sockets
are actually mounted on the side, and the main transport keys are on the top,
making it unnecessarily difficult to fit the machine in small enclosures,
consoles or stacks. The stop button is also the pause control, though doesn’t
initiate still-frame, you have to press the ‘jog’ button for
that. There’s no ‘on’ button as such, any
button (except eject) switches it from standby; the standby button only
switches the machine off. The jog/shuttle dials on the front panel and remote
handset have to be switched on before they can be used for trick play,
otherwise they engage fast wind. It doesn’t have automatic power-on-and-play --
that’s been a standard feature on just about every VCR for the past seven or
eight years -- nor does it have any sort of on-screen display. Okay, so that’s
not unusual, but why on Earth have they saddled it with a barely-legible
single-colour front-panel display that’s all but impossible to read across the
living room carpet?
Tuning is semi-automatic but there’s an
option to download the contents of the TV’s tuner, providing it’s compatible
with Philips’s Easy Link system. So far only a couple of widescreen sets have
this facility. Unless you have one of them then it’s all down to some DIY button
pressing. There’s some good news though. By matching the VCR tuner to the TV
channels it’s possible to use a direct-record facility, that needs just one
button press to switch the VCR on and record whatever’s on the TV at the time.
It has a good assortment of camcorder-related
features. They include a multi-format syncro-edit system -- a sort of single-scene
edit controller that works with a wide range of machines -- plus audio-dub and insert edit. Picture quality
is quite good too; recorded images contain plenty of detail with resolution
hovering around the 250-line mark. Colour accuracy is spot-on, though noise
levels are only average. There’s a
trace of background hiss on the stereo audio tracks but the response is pretty
smooth. In spite of 757’s very odd design and behaviour AV performance is fine,
and in view of it’s movie-making talents the price seems reasonable.
DATA STREAM
Philips VR-757 £430
Features
Video Plus+ with PDC, semi-auto tuning, multi-speed replay, NTSC and quasi S-VHS
replay, jog/shuttle dial, index search, audio dub, insert edit, syncro edit
control, direct record, Easy Link control
Sockets 2
x SCART AV, stereo audio in/out (phonos), front/side AV (phono), syncro edit
(minijack)
Pros: Several worthwhile camcorder-related
features and performance is satisfactory, fair value
Cons: a very strange machine with some quite
peculiar habits, that may take some getting used to...
OVERALL TOTAL 79%
Telephone Philips Consumer Electronics on
0181-689 4444
Samsung SV-140i, £340
In the past five or six years Korean consumer
electronics manufacturers Samsung have almost caught up with their Japanese and
European counterparts. In some areas, notably styling and presentation, they’ve
made quite remarkable progress, to the point where it’s almost impossible to tell their VCRs apart from other makes
and models. Samsung are clearly determined not to be left behind and the
cosmetics of some of their most recent VCRs -- including the one we’re about to
look at -- have been designed here in
the UK, to appeal to European tastes. However, their most notable achievement
continues to be producing well-specified, value for money machines. The
SLV-140i is a good example; when it was launched late last year it was selling
for £360, making it one of the cheapest NICAM VCRs on the market, now we
understand they’ve dropped the price even further, to just £340!
The features list is understandably brief and
devoid of any real luxury facilities.
Nevertheless it has most of the basics -- like Video Plus+ and PDC --
plus one or two useful extras, quite unexpected on a machine as cheap as this
one. The informative menu-driven on-screen display is a surprise, as are
multi-speed replay and audio dub. There’s a better than average selection of AV
socketry as well, with twin SCART sockets, a front AV input terminal plus a
third set of AV output sockets on the back.
There are omissions though, and the most
noticeable one is auto install. Fortunately manual tuner programming is fairly
straightforward. We’re a little alarmed to see a tuner set-up button on the
remote, that’s just asking for trouble, especially if there’s any small-fingered
fiddlers or incurable button-pushers in the house.
It all looks quite promising but there has to
be a reckoning somewhere down the line. There is, and it concerns AV quality.
Off-tape resolution is about what you would expect from a budget VCR. It manages a little under 240-lines, which
in itself is not too bad, but combined with above average levels of picture
noise, slightly whiskery colour and at times wobbly trick-play, the gloss
begins to disappear from an otherwise agreeable machine. The best thing you can
say about picture performance is that it’s adequate. Much the same applies to
the stereo hi-fi soundtracks; there’s a touch too much background hiss for
comfort, and treble response is quite thin.
A little less noise and a slightly sharper picture and it would have
certainly made it onto our shortlist, as it stands it’s suitable for routine
jobs, like time-shifting, but not really up to the demands of home cinema.
DATA STREAM
Samsung SV-140i, £340
Features Video
Plus+ with PDC, multi-speed replay,
index search/intro scan, child lock, audio dub,
Sockets 2
x SCART AV stereo line in/out (phono), front AV (phono)
Pros: Cheap and well specified with up to the
minute styling
Cons: indifferent
AV performance, very basic
OVERALL SCORE 78%
Telephone Samsung UK Ltd on 0181-391 0168
CONCLUSION
On these occasions it’s traditional to pick
out the winners and looser but these six machines span such a wide price range,
and cover so much ground in terms of features and facilities, that it would be
unfair to make too many direct comparisons. The Mitsubishi HS-561 is the one to
go for if you’re looking for a flexible and accomplished time-shifter, a high-performance
home cinema deck, and a machine do the odd bit of editing or copying. Owners of
Grundig TVs equipped with Megalogic need look no further than the GV-540;
owners of just about every other TV should keep on looking, maybe to the JVC
HR-J825, especially if they’ve got hankerings for a fine home cinema machine, and
a VHS-C camcorder. Home cinema enthusiasts with an 8mm or VHS-C camcorder (equipped
with a RMC or Control L edit terminal) should give the Panasonic NV-HD650 their
very serious consideration. The Philips
VR-757 is a bit of an odd-bod, maybe it’s worth thinking about for the editing functions.
