Budget Sanyo holds its own

Press, 17 June 1986, Page 24

Budget Sanyo holds its own

The new Sanyo models have arrived, but they are in the VHS format. It seems that Sanyo’s Beta days are, over — a shame, I believe, as Sanyo held the top spot in that range. The new Sanyo VHR--1100 is the baby of the range and its features include: • Feather touch transport controls • 12 position electronic varactor tuner ’• 14 day 1 event timer • Automatic rewind • Automatic playback • 10 function infra-red remote control • Test signal • OTR (one touch recording) • Picture sharpness control • Counter memory function • Recommended retail price of $lOBB. It is easy to set up and tune in — it is just a matter of selecting the right band, VL for TV One and VH for TV Two then twirling the little knobs until the signal comes in loud and clear. Power is automatically turned on when a cassette is inserted and other automatic functions include auto playback function (the tape can be rewound

either to the beginning or the counter memory function position 0000, automatically replaying from this point and automatic rewind (a tape can be set up to play continuously). The timer is one programme/14 day so that the user can record one programme within a 14 day period, or one programme daily at the same time. This is normal for a budget unit and sufficient for most purposes. The Sanyo also has the handy OTR timer allowing instant recording in set time periods at the push of a button. The remote control is slim, nice to hold, and covers the functions of power on/off, video/TV, play, stop, record, pause/ still, rewind/review, cue/ fast forward, and channel select.

The picture quality is very good in the play mode, but expect some interference in pause/ still. The audio quality also is more than ade-' quate.

Conclusion: Sanyo has come up with a package which, at a price of $1099, has a nice mix of features and competes well with the rest of the VHS camp.