Very Convenient & Easy To Use
Written: Apr 13 '00 (Updated Apr 13 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to Use; Convenient
Cons: VCR will not record event unless you follow the procedure; No S-VHS ports
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| dsmeyer's Full Review: JVC HR-VP644 VHS VCR |
I bought the JVC HR-VP644U Hi-Fi Stereo VCR in 1998 because of my need to record late-night programming. I took it home, plugged it in, and in minutes, the 644U automatically programmed itself for the local time and scanned all my cable channels.
The 644U is a 4-head, 19-micron Pro-cision unit. As indicated above, it is Plug & Play. It has an 8-event program schedule. VCR Plus+ makes programming events super-easy, but configuring VCR Plus to your local cable station is an initial headache. The rear and front A/V inputs also come in handy, with its 125-channel tuner. The multi-lingual GUI is intuitive and easy to navigate. The auto-tracking and picture adjustment eliminates all the ancient manual tracking controls.
The VCR's user manual is very comprehensive, and the compact universal remote is programmable to work with all major brands of TV's. If you have a cable box, you happen to be in luck. This unit comes with a Cable Box Controller that interacts nicely with your cable box -- too bad I don't have a cable box to tell how this thing works. The construction of the VCR is solid and durable. The 644U is quite reliable.
Programming the VCR to actually record shows is a cinch. But you have to remember to set the programming mode to ON if you power down the VCR. If you leave the VCR ON, it may not record the program. That oftentimes gets confusing.
As for quality, I find it satisfactory. Recording programs on EP will degrade the resulting playback quality, but will allow more hours of video on the tape. SP quality is clearer, but like any average-joe VCR it cannot perfectly reproduce a program -- it's only slightly blurrier than the original. The better your cable or air signal, the better you will probably think the recording quality is. Playing a commercial VHS tape yields expected results. By no means is it DVD quality, but I am very happy with results from my Star Trek:TNG movies. If you're a videophile you will be more particular, but most average VCR owners like myself will be very happy.
One other complaint about the 644U is minor; the LED clock can brighten up a dark bedroom at night time. I often had to put an object in front of the VCR to block the bright clock while I was trying to get to sleep. Most people probably wouldn't notice or would care, but my TV/VCR happened to be right next to my bed.
For a VCR under $200, the price is right. Unfortunately, since this is not an S-VHS VCR, you will miss those high-quality connectors.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dsmeyer
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Member: Doug Meyer
Location: Austin TX
Reviews written: 39
Trusted by: 13 members
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