The Battleship VCR
 

Ran upon this monster VCR at State Surplus. Its a JVC BR-6400U, and is a monster. It's huge in size, heavy in weight, and contains two VU meters which I had never seen on a VCR. Anybody have any info on this? Is it worth $10 as "the ultimate VCR?"

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...8/DSCN2039.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...8/DSCN2040.jpg

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

Lookin good! IME the pro machines like this one were just about the best VCRs ever built. I had an old Panasonic pro vcr with recording level VU meters and it was a tank. How does she work?

Not unless it is a Hi-Fi model...standard VCR's have such bad sound quality they make minicassettes look good.

Ya know, I didn't even look if it was "hi fi". I was mesmerized by the twin VU meters. And I haven't bought it, it's still there. Been there for a few weeks. Not much interest in an old VCR anymore, except maybe to someone here. But for $10 ...

Coulda' swore I seen a Dolby switch there.

It does have Dolby NR.

That is definitely a non-Hi-Fi model. VU meters were common on VCRs in the professional world. It would be a nice machine for a VCR collection, but not much good for real-world use anymore. Here is a link to a brochure for it:

http://www.bcs.tv/pdf/model/6126/jvc_br-6400u.pdf

I'd pick that up anyway just because it's so cool.

Is it an outboard

What defines a "Hi-Fi" model? In my book it was always wether you got stereo signal in/out or a single channel of audio. This definitely does stereo, and the brochure confirms that, and it even has optional Dolby NR if you wanted to use that. Seems pretty "hi-fi" to me so far as VCR's go.

...

Yes, what Andy said. "Hi-Fi" in VCRs is a specific term; the technical name was AFM (audio frequency modulation). Linear stereo audio is 40-12000 Hz with 50 dB signal-to-noise ratio at best; Hi-Fi could be 20-20000 Hz with near 80 dB S/N ratio.

Ya learn something new everyday around this place. Thanks all. Haven't heard anybody say "I wun dat! Gotta have ....!" But it's still cool to look at.

Hi,

Some data for you: Early Stereo VHS VCR's used what they called "Linear Stereo with Dolby NR" This uses the conventional linear audio tracks at the edge of the tape split in half for Stereo. A year or so later, Sony introduced Beta Hi-Fi which uses some of the space in between the video vertical interval for higher quality audio. Soon after, VHS machines got Hi-Fi. This machine still has value since some early Stereo movies and music videos only had Linear Stereo. It's well built, Stereo, professional editing quality, and worth up to $40. No modern VCR is as well made or as dependable. :tresbon:

I used several of these VCR's in my work for many years. It produced one of the sharpest pictures of any VHS deck I've ran across. However, this deck had loading problems. It liked jam tapes as well. Its worth $10.

David

I have a Sony Beta HiFi, SLO-1800 that looks a lot like that rig. Mine even has a video level meter. But, it just barely works. Runs a few minutes then the take up reel stops and dumps the tape. Some of those old machines look great.

I need a Betamax. Video level meter? Nice. Wish beta caught on more.