Samsung’s SV-140i is very cheap, and quite cheerful, but it simply doesn’t make
the grade as a home cinema deck, but it will pass muster as a basic TV
time-shifter.
BOX COPY 1
COMPARISON TABLE
Make/Model ££s Timer
AV AD SAT A/V/P HE%
Grundig GV-540 £400 31/6 2S,L,F,H * - A/*/* 80%
JVC HR-J825 £530 365/8 2S,L,F * - */*/* 83%
Mitsubishi HS-561 £480 365/8 2S,L,F * * */*/* 90%
Panasonic NV-HD650 £500 31/8 2S,L,F,H * - */*/* 85%
Philips VR-757 £450 31/8 2S,L,F * - A/*/* 79%
Samsung SV-140i £340 31/4 2S,L,F * - -/*/* 78%
Key: Timer -- days/events; AV sockets -- S =
SCART, L = line audio output, F = front AV terminal, H = headphone, M =
microphone; AD = audio dubbing; SAT = satellite control timer; A/V/P = auto
installation/Video Plus +/Programme Delivery Control (A = auto tuning only)
BOX COPY 2
JARGON BUSTER
AUTO INSTALLATION/SET-UP
Auto install normally kicks in when a VCR is
plugged in and switched on for the first time. Most systems program the VCRs
tuner, set the time and date, and periodically check the clock against highly
accurate teletext time signals, automatically adjusting for Summer/Winter time
changes.
FRONT AV TERMINAL
A set of audio and video input sockets on the
front of a video recorder, to simplify temporary hook-ups for camcorders and video games consoles
HEADS
The number of recording heads a VCR has determines
picture quality and replay facilities. Basic mono machines have 2 heads, 3-head
machines have improved trick-frame stability, 4-head machines have the best LP performance
and multi-speed replay facilities. Almost all NICAM VCRs have 4 video heads,
plus an extra pair of heads for the stereo hi-fi soundtracks
HI-FI STEREO
NICAM VCRs have stereo recording systems
where high quality audio signals are effectively ‘buried’ beneath the video tracks
by an extra pair of recording heads on the spinning tape head drum. This
technique is known as DFM stereo or ‘depth frequency multiplexing’. Hi-Fi
stereo is in addition to the low-quality mono linear soundtrack, which is part
and parcel of the VHS specification
JOG/SHUTTLE
Tape speed/direction control consisting of an
outer shuttle ring, for coarse control, and an inner jog dial, for stepping the
recording one frame at a time, in either direction
NICAM
Near instantaneously companded audio
multiplexing: digital stereo TV sound system, capable of near CD quality, used
by BBC and ITV companies
NTSC
National Television Standards Committee:
525-line/60Hz colour TV system used in North America, Japan and parts of the
far East
PAL
Phase Alternate Line: 625-line/50Hz colour TV
system used in the UK and throughout most of Europe, with the exception of
France and some former Eastern bloc countries, who use the SECAM (Sequential
Coleur a'Memoire) system
PDC
Programme delivery control. Automatic timer
connection system, designed to compensate for late schedule changes or
programme overruns, now in use by the BBC and ITV companies. PDC signals sent
by broadcasters, (alongside teletext data), ensures time-shifted recordings start
at the correct time, and if necessary, on the right channel.
RESOLUTION
A measure of the amount of fine detail in an
image that a VCR is able to record, and playback. Resolution is usually
specified in ‘lines’, not to be
confused with the scanning lines that go to make up a TV picture. Tests are
carried out using calibrated graticules,
on electronically generated test cards, with lines that get progressively
closer together. The resolution figure is determined by noting the point at
which the lines merge, i.e. the VCR (or TV) can no longer resolve the
detail.
SUPER VHS
High-performance VHS sub-format, capable of
near broadcast quality picture performance. Machines with ‘quasi-S-VHS replay
can replay S-VHS recordings (made on camcorders etc.) , though with markedly reduced
definition.
TAPE TUNING/OPTIMISATION
A feature on several mid-range machines where
the VCR makes a short test recording -- normally lasting no more than a few
seconds -- to assess the grade or quality of the tape being used, and adjust
its recording and playback circuitry accordingly
VIDEO PLUS+
Timer programming system that uses a string
of digits (the Plus Code) to programme a VCR timer; Plus Codes are printed
alongside programme information in TV listings magazines and newspapers. The
codes are the key to unlocking an algorithm (computer programme) that contains
the time and date information needed to make a time-shifted recording.
BOX COPY 3
TOP TIPS
* Decide what you want from a NICAM VCR,
before you start shopping around; focus on the features that you actually need
and will find most useful
* Watch out for the fancy-sound TLAs
(three-letter acronyms), often meaningless features, or enhancements that have
little or no real bearing on performance
* Front AV terminals are a good idea, even if
you don’t have a camcorder right now, you might soon
* If you can’t face the prospect of setting a
VCR up, or you’re buying a machine for you old granny, make sure it comes with
full auto installation. Not all of them are, or they’re more complicated to use
than manual set-up controls. If the salesperson can’t demonstrate it properly
-- preferably without referring to the instructions -- give the shop, and the
machine a wide berth...
---end---
Ó R. Maybury 1996 1103
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