Hitachi VT-M181A manual

Introduction - 1 - VHS Video Deck VT-M181A Ow ner's Manual Your Complete Guide to Videocassette Viewing and Recording Using these quality features:  Up to 8 delay ed recording prog rams  Auto tracking for improved pictur e in playback  Cable-compati ble frequency synthesiz er quartz tuner  Remote control for use w ith your VCR, TV [...]

Introduction - 2 - TA BLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3 FOR YOUR SAFET Y ........................................................................................................................... 3 Getting S[...]

Introduction - 3 - Progr amming Pr ioriti es ...................................................................................................................... 32 Advanced Operati ons (R emote Co ntrol of TV) .................................................................................. 33  Controllin g Yo ur TV with the VCR's Remot[...]

Introduction - 4 - to make any kind of contact w ith any i nside part of this unit. This symbol al erts the user that important literatur e concerning the operation and maintenance of this uni t has been included. Therefore, it should be read carefully in order to avoi d any problems. CA UTION:   TO REDUCE T HE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT [...]

Getting Sta rted - 5 -  "Must read" sections contai ning important cauti ons f or y our family's safety as well as the basic facts you need to use the VCR . These sections are highl ighted li ke this in the table of contents:   Information on the advanced features of your H itachi VCR. W e hope you'll take ti me to lear[...]

Getting Sta rted - 6 - line plug (a plug hav ing one blade wider than the other). This plug w ill fit into the power outlet only one way . T h is is a safety feature. If you are unable to inser t the plug fully into the outlet, try rev ersing the plug. If the plug should still fail to fit, contact your electrici an to replace y our obsolete outlet.[...]

Getting Sta rted - 7 - connected to this unit should bear the UL listing mark or CSA certi f ication mar k on the accessory i tself and should not have been modi fied so as to defeat the saf ety features. This will help avoid any potential hazard from electric shock or f ire. If in doubt, contact qualified ser vic e personnel. 10 Wa ter and Moistur[...]

Getting Sta rted - 8 - product. 16 Lightning -- For added protection for this video pr oduct during a l ightni ng storm, or when i t its left unattended and unused for long per iods of time, unplug it from the wall outlet and disconnect the antenna or cable-system. This will prev ent dam age to the video pr oduct due to lightning and pow er-line su[...]

Getting Sta rted - 9 - 1 Decide Where to Put Your VCR  Be sure your chosen location allow s f or proper ventilation, stability , and protection from heat and moisture (s ee Important Safeguards).  Place the VCR near your TV but not on top of it. For convenience in usi ng the remote control, locate them no mor e than three feet apart.  If y[...]

Getting Sta rted - 10 - 3 Hook up the A udi o/Video Signal If your TV is a fairly recent model, you probably hav e both audio and video jacks. Look on the back of your TV fo r two jacks - possibly color-coded yellow and white. They will be labelled AUD IO IN, or VIDEO IN. (If you are not sur e, look at the back of your VCR - you w ill see two sets [...]

Getting Sta rted - 11 - Simple A ntenna/Cable 75 Ohm Hookup This is an easy hookup that you can use if your cable or antenna has a 75 ohm r ound wire connector. Y ou will need the 75 ohm cable supplied with y our VCR. It looks like this: (Refer to page 11 for 300 ohm U HF connection to the TV and antenna.) If you have been w atching the TV in your [...]

Getting Sta rted - 12 - take it from wher e it comes in on the wall. 2. Considering the three pictures below , determine which adapter y ou will need to hook it into your VCR. If y ou have Use this adapter Single 300 ohm flat w ire Separate UHF and VHF antenna antenna wi res, both 300 ohm fla t w ire 300 ohm flat UHF and 75 ohm round VHF If you hav[...]

Getting Sta rted - 13 - 2. Using the 75 ohm cable supplied w ith your VCR , connect either end to the OUT TO TV upper jack on the back of the VCR. 3. Use a second adapter to attach the other end of the 75 ohm connector back i nto the TV (wher e you first di sconnected the antenna). Capabilities: W ith this hookup, you shoul d now be able to per f o[...]

Getting Sta rted (Controls) - 14 - Getting Started (Controls)  Quick Tour of the Controls Study these pictur es carefully to l earn about the buttons and controls that you'll need for every day operation. Vari ous controls are explai ned throughout this manual as they are needed, but now is a g ood time to get familiar with their locations.[...]

Getting Sta rted (Controls) - 15 - Picture of Remote Control Remote Control Buttons POW ER Turns the VCR on and off. VCR1, TV, CATV, VCR2 Device buttons let you set the remote to contr ol one of f our devices. MUTE (TO CONTROL TV) Turns off the audio until y ou press Mute ag ain. VOLUME/SLOW Increase or decr ease the audio vol ume and plays back i [...]

