Optimus 109 manual

Cat. No. 16-546 OWNER’S MANUAL Please read before using this equipme nt. MOD EL 109 4-Head HQ VHS VCR 16-5 46 .f m Pag e 1 Tue sda y , July 20, 19 99 4:2 5 P M[...]

2 IMPO RT ANT SA FETY INSTRU CTIONS 1. Re ad in st ruct ions — A ll the safet y and o per at in g ins tructio ns shou ld b e r ead b ef ore t he ap pli ance is ope r- ated . 2. Reta in Ins truc tions — The safet y and op era tin g instruc- ti ons shoul d b e reta in ed for fu tur e refe ren ce. 3. Heed Warn ings — All warnin g s on the ap pli[...]

3 14. Li ghtning — For add ed prot ect ion for th is VCR receiv er duri n g a li g htnin g sto rm , o r w hen i t is lef t un at tende d a nd unu sed f or lon g per io ds of ti me , un pl u g it from the w all outlet and d isc onn ect the ante nna or cab le s y stem. T his will pr event dama g e to t he VCR due to l i g htnin g and power -l ine s[...]

4 FEA TURES Your Optim us Model 109 4-Hea d HQ VHS VCR offers some of t he mos t advanced fea- tures available i n home v ideo cas sette record- ers. Your V CR’s PLL (phase-locked loop) tuning ensures precise t uning of up to 68 VHF and UHF channel s and up t o 125 c able cha n- nels. It s full-func tion remote control and o n- screen programming[...]

5 OTHER FE A T URES On-Scr een Prog rammi ng — provides help ful instructions on the TV sc reen for setting the clock, program timers, and quick timer record- ing. Tril ingua l Ins truc tion s — lets you se lect En - glish, French, or Spanish on-screen instruc- tions. Me mory Se n tin el — protects clock settings, tuner prog ramming inform at[...]

6 CONTENTS Before Y ou Be g in ... ..... ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... ..... .. .. 8 Supp li ed Accessori es .... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... ....... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... .... ... ..... .. .... 8 U[...]

7 Mot i o n Contro ls ..... ..... .. ..... .. ..... ....... ..... .... ... .... ... .... ... ..... .... ... .... ... ..... .. ..... .... ... .... ... ..... .. .. ... ... 28 Fa st-Fo rward /Rewi nd ... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... ... 28 Fre eze- Fram e ... ... .[...]

8 BEFORE YOU BEGIN Before you begin, pleas e read this owner’s manual carefully. It has bee n prepared to help you with initial setup procedures and in the ev- eryday op eration of your V CR. Cautio n: Moist ure condensation can s ome- times accum ulate on the video heads when you mov e your VCR from a cold lo cation to a warmer one. When t his h[...]

9 CONNECTIONS Before you connect the VCR, read through these sec tions to det ermine t he appropriate portions and the bes t connecti ons for the type of terminals o n your T V and other equipm ent you are conn ecting. Keep in m ind that not all sections will a pply to your i nstallation. Notes: • If your audio/video sy s tem does not match any o[...]

10 Usi ng the TV ’ s Si ngle VH F/ UHF F- Connec tor Use the suppl i ed 7 5-ohm cable t o c onnec t the VCR’s VHF/UHF CA TV OUT F-connect or to yo ur TV’s VHF/U HF antenna input F-c onnect or. Using th e TV’ s Si ngle VH F F-Co nnect or and Double UHF Screw T erminals If you r TV has a single VH F F-conne ctor and double UHF screw terminals[...]

11 CONNECTING THE VCR F OR PLA YBACK A ND RECOR DING To record using the VCR, you need to connect an external signal source such as an antenna (see “Connecting an Antenna”) or c a ble system (see “Con necting Ca ble” on P ag e 13). You do not ne ed to connec t bot h. Co nnecti ng a n Anten na If you use an antenna onl y, connect the VCR to [...]

12 Usi ng t he T V’ s Si ngle V H F/ UHF F- C o nne c tor 1. If your antenna has 75-ohm c able, connec t the antenna cable directly to t h e VCR’s VHF/UHF CA TV IN in p ut te rm in al . If your ante nna ha s 300-ohm l ead-in wire, you need to first convert it to a 7 5-ohm cable by connecting a 3 00-to-75-ohm matching t ransformer (such as Cat .[...]

