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REVIEW
JVC HR-J715 NICAM VCR
COPY
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with JVC VCRs, far from
it, but over the past two or three years they’ve all been fairly ordinary, at a
time when other manufacturers have been busting their corporate guts to get
their products noticed, by lowering prices, or larding them with features and
gadgets, or both. JVC’s ‘95 model range marks a welcome return to the fray, led
by the HR-J715, their new VHS flagship.
It’s a real crowd-pleaser, with features for heavy-duty
time-shifters, home cinema addicts, even video movie-makers who arguably do
best out of the deal. All of the routine facilities are there in abundance,
including stereo hi-fi sound, NICAM, index search, child lock, twin SCARTs and
multi-speed replay. The remote control handset will operate the basic functions
(volume, channel change and standby) on half a dozen or more of the top makes of
TV and there’s a hyper-bass facility, to beef up low frequency sounds; it works
wonders on movie soundtracks piped through tinny TV speakers. It has a Video
Plus+ timer with program delivery control (PDC), and a nifty feature called
review. The review button on the front panel flashes when a time-shifted
recording has finished. When the owner returns home they simply press the
button and the J715 switches itself on,
rewinds the tape to the start of the programme and begins replay, it’s a bit
like the VCR equivalent of a telephone answering machine.
Camcorder owners, especially those with VHS-C or VHS machines
will like this VCR a lot. In addition to front-mounted AV sockets, insert edit,
jog/shuttle dial and audio dubbing it has a gizmo called RA Edit. RA stands for
random assemble, basically it means the J715 can be programmed to replay up to
eight designated scenes, in any order, and at the same time control the
record-pause function on another VCR connected to the J715’s AV output. It even
works with VCRs not fitted with remote pause sockets, though you have to fork
out an extra £60 on a multi-brand IR remote adaptor.
PERFORMANCE
It definitely needs an on-screen display, though the LCD on
the handset does a reasonably good job of showing timer and Video Plus+ codes,
so they can be checked before being sent to the machine. There’s no manual
recording level control, so the flashing bargraphs on the front panel are just
annoying. However, it more than makes up for these relatively minor niggles
with a picture resolution of over 250-lines, low, low noise levels, bright and
sharp-defined colours. Still and slomo replay are rock-solid plus, it sounds
good too. The stereo hi-fi tracks have a broad, flat response with no
significant coloration, and little in the way of background noise. With a good
signal off air sound through the NICAM decoder is clean as a whistle. The J715 has classic design written all over
it, this is the one the other manufacturers are now going to have to aim for in
the increasingly competitive £500 sector.
VERDICT
PLUS
It’s got the lot, good all-round AV performance, flexibility,
a sensible price, and it doesn’t look too bad either. This is the machine to
buy, to cover all of your video recording options, and hopefully put off the
day when you’re going to have to upgrade, for as long as possible.
MINUS
It has remarkably few bad points, the lack of an on-screen
display is a nuisance, especially if you can’t read the machine’s display from
across a room, and serious music buffs will be disappointed by the auto-only
recording level control. Multi-speed replay doesn’t extend to reverse frame
advance and slomo, but only serious movie-makers will be worried about that...
JVC HR-J715: £500
Features stereo
hi-fi sound, NICAM, hyper bass, SP/LP recording, Video Plus timer with PDC,
instant timer, R. A. Edit, insert edit,
audio dub, child-lock, multi brand TV remote, auto operation
Sockets rear:
twin SCART AV, stereo line-audio out (phono), edit control (minijack) aerial
in/out (co-axial). Front: Composite video and line-audio in (phono)
Dimensions 400
x 348 x 94mm
Picture quality 5
Sound quality 4
Build quality 5
Features 5
Ease of use 4
Value for money 95%
CAPTIONS
* No hidden surprises here, what you see is what you get.
* These three buttons control the RA Edit system, the first
one switches it on, the middle one ‘marks’ the edit in and out points, and the
one on the right starts sequenced playback and recording
* Multi-purpose jog/shuttle control. The outer shuttle ring gives
coarse control over replay speed and direction whilst the inner jog dial steps
the tape forward a frame at a time. The shuttle ring also doubles up as the
fast forward and rewind control, and the jog dial changes channel
* Front AV terminal; input sockets for stereo line audio and
composite video. A very useful facility for camcorder owners, saving them from having
to grub around with the rear panel sockets
* The famous ‘review’ button, this flashes at the end of a
timed-recording. Press it once and the machine rewinds and replays the recorded
programme
THE OPPOSITION
Product Price HE Score Comment
Akai GS-815 480 -- Another
top-rated stereo machine with some
useful picture enhancement facilities,
that work well on LP recordings.
It’s also the first VCR in history
to have a motorised tape flap, great
fun...
Mitsubishi HS-M60 480
-- An
enormously capable and very well- equipped
NICAM mid-ranger with better than
average AV performance and a very friendly
disposition; one for the technically
challenged, perhaps?
Philips VR-747 460 -- Welcome
upgrade of the VR-727, featuring
a fast, responsive deck and all the
convenience features you could wish for.
Another very easy to use machine, a good
price too.
JVC UK LTD, JVC House, 6-8 Priestley Way, Eldonwall Trading
Estate,
Staples Corner, London NW2 7AS.
Telephone 081-450 3282
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1994 0812
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