your average VCR...
Written: Jan 06 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Picture Quality: |
|
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: good image and sound quality (even on "EP" mode), solid loading mechanism
Cons: no "pause" button on front panel, few info on display, very poorly designed remote
The Bottom Line: A sturdier-than-average VCR for normal daily use, but with some shortcomings in design.
|
|
|
| ybouc's Full Review: Hitachi VTFX6510A VCR |
I have been using a Hitachi VT-FX6510 intensively for about 5 months, so I've had the time to appreciate it's qualities and shortcomings.
First of all, I like the loading mechanism, and have never had any problems with it. I say that because it has not been the case on some JVC models I have owned, which had an incredibly wimpy mechanism. It is somewhat important, when you keep in mind that stuck tapes account for almost half of repairs done to VCRs.
Secondly, The chassis itself seems to be relatively solid (although the bottom is made of plastic), but it has no air vents, and the power cord cannot be detached (which could be done on older models).
In conclusion, it is far from being perfect, and also far from the quality of older VCRs, but the no-hassle basic functions are there, at a good price, and compared to other similar models from other manufacturers, i think this one offers better quality out of the box.
I have to admit the quality of the recordings is quite excellent, even in EP, which is surprisingly good. And it is still going strong, even after having been used for continuous recording 18 hours a day for the last 5 months. We have had absolutely no problem so far, which was not the case on some of our Sony or JVC models. So perhaps it is a good value when it comes to durability as well, but it still remains to be seen (this model is manufactured in Malaysia, by the way). It also features x260 rewind and forward, which allows you to go through a whole T-120 tape in about 80 seconds. That does come in handy sometimes!
Where the unit suffers is on it's design. Since they are now so cheap, it is my opinion that the quality of VCRs has greatly deteriorated over the past years... While some manufacturers prefer to cut on quality of the parts and assembly, it seems here it was mostly on design. First of all, there is no pause button on the front panel, which can be an inconvenience at times (and when you do pause using the remote, the allowed time is only 2 minutes, not 5 as usual).
The front panel display is a backlit black on yellow LCD, which does give out a good reading, but it unfortunately defaults to displaying only the mode in which you currently are (PLAY, REW, FF, etc...) if you want the counter, you have to press "DISPLAY" on the remote. I thought the counter would be the first choice. Also, and that is QUITE important: you cannot know whether you are recording in SP or EP mode from the front panel. You have to call up the on-screen display to know; a major shortcoming in my opinion.
But this model's biggest flaw is it's remote. It is no bigger than a cell phone, very poorly designed, not intuitive at all (don't ever think about finding your way in the dark on these buttons), and uses some questionable combinations ("pause" key doubles as "enter" in menus, "tape speed" is next to "pause" and "VCR/TV", and has the same shape, etc.). A big disappointment.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 100
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ybouc
|
|
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.