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GROUP TEST
TOP END NICAM VCRs
INTRO
Competition at the top-end of the NICAM VCR market is hotting
up, Rick Maybury checks out five new machines costing between £430 and £530
COPY
Ferguson FV98, £500
The FV98 has got balls! They’re everywhere, there’s even a
great big one right in the middle of the remote control handset. This has to be
Ferguson’s strangest VCR yet. It’s another of their Philips Starcke inspired
designs, a plain grey, near featureless slab. Even with the front panel flap
lowered there’s not a lot to see, though it does have a pair of cute-looking curved
level ‘meters’ on the main display panel, plus front AV input, camcorder pause
control and two standard jack sockets for headphones and a microphone.
The balls are a feature of the on-screen display, they roll
along a menu bar, directed by the ball in the remote handset. When a ball
reaches the selected item press the big ball on the remote and the little ball
on the screen drops down a tube in the menu bar (with a convincing bounce) revealing
further menu selections. Weird! The handset ball also controls channel change
and frame step (in the pause mode).
This is all very clever, and it looks pretty, the trouble is
the display only works on TVs with RGB configured SCART sockets. Our test TV
was rigged up with a C-type SCART lead, which doesn’t have RGB connections, so
no display. Ferguson supply a lead with the machine but check your TV is
suitable. The FV98 doesn’t have an RF output either, so beware if you’re
thinking of using it with an older TV, it may not work!
It is actually very well featured. In addition to Video
Plus+ with PDC and NICAM it has semi-automatic tuning and clock setting, satellite
control, NTSC replay, a multi-brand TV remote, insert edit, audio dub and,
wonder of wonders, manual recording level control (even though it is hidden
away on the instant timer menu...). Audio quality was excellent, clean, with hardly
any background hiss. We can’t say too much about picture quality at this stage,
our test machine worked well, resolving almost 250 lines but it was an early
evaluation sample and Ferguson tell us it will be even better on the production
machines. Quirky but full of character, and some useful features.
Value for money 88%
Ferguson Ltd., telephone 0181-344 4444
Hitachi VT-F460 £430
The key feature on the midi-sized VT-F460 is Title Index, it
hinges on the premise that a lot of people who amass large collections of tapes
can’t remember what they’ve recorded on them. Title Index automatically
memorises the time, date and channel number of every recording made on the
machine. It requires a little effort on the part of the user though, who has to
number their tapes and ideally, take the trouble to enter the title of each
recorded programme into the machine’s memory. About the same amount of effort
needed to write out a tape label in fact...
Credit where it’s due however, Title Index is a clever idea,
and assuming it has been fully programmed, it can identify and locate programmes
with a simple key letter search -- just enter ‘C’ for Cracker, for example -- the title list will then show all programmes
beginning with that letter and indicate which tapes they’re recorded on. Simply load the right tape, highlight
the selection and the VCR winds to the start of the recording and begins replay.
Apart from Title Index the rest of the features are similar to it’s stablemate
the F450. They include NICAM, a Video Plus+ timer, with PDC and a satellite control
function; the remote control will operate fifteen or so different brands of TV.
The machine can be set to endless play or auto program play, this replays a
time-shifted recording as soon as the machine is switched on. It also has a
number of facilities that might interest camcorder owners, such as the front-mounted
AV sockets, syncro-edit plus video and audio dubbing.
On screen performance is little changed from the 450,
resolution is around the 250-line mark; there’s very little picture noise and trick-play
stability is reasonably steady. The jog/shuttle dial on the handset is excellent
for quickly searching through a recording, or analysing a scene, frame by frame
if necessary. Audio quality is much the same too, a wide, flat response but noise
levels are fairly average. An interesting mix of facilities, one for forgetful satellite
TV fans with camcorders perhaps?
Value for money 93%
Hitachi Home Electronics Ltd., telephone 0181-849 2000
JVC HR-J825 £530
Not quite in the classic mould but the new JVC HR-J825 is a
slick, well presented VCR, the sort they used to make before a lapse in to
mediocrity a couple of years ago. It looks like a top-end VCR, very smooth,
though we’re not so sure about the fake wood side-panels. It has a good
selection of top-end features, however, a good proportion of them are aimed at
budding video movie-makers, ideally those with VHS-C equipment.
In addition to NICAM, Video Plus+ (with PDC), it has auto-tune
that identifies and sorts the stations, hourly auto clock-set, multi-speed replay,
NTSC replay, repeat play, hyper bass and a TV remote covering the 8 most popular
brands. The edit facilities include staples like audio dub and insert editing,
and it has a built-in edit controller, that can be programmed to replay up to 8
designated scenes. At the same time it will operate the record-pause mode on a
second VCR, using an edit cable (on other JVC machines), or via an optional IR
remote controller for other makes. Whilst in the edit mode audio from the mono
soundtrack can be heard during trick play.
