Our love affair started with ”hello.” I knew from the start it was a
”10.” The RCA VR667HF VCR can fill my screen. Finally, a high performance VCR with essential features and virtually no gimmicks. However, it performs a couple more tricks than even RCA`s mascot Nipper.
RCA designed this $549 VCR from scratch and is building it in its new Singapore factory. The attractive distinctive styling sets the VR667HF apart from most other VCRs. RCA arranges the important function controls as large keys beneath the tape slot of this center-loading deck.
A small hinged door covers the secondary controls arrayed across the width of the deck. An amber fluorescent display fills the right quarter of the front panel. It displays all the usual VCR information, such as time and channel. It greets you with ”hello” when you turn on the deck. This small feature makes the VCR seem more like a member of the family.
A logically arranged, comfortable-to-hold remote control operates the VCR. The remote also controls other RCA VCRs and televisions. The different shapes and sizes of the keys save searching for the proper buttons.
RCA was one of the first companies to incorporate VCR Plus+ into its VCRs. This simplified programming system permits tapping a series of numbers onto the numeric keypad of the remote to set the VCR to record programs. With the VR667HF, RCA takes VCR Plus+ one step further than anyone else. The VCR Plus+ will program your cable box.
Friendly cable companies allow subscribers to tune stations using cable-ready TVs and VCRs. If you are one of the few lucky viewers not shackled to a cable box by an avaricious cable company, the VR667HF automatically tunes all 181 channels. However, many cable companies insist on your renting a cable box. This defeats the ease and simplicity of tuning with your cable-ready VCR. Furthermore, it prevents you from programming multiple recordings because until now the VCR could not change channels on the cable box. RCA engineered the VR667HF to control any remote-capable cable box.
You can program this VCR (either the old-fashioned way or with VCR Plus+) to record multiple cable programs on different channels. The VR667HF knows the remote commands of your cable box. It then transmits an infrared signal to the cable box, as if you were operating the remote control. (RCA lists more than two dozen cable boxes that the VR667HF operates.) RCA implements this idea so elegantly you wonder why no one thought of it sooner.
Another new trick protects your unattended recordings and the well-being of the VCR. Pro-Tect Plus locks the VCR. Simply insert a cassette, program a recording if you want, and hold down the ”off” key on the remote for five seconds. This deactivates all other keys on the remote and the front panel. So if you`ve programmed a recording, no one in the family can inadvertently remove the tape or change the settings. By locking the tape in, it also keeps prying fingers, cookies and Lego blocks out of the machine. To defeat Pro-Tect Plus, hold down the off button again for another five seconds.
The VHS Hi-Fi VR667HF records and reproduces video with good quality picture and sound. The tuner section pulls in stations with ease.
Pictures of Nipper, and co-mascot, puppy Chipper adorn the cover of the 59-page indexed instruction manual. The manual is better than 90 percent of VCR manuals, although it still can be confusing.
The VR667HF says ”bye” when you turn it off. I say ”buy” to turn on a great VCR.