13 If your ante nna ha s 300-ohm l ead-in wire, you need to first convert it to a 7 5-ohm cable by connecting a 3 00-to-75-ohm matching t ransformer (such as Cat . No. 15-1253, not suppli ed) following these steps. a. Connect the a nte nna’ s lead-in wire to the transformer ’s 300-oh m input termi- nal screws. b. Connect t he transformer ’s 7[...]

14 If you u se a c able box : • Y ou m ust select c hanne ls using the cable box. • The cable box uns cram bles premium cable channels. T o watch or record premium channels, you m ust already sub scribe to them fro m your cabl e com pan y . Important: Some s tates have laws restricting direct con nections t o cable w ires (connections that do n[...]

15 Usi ng t he T V’ s Si ngle V H F/ UHF F- C o nne c tor 1. Connect the CA T V ca ble directly to the VCR’ s VHF/UHF CA TV IN in p u t ter m i n a l. 2. Use the supplied 75-oh m cable to connect th e VCR’s VHF/UHF CA TV OUT F-connector to your TV’s VHF/UHF ant enna input F- connector. Usin g t he TV ’ s Sing le VH F F-Co nn e ctor an d D[...]

16 Connecting a n A/B Swit c h an d a Sign a l S pl itt e r You can record a s cram bled c hannel and watch an unscrambled on e using a h igh-isola- tion A/B s w it ch (s u c h as Cat. No. 15-124 9, not supplied) and a hybrid splitter/combiner (such as Cat. No. 15-1141, not suppl ied). Notes: • This co nnection requi res up to f our addi- tional [...]

17 PREP ARA T ION USING THE R EMOTE CONTROL Insta llin g th e Batter ies To power the remote c ontrol, you need t wo AA batteries (not supplied). For the best perfor- mance, use alkal ine batteries (such as Ra- dioShack Cat. No. 23-557). Cautio ns: • Use only fresh batt eries of the required size a nd type. • Never leave d ead batte ries in the[...]

18 Remote Contr ol VCR Functi on POWER POWER Tu rns the VCR’s power on/off. EJECT STOP/ EJE C T If a tape i s playin g : •P r e s s i n g EJECT on th e remot e con trol aut omat ically stops pl aying a vid eo tape, then ej ects the cas sette). •P r e s s i n g STOP/ EJECT on the VCR once stops playing a video cassette tape, twice ejects the c[...]

19 CH CHANNEL • T unes the VCR to the next lower channel. • R edu ces or eli minates jitter i n a sl ow-motion picture (see “V ari a ble Speed Slow Motion ” on Page 29). • M anually adjusts the t racking (see “M anua l T racking” on Page 31). Numbers 1-0 Directly selects a channel, or enters other programm ing valu es. 100 • 100 —[...]

20 REW / (Shuttle D ial) • REW — quickly rewind s a video cassette tape if the tape is stopped . Does not show a picture on the TV screen. • — q uickly p lays a cassett e tape backwar d so you can find a de sired sect ion of a recording. • — Moves the highlighting left whil e t h e menu is di s- pl ay ed . • R otate the VCR’s shuttl[...]

21 For the be st re sults, aim the rem ote con trol’s signal em itter (on the rem ote c ontrol’s top en d) toward the V CR’s display, and press the d e- sired function button(s). S ETTIN G THE ON -S CREEN PROGRAM MING L ANG UAGE 1. P ress POWER . 2. If you c onnected t he V CR to your TV’s audio/video i nput jacks, proceed direct ly t o Ste[...]

22 Note: If you have not selected a language since you connec ted power , the la nguage setting me nu automat ically appears on the TV screen wh en you p ress MENU . Sk i p to Step 6. 5. Repeatedly press or until LANG UA GE is highlig hted on the di splayed m enu . Then press SET . 6. Repeatedl y press or unt il the lan- guage y ou want, , , or , i[...]

23 3. Use the number keys to enter the correct time (hour and m inute), then press 100 / to sel e ct AM or PM. For exam ple, to s et 10:28 AM , pres s 1 , 0 , 2 , and 8 , t h en pr es s 100 / to sele ct AM. Note: T he VCR acc epts the last three or four valid e ntries as the time. Fo r examp le, if you enter 1 , 3 , 3 , and 5 , the VCR stores it as[...]