So far so good, but a couple of things are missing: they are
manual recording level control and an on-screen display. The auto level control
is adequate and it just about manages to get by with an informative front-panel
display, and an LCD on the remote handset, but they’re definitely second best
on a such a sophisticated machine.
However, we can excuse JVC almost anything when they come up
with VCRs that perform as well as this one. Picture quality is outstanding,
resolution on our sample topped 250-lines, with negligible picture noise and
sharp, lifelike colours. Still and slomo are very steady and the deck is
remarkably agile, changing from forward to reverse play in a fraction of a
second, without any of the usual clunking and grinding. It sounds good too, a
clean uncoloured response, there’s some background hiss but it’s by no means
intrusive. Pricey, but it looks and feels like money well spent, especially for
those who can make use of the editing facilities.
Value for money 85%
JVC UK Ltd., telephone 0181-450 3282
Mitsubishi HS-561 £480
Mitsubishi VCRs have always had a well-earned reputation for
innovation and value for money but for the past year or two they’ve churned out
a succession of relatively dull machines. Their latest NICAM top-ender, the
HS-561, has a good range of features and the price stacks up quite well against
the competition, but it still lacks the old sparkle. It’s a neat midi-sized machine
with a jog/shuttle dial on the front panel, AV terminal behind a hinged flap
and teardrop-shape remote with colour-coded buttons.
Most of the convenience features are carried over from
previous Mitsi VCRs, like the Video Plus+ timer with PDC, auto set-up, one-key
timer programming, rental tape playback, swift servo deck (still one of the fastest
in the business) and tape optimiser. There’s also a parental lock, audio dub,
insert edit, and NTSC replay. There are
a couple of new features though, they are satellite control and a multi-brand
remote control that covers 20 different makes of TV.
The 561 has a newly designed on-screen display system and
the auto-set up is unusually intuitive and very simple to use, moreover it keeps
the user fully informed about what’s going on. One very useful feature is automatic
satellite set-up, with the VCR checking the connection and prompting the user
to select the correct control code, it then tests the control system is
working. The colour-coded buttons on the remote control are a very good idea,
linking together keys that have a common function, like menu or timer operations.
The disappearance of the jog/shuttle dial from the handset -- always a feature
of their top-end VCRs -- is a retrograde step, though. Tape speed and direction
is handled a set of tiny buttons, in the middle of a lot of other buttons. Resolution
on our sample was spot on 250-lines, noise levels were average to good, colours
are crisp and well-defined. There’s no manual recording level control, though the
auto system works reasonably well, the hi-fi tracks are clean with average amounts
of background hiss. A fine all-rounder, fair price, useful features, good AV
performance.
Value for money 90%
Mitsubishi Electric UK Ltd., telephone (017072) 76100
Toshiba V-825 £450
The V-825, is Toshiba’s current mid-market machine. It’s
fairly bland-looking, full-size deck with little to distinguish it from previous
V3 series machines. The feature list contains no surprises either, there’s the
usual assortment of basics, including NICAM, Video Plus+, PDC, auto-set-up and
clock check plus a very straightforward on-screen display. Additionally it has
satellite control, audio dub, multi-brand remote, front-mounted AV sockets,
NTSC replay. That’s about it, Toshiba have never gone in for lots of gadgets
and toys.
The auto set-up system engages as soon as the machine is plugged
in for the first time. It tunes in all locally available stations and set the
clock in a couple of minutes, then sorts the stations into a logical order i.e.
BBC1 BBC2, ITV and C4 on channels 1, 2, 3 and 4. All that remains is to enter
the manufacturers codes for the satellite control and TV remote control functions
and it’s ready to go. The remote handset is rather crowded though the most
frequently used keys are quite well defined. The front panel display is large
and easy to read, it’s just a shame they’ve see fit to garnish it with a set of
winking bar-graph level displays. That’s made all the more irritating by the fact
that this machine doesn’t have a manual recording level control.
Picture performance is satisfactory, resolution is a whisker
short of 250-lines and noise levels are only average but colour accuracy is very
good. Still frame and slomo are very steady, though not all of the trick-play
modes are available from the remote handset, which is a nuisance for arm-chair
referees. The hi-fi stereo soundtracks have a neutral, evenly balanced sound,
background noise levels are fairly low. It’s not what you would call an
particularly exciting or interesting machine, but there’s nothing wrong with that, it does the job it’s designed
to do, and generally speaking it does it quite well, and at a price that
difficult to argue with.
Value for money 88%
Toshiba UK Ltd., telephone (01276) 62222
CONCLUSION
Picture quality JVC HR-J825
Sound quality Ferguson FV98
Cuteness Hitachi
VT-F460
Best features Ferguson
FV98
Build quality JVC
HR-J825
Overall value for money Hitachi
VT-F460
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R. Maybury 1995 0611
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