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1 JVC SR-VS20U
2 Matrox RTMac
QUICK FACTS
Company: JVC
Wayne, N.J.; 973-315-5000
Product: SR-VS20U deck
Features: Plays and records miniDV and S-VHS/VHS tapes in its two transports; control over the DV deck is available via the IEEE-1 394 connection; one-touch dubbing; includes a TV tuner. Price: $2,000 Website: wwwjvc.com/pro
With the soaring popularity of DV, it is easy to forget that VHS remains the most widely used tape format. Almost everyone needs to make VHS dubs and many institutions - especially colleges - continue to shoot on VHS and S-VHS. Production houses, corporate facilities, plus broadcast and cable stations have an ongoing need to source from VHS, S-VHS, and DV.
It's obvious that the video world needs dual-format VCRs. Despite this, only JVC markets dual-transport VCRs in the U.S. Sony sells several dual-decks in Japan, but has not imported them into America.
At NAB 2001, JVC introduced the SR-VS20U dual-format VCR that records and plays both miniDV and S-VHS/VHS cassettes. MiniDVCAM tapes can be played in the VS20, which replaces JVC's SR-VS10U. A key feature of the VS20 is that the S-VHS/VHS material can be played back and transferred via IEEE 1394 using DV compression. With an MSRP of $2,000, the VS20 also offers one-touch dubbing without cables between DV and S-VHS/VHS formats. Before venturing too deeply into the VS20's technical details, let's look at ways you can use this deck.
As a player, the VS20 handles DV, DVCAM, VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C, and S-VHS-C. C-format cassettes require an adapter. The deck outputs analog video using composite (RCA) and S-Video connections. Unbalanced two-channel audio is output via twin RCA jacks. The analog component output jacks that were present on JVC's SR-VS10 have been removed. This is unfortunate for two reasons. First, component analog video is an ideal way to integrate the SR-VS20 with high-end equipment that uses analog component connections. Second, most video projectors offer YPrPb analog component...