My Other High-End VCR, the MITSUBISHI HS-U70 (with audio output clipping problem)
 

thought i'd share the other, near-TOTL, S-VHS VCR in my possession, besides my beloved JVC HR-S8000U.

it is a minty, complete with original box copy of the 1988 MITSUBISHI HS-U70.

the U70 was the very first high-end VCR i had ever seen to the day, back in 2005, at a local electric CO-OP meeting/social get together.

i had my only digi-cam with me at the time, a lowly point-and-shoot that is a far, far cry from the Nikon D5000 DSLR that i have had since 2009, but was good enough to get these photos of what was the most beautiful VCR i had ever seen at the time;

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...I/HS-U70-1.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l.../HS-U70259.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l.../HS-U70275.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l.../HS-U70268.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l.../HS-U70269.jpg


it was on a mobile equipment rack that had a bunch of other stuff on it, including an old TV tuner, a late 1990's SONY VCR, and a very nice late-eighties 27-odd in. MITSUBISHI TV monitor. kids were playing "Dance Dance Revolution" on a PlayStation 2 connected to that monitor, and that's when i saw that U70.

i asked if i could take pics, and they were nice enough to have those kids stop playing long enough for me to take some.

i had lusted after that VCR for YEARS, even eventually asking the CO-OP manager if she would be willing to sell it to me. alas, she would not.

later on, me and my family finally got an internet connection, and i was able to set myself up on EBAY and find a prime condition HS-U70, complete with box and all accessories, like new, and possibly never used;

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...0MACGYVER1.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...I/HS-U7040.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l.../HS-U70408.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...I/HS-U7026.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...I/HS-U70-2.jpg

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...I/HS-U7034.jpg

this VCR was once the apple of my eye, then i discovered the JVC HR-S8000U, which is on an entirely different level altogether.

i still, nevertheless have quite the soft spot in my heart for this machine, and i even managed to truly complete
my copy of it with the original service manual.

there IS a single flaw in this VCR, however.

it's stereo audio output level seems to be set FAR too high. SO high, in fact, that many, if not most 1990's era prerecorded movie cassettes drive the VCR's output to EXTREME, VERY AUDIBLE CLIPPING.

this is the first and only time i've have happened across an anomaly of this sort, and before anyone asks, this VCR DOES NOT have user-variable audio output level.

whether it is an issue with this particular unit, or with this model in general i do not know, but i figure that anyone reading this with a vested interest in this VCR should know about it...