Getting Sta rted (Controls) - 16 - REC Starts r ecording on the station the VC R is set to. (Press REC and PLAY at the same time.) F.FW D Fast forwards the v ideotape. PAUSE Temporarily stops the cassette f rom recording or play ing. Press PAUSE ag ain (or PLA Y) to resume . F.ADV Lets you adv ance the tape f rame by frame. CLEAR Used i n on-screen[...]

Getting Sta rted (Controls) - 17 - POW ER Turns VCR pow er on and off. STOP/EJECT Cancels any v ideotape action, and when pressed a second time, ej ects tape. PLAY Play s the loaded videotape. DISPLAY Show s time, channel, and status indicators. CHANNEL U p and down arrow s for selecting channels. REC/IRT T o begin recordin g. F.FW D Controls the v[...]

Getting Sta rted (Initial Setup) - 18 - You may view all the on-screen instructi ons in Engli sh, French or Spanish. W hen you first set up your VCR, it will be set to E n glish. Press number 6 o r 7 f or the other languag e options. Now, y ou will do most of your programming and setup by pressing numbers on the remote control w hich correspond to [...]

Getting Sta rted (Initial Setup) - 19 - At the screen are the default setting s on your VC R. The default settings are the ones that are preset at the factory . They come up on the VCR ev ery time the pow er goes out for more than 1 minute - for ex ample, during a storm or when you unplug the VCR. Look at each item to see if it matches y our own se[...]

Getting Sta rted (Initial Setup) - 20 - W hen you first plug in the VCR or after a power interruption, the clock display w ill read "--:--" . To set the clock, press GUIDE, then press 1 to br ing up the Clock Set scr een: Press the number buttons on the remote contr ol to set the current ti me - two di gits for the hour and tw o for the m[...]

Getting Sta rted (Videota pes) - 21 - between channels that ar e f ar apart. Removing Channels You may not want to keep all the stations the auto-programmer sel e cts, since you may prefer to have onl y a few fav orite channels in the tuner 's memory. Or, you may want to delete from memory a weak or unused channel that the tuner picked up. [...]

Getting Sta rted (Videota pes) - 22 - T-120 120 min. 360 min. T-160 160 min. 480 min. You may have noticed that there is also an LP speed. You H it achi VC R does not recor d at this speed, but it can play cassettes that were recorded in LP mode. N o special setting is requir ed for playback. Safety Tabs Prevent Erasure A safety tab is located on t[...]

Basic Operations - 23 - indicator show s on the LCD display. It may also star t playi ng immediatel y if the safety tab has been removed. To remove the cassette, simply press the STOP/EJECT button on the VCR. (If the tape is play ing, press STOP/EJECT on the VCR once to stop the tape and a second time to eject it.) Now y ou can take the cassette ou[...]

Basic Operations - 24 - To Fine Tune the Pictur e A uto Tracking Pressing PLAY starts the auto tracking feature, w hich adjusts the tuning to eliminate static lines that may appear on the screen. Manual Tracking Scratched tapes or poorl y recor ded tapes may require addi tional picture adjustment. You can do this w ith the remote control. Press VCR[...]

Basic Operations - 25 - Still Play back (Pause) Press PAUSE to still the tape during play. The picture w ill "f reeze". After 5 minutes in PAUSE mode, the VCR automatically switches to STOP mode to protect the tape. If the screen jitters dur ing PAUSE, use the r emote's TRACKING buttons to minimi ze it. (See manual Tracking ) To resu[...]

Basic Operations - 26 - W hen you want to check the counter during playback, ther e are several w ays to do it. Pressing DISPLAY will cycle you through the three o p t io ns.  Press DISPLAY just once to see the counter, mode, time, and date on the scr een for 5 seconds.  Before the 5 seconds are up, press DISPLAY a second time to see just the[...]

Basic Operations (Recording) - 27 - Select minutes by pressing buttons 0 to 9 - one digit for hours, then two di gits for minutes. Then press F.FW D if you w ant to move that many minutes ahead, or R EW if you w ant to move that many minutes backw ard. For exampl e, say you w ant to revi ew a scene that beg an about 2 minutes earlier in a video, pr[...]

Basic Operations (Recording) - 28 -  Recording a Program Before y ou Record  The VCR must be hooked up properl y for recording. See the Si mple Hookups at the beginni ng of this manual.  Make sure you are familiar with the Easy Graphic Menu f or on-screen programming (page 18) and the basi cs about videocassettes and VCR safety. Copy right[...]

Basic Operations (Recording) - 29 - Once you hav e set the VCR for recording, press VC R/TV on the remote control. Now , you w ill be viewing throug h your TV only. Switch channels using y our T V controls or the VCR remote, i f it's programmed to contr ol your televi sion (see Adv anced Operations). The recording will continue as set on the V[...]

