On 22 Nov 2003 19:33:32 GMT, VCRs still live! wrote:

I've has several JVC and on Mitsubishi that did this, and as far as I
know most SVHS decks still do this. Also, most SVHS decks that are
mid-priced and higher also have image processing that improves
playback of even standard VHS immensely.

Just look for an SVHS VCR with flying erase heads and you should get
what you are looking for.

Actually, none of them seem to have this feature any more.

I actually talked to one of the national JVC reps and he had never
heard of it (not flying erase heads of course, but the capability to
monitor the editing), but that doesn't mean anything. A question -
I've always known that flying erase heads means the ability to get
clean edit points without any noise, but does it also *automatically*
mean that the machine is a true editing deck, which implies to me the
ability to actually view the material being edited, i.e. that it
switches from the actual recording back to the source? JVC has a
feature that they call "insert editing", and this term is used by
Mitsubishi as well, but isn't the same thing that I was talking about.
JVC has no explanation of this feature in their on-line glossary.

I checked the 4 models of Mitsubishi and none of them offer the
feature, which Mitsubishi used to call "Edit Searching". and
Mitsubishi, which used to be the one of the "high end" VCR makers, no
longer seems to even offer flying erase heads.

Fortunately, I was able to be offered an old Mitsu HSU 59, which was
pretty close to the same model as mine, only a 1993 model instead of
1992. Mine had the advantage of having the shuttle ring and adjust
dial on the remote - these were transferred off of the remote and onto
the front panel of the 59, but of course I can use my current remote
instead of the dumbed-down 59 remote.

Thanks for the info and perhaps you could answer the question about
the flying erase heads as I'm curious at this point.