It’s rare when a VCR maker can boast a new model that offers a true improvement in everyday viewing, but Toshiba is claiming that honor for its M-760, a hi-fi VCR that arrived in stores this summer.
The M-760 is one of the first consumer-grade VCRs to use six video heads, as opposed to the usual two or four, and the advantage, at least for slow-speed recordings, is demonstrable. The suggested retail price is $550.
Four video heads are favored by video hobbyists because they produce the best possible picture at both the standard (SP) and extended play (EP) modes. One pair of heads is optimized for the faster speed, and the other pair is used for the slower speed.
Toshiba has added a third set of heads that come into play for the EP speed. This extra pair is notable for being extremely narrow, just 19 microns compared with the usual 26 microns. The VCR gives you the option of using the normal heads or the 19-micron ones. (If you’re making a tape for someone else, or are playing back an older EP tape, you may not want to use the extra-narrow heads.) Their small size, according to Toshiba, makes for a more accurate playback of the narrow EP tracks, which translates into a sharper picture. The result, contends the company, is a six-hour recording that’s as sharp and clear as a two-hour recording.
Having used the M-760 for a few weeks, I’m not prepared to endorse such a claim unreservedly, but I will say the test recordings I made (admittedly unscientific ones) produced the best quality EP tapes I’ve seen from a consumer VCR. And certainly the quality was better than some SP tapes made by inexpensive two-head VCRs.
Of course, the improved EP performance can only be realized by using the M-760 to play back its own recordings. EP tapes you may have in your collection will not automatically look better than before.
My test consisted of making simultaneous EP recordings on the Toshiba and a reliable, if aging, four-head model from a competitor. My old machine did an adequate job, but the differences in comparison with the Toshiba were apparent, and they did not seem to vary with different grades of tape. Whereas the EP image on my old VCR exhibited an overall soft appearance, with some blurring of outlines, the Toshiba recording was harder edged and revealed more detail.
The improvement was most striking in large areas of uniform color. For example, closeups of human hair showed distinct strands on the Toshiba, while heads of hair tended to go smeary on my VCR. This was also notable in scenes of foliage; the individual leaves on trees were suggested much more strongly on the M-760.
Toshiba has not accomplished this laudable effect just by adding more heads. The M-760 is one of a series of VCRs using the company’s new V3 design, which also incorporates a pre-amplifier directly into the video drum. In all VCRs, the video signal must travel through the pre-amp on its way to the TV screen. Usually it’s located on a separate board, but by moving the pre-amp into the head drum, Toshiba says it has reduced opportunity for interference and signal degradation.
The improved amplification may account for the sharper image, but it also seemed to introduce more “noise” into the background of dark scenes.
The V3 design (also used in the model M-450 and the forthcoming M-770) has other virtues too numerous to list here, but they include a flying erase head, high-speed rewind, quick access time from stop to play and multiple shuttle speeds. These units also contain VCR Plus circuitry, which allows timed recordings using program codes printed with many TV schedules.
