This is my old reliable workhouse
Written: Sep 01 '03
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Pros: A solid performer for many years
Cons: No cons, but it's an old model: It may not be on shelves.
The Bottom Line: If it is still being produced as new, buy it...it comes from an excellent lineage, if you can trust that they make things like they used to.
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| andre98's Full Review: Aiwa HV-FX7000 VHS VCR |
I can't believe I found this unit listed on this site! This is a model I have had for quite some time. If I had to guess, I'd say at least 6 years. It has been in every room of my house where I have a TV. I have bought VCRs from time to time to keep from having to move it around, and it has out lived most of them. I only say most, because there are VHS units I've bought within the last year...we'll see how long they last.
That is the best feature of this Aiwa, it's endurance. Unfortunately, in many electronic reviews, you don't have the benefit of more than a year or maybe two years of usage before it's review. The fast pace of technology has you lusting after a new gadget every few months.
Whomever invented the front loading tape transport must of had the best of intentions, but what they inadvertently did was create the one function that is so often the first thing to go bust in VCRs. A close second is the stability of the entire tape transport system. This model has been flawless on both counts. I can't begin to estimate how many times tapes have been in and out of this baby... I have hundreds of off-TV recorded tapes, the number must be in the high thousands, if not breaking the 10,000 mark. The hours of play time on these tape heads must rival the mileage of many seasoned car tires. It still gulps tapes in smoothly and spits them out quickly and quietly. Also, when in that crazy rush to pop in a tape and record when you see something you like on TV, this unit can start to record in just a second after it takes a tape in. So many units have to go through 15 seconds of grinding and clicking, especially with a new blank tape fresh out the wrapper. It's has something to do with establishing enough tape leader slack, since most tapes right out of the factory are rewound to the hilt.
Features?
So many of the Aiwa's features are no big thing today, but carried some prestige in the VHS VCR's more popular days. The basic standard of today is for a VCR to have 4 heads. A salesman may still tout 4 heads, and stereo sound as hot potatoes, but just try to find a unit without it. If you do, don't by it! Two head VCRs are the cheapest of the cheap! Those are usually the brand names you only see in places like drug stores and go by names like "Bronksonic". Many TV/VCR combos, unfortunately, have a two head VCR also, unless you pay for higher than the basic models. The Aiwa FX7000 had 4 head when it was still news, and as a result it's price was high at $200, compared to what prices have fallen to in present times.
This Aiwa has an automatic head cleaning system, and an auto tracking control that has adjusted to many tapes my other VCRs could not play, no matter how much I manually adjusted their tracking. For fast forwarding or rewinding while seeing the picture, called "scanning", the remote works fine. It releases the scan mode if you press and let go of the button once, but will also stick in that mode for long scans if you give the "REW" or "FFwd" buttons a double click and release. One delightful plus is on the face of the unit itself, where you can manipulate a "Jog Dial" and have very sensitive control over scanning in forward or reverse, right down to frame by frame.
It has "VCRplus" technology. If you know of anyone that has ever put that to use, let me know. But for some reason, it was a big selling point for years with VCRs. I have never put it to use in any of the VCRs that I've owned. If I want to program for a recording while I'm gone, I punch out the directions the old fashioned way, by pressing the menu button and following the easy on screen prompts. This gives me more control over when the VCR stops and starts, down to the minute. It's irritating that programming a VCR is joked about as such a complex process. If you can safely operate a car, or use your PDA, wireless phone, and now, our all important PCs, you are "mechanical " enough to set your VCR's recording programming. All you have to do is take a minute to peruse the VCR's manual. Any VCR. It's not exactly the same routine, but it's simple enough.
After I said all that, here's the catch, brought on by advancing technology:
Last year, I upgraded my cable to digital cable, which eliminated cabling directly into a VCR or TV to use either unit's TV tuner. The cable company's set top box must used as the channel selector in order to decode the digital signal, and give you all the features they rave about. It also makes all the pay per view channels easier to expedite and bill for! So now all the TVs and VCRs that were sold on the strength of how many channels they can reel in, 125 or 181, they are reduced to using channel 3 or 4 anyway, depending on which channel is NOT used off air by the local stations in your area. (That 3 or 4 business is and old wives' tale also...) Better yet, one should be using the separate audio and video inputs of one's VCR and TV to maximize the clarify of the picture. I say all that to say this. It limits you to recording whatever channel you leave the set top box on when you leave the house. Multiple Channel recording capability is not possible in the same session. That's progress for you, no fault of this or any VCR.
But back to the Aiwa unit itself. It has the input and output for the tuner signal. It also has two sets of inputs and one set of outputs for the direct feed of the video and the stereo audio. The first set, called Line 1, is in the back of the unit as with most VCRs, with the output ports. This unit places the outputs on top in a row, which seems like an increasingly popular reversal of what used to be a logic of inputs on top when situated vertically, or on the left if lined up horizontally from the outputs. If you are placing this unit in a tight spot such as a cabinet where access to the back panel is limited, make sure you don't have to unplug anything. For frequent unplugging, this model has a second set of audio/video inputs right on the front of the unit, called Line 2. Temporary connections, such as playing back video from a camcorder can be easily accomplished without unseating the machine from it's nest. This has become quite standard among VCRs in the years since this unit's introduction.
I have found that the two more unique features of this VCR have come in handy. One is that any segment of the tape that has been freshly recorded can be reviewed via a "one touch playback" button. Example: let's say you have a partially recorded VHS tape, and you put it in at whatever point in the tape it happens to be, to record another segment. At the end of that newly recorded segment, either when you press stop, or whenever any programmed recording operation stops where it is, and the VCRs "One Touch Playback" button lights up. If you press that button, the VCR will rewind back only as far as that newly recorded segment, then automatically plays it back. On many occasions, I had manually started a recording and left it to run out at the end of the tape. Most VCRs will automatically rewind when it reaches the tape's physical end, and then kick out the tape so that it sits there sticking out the loading door. Well, haven't you wondered if the tape was able to get all the program in that you wanted? You'd have to fast forward all the way to the end to check. This unit will reach the end of the available tape when recording, and stop, and sit there at the end of the tape, because of the "One Touch Playback" feature, waiting for you to press that OTPB button. The unintended upshot of that is, I can then check the end of the recording to make sure that movie that was listed as a tad over 2 hrs actually made it onto the tape without having to sit through fast forwarding it to the end. Most VHS tape that are advertised as 120 minutes at standard play speed are actually 2 hours and 3 minutes. I long ago gave up on using the slower VCR speeds. Most VCRs, this one included, can record and playback in standard and slow speeds, but the picture quality suffers so badly in the slower speed. That is an across the board given that is okay for most home viewers. But I decided that anything worth taping at all was going to be at standard, the fastest available speed. It's bad enough the DVD and Hi-Def TV has all but made the VHS a dinosaur. The muddy picture and sound of slow speed recordings almost makes me want to speed up it's demise. When DVD recorders become more reasonably price, VHS' Ice Age will be here.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
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Epinions.com ID:
andre98
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Location: Bergen County, NJ
Reviews written: 65
Trusted by: 6 members
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