Basic Operations (Recording) - 30 - 1:30, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00) by conti nually pressing the REC/IRT button. W hile y ou are recording , the time remaining is show n in the display. At the end of your recording the display will read "0:00"; recording w ill then automatically stop and the VCR will turn itself off. To stop recording w hile in t[...]

Basic Operations (Recording) - 31 - correct line dependi ng on your input selecti on. (L2: Front A/V IN; L1: Rear A/V IN.) Remember to press 0 before sing le-digit channel number s, times, and dates - for example, 0 and 6 for channel 6. After you enter the channel and time, the VCR automatic ally shows the current date or the next date, w hichever [...]

Basic Operations (Recording) - 32 -  Enter the end time, half past six , as 06:30. T he VCR automatically selects PM for you.  The screen shows today 's date, so no changes are needed on that line.  Press TAPE SPEED to sw itch to SP because you w ant the best quality pi cture for this recordin g. Every thing is as y ou want it, so pr [...]

A dvanced Operations (Remot e Control of TV) - 33 - To avoid recor ding only bits and pieces of diff erent ov erlapping show s, review y our progr amming and delete those show s that are not essential. A dv anced Operations (Remote Control of TV) This section explai ns how to use the VCR's rem ote control to operate your TV. It also shows you [...]

A dvanced Operations (Remot e Control of TV) - 34 - For exampl e, if y ou have an RCA televi sion, press TV and 0 at the same time. If this button combination sends a signal that matches with y our T V, the channel w ill change on the TV, and you'll know the remote is set to control the telev ision.  If that button combination does not chan[...]

A dvanced Operations (C able Box Hookups) - 35 - Be awar e that not all of your TV's functions may wor k even thoug h the remote control is correctly programmed. A dv anced Operations (Cable Box Hookups)  Hooking Up to a Cable Box The cable box bri ngs all the advantag es of pay cable, but finding a sati sf actory hookup can be challengi n [...]

A dvanced Operations (C able Box Hookups) - 36 - 1. Remove the cabl e company's cable l ine from the back of your TV. Connect it to the IN FRONT ANT low er jack on the back of the VCR. 2. Using the 75 ohm coaxial cable supplied w ith your VCR , connect either end to the VCR's OUT TO TV upper jack 3. Connect the other end of the 75 ohm cab[...]

A dvanced Operations (C able Box Hookups) - 37 - splitter. 2. Using a coaxial jumper, reconnect one of the splitter outputs to the cable box's i nput that you just freed up. 3. Using a second coaxial j umper, connect the other spl i tter output to the A of the A-or - B switch. 4. Using the cable box output li ne, connect the cable box receptac[...]

A dvanced Operations (Second VCR) - 38 - Hamlin 4 Zenith 5 Scientific Atlanta 6 Pioneer 7 Philips 8 To operate the cable box once the r emote is programmed for it:  Press CATV and then the button of the function you w ant.  Press VCR to oper ate your VCR w ith the remote again. A dv a nced Operations (Second VCR)  Integrating a Second VCR [...]

VCR Care and Servicing - 39 -  Press the VCR2 button on the r emote before pressing GU IDE twi ce to exit the on- screen prog ram. W ith this setting, the r emote control can now operate both VCR s. To switch control f rom one to the other, simply press VCR1 or VCR2 on the r emote. (Remember to aim the remote at the selected VCR. ) Copy ing fr o[...]

Care and Servicing (Problems) - 40 - sound during auto head cl eaning. Even w ith the auto head cleaning sy stem, dirt can buil d up on the heads. If the picture is blurr y during play back, or is occasionally interrupted or blanks out, try playing different cassettes to see whether y ou get the same picture problems. If the picture problems persi [...]

Care and Servicing (Problems) - 41 - s e t c o r r e c t l y ? VCR pow er turned off ? Turn pow er off to activate the t i m e r . Safety tab remov ed from Put cell ophane tape over the the videocassette? tab area, or use a videocassette w ith the safety t a b i n t a c t . Does not record Safety tab remov ed from Put cell ophane tape over the w he[...]

Specification - 42 - cassette if you are done view ing. Otherwise, no acti on is necessary . Hitachi Service Hotline Authorized Hitachi serv ice facilities are available throughout the US and Canada. For the location nearest y ou, call the Hitachi Serv ice Hotline at one of these numbers: In the continental U.S.A . DIA L TOLL FREE 7 days a w eek, 2[...]

Specification - 43 - Video Input: 1-2 Vp-p 75ohm unbalanced Video Output: 1 Vp-p 75ohm unbalanced Audio Input 316mV rms (-7.8dB) 50 kohm Audio Output 316mV rms (-7.8dB) 1.5 kohm Video Recordi ng S/N: Better than 45dB (SP), better than 40dB (EP) Horiz ontal Resolution: 240 lines ( SP), 220 lines ( LP)(play back only), 230 lines (EP) Audio Response: [...]