24 5. Press or to highlight AU TO or MA N- UAL , then press SET . AUTO — T he VCR’s tuner auto matically scans through th e channel s (TV or CA TV) and mem orizes the active c hannel s in your area. and the current chann el num ber appea r on the TV sc reen, and CH and t he current channel appe ar on t he VCR ’ s display . After scanning all [...]

25 BASIC O PERA TION W A TCHING T V Usin g the TV’ s T uner 1. T ur n of f t he V CR, or pr es s TV / V C R so VCR disappears from the VCR’s display . 2. Set th e TV to t he TV mode. The anten na or cable signals pass throug h the VCR unaffe cted, as if the ant enna or c able were connected directly to the TV. Using the VCR’ s T uner 1. Press[...]

26 W A TCHING A VID EO T APE Load ing a V ideo T ape In sert the vi deo casset te int o the VCR’s com- partment with the l abel fa cing u p an d the tape swivel-cover facing into the compartment. Ge n- tly push in t h e cassette until the VCR automati- cally d ra w s it in. Cautio n: N ever insert anything except a V HS video ca ssette into t he [...]

27 SPECIAL FUNCTIONS DISPL A YS Blue Screen The blue-scr een d isplay appears on the T V screen when the VCR does not send a signal to the TV f rom either the VHF/UHF CA TV O UT terminal or the A UDIO/VIDEO OUT j acks, such as: • When you play unrecorded portions o f a tap e • When y ou tune the V CR to an unused channel Note: The V CR does not[...]

28 T ape M o tion Indi cator s Any time a cas sette is loaded in the c ompart - ment, appears on the VCR’s display whether p ower is on or off. The tape m otion indicat ors on the V CR’s dis- play show you the c urrent operating mode and the tape’s playback direction. MOTION CO NTROLS Fast- F orward /Rewind To advanc e the tape q uick ly when[...]

29 V isual Sear ch Visual search le ts you pla y a tape at a fast er speed (either f orward or b ackwa rd) so you c an search for a sp ecific sec tion of the t ape . You can select normal or fast visual search speeds. For normal visual searc h speed, during play - back, press or once (or t urn and hold the shuttle dial on t he VCR clockwise or coun[...]

30 Au tom at ic Repeat Pla ybac k You can set the VCR to automatically repe at a recorded portion of a tape when the VCR finds a blank portion of more than 15 seconds. Follow these s teps t o turn aut omatic rep eat playback on or off. 1. Press MENU to display the main menu. 2. Press to hi ghlight , then pres s SET . appears on the T V scre en. 3. [...]

31 INDEX SEARCH Your VCR has the Di gital Program Search Sys- t e m (D PSS) . Each time you st ar t record i n g, t h e VCR au tomatically marks the tape with a n i n- dex si gnal. You can use inde x s earch to: • Return to the beginning of t he current recording. • Skip to t he beginning of th e ne xt recording. • Locate a specifi c recordin[...]

32 AUTO ENHANCED PICTURE Your VCR automatically enhances the picture quality during playbac k. The aut o enhanced picture f unction is set to ON at the factory. Normally leave it set to on . When you play a tape f or edi ting or when st rong noise appears on the sc reen, s et i t to OFF. During normal play back, press AUT O EN- HANCED PICTURE on th[...]

33 RECORDING You can make the follow ing types of recordings with you r VCR. • Immediate recording • Quick timer recordi ng • Automatic timer recording • Dubbing Notes: • Y our VCR records the aud io s ignal and automatical ly adjusts the sound level while it records. • The video t ape you us e f o r re c ord ing must have the record-pr[...]

34 RECORD PROTEC TION Video cassettes have a record prot e ction tab. With the tab in place, you can record on the tap e. To help prevent ac cidentally rec ording over a recording, b reak off the t ab using a screwdriv- er. With the t ab remov ed, you c ann ot record over a tape. The ca ssette automa tically ejects if you t ry to record on the tape[...]

35 IMMEDIA T E RECORDI NG Note: If you want to record from anot her VCR, a laser disc player, or other audio /video so urce with A/V o utputs, see “Dub bing (Copy ing) a Tape” on Page 40. Rec ordin g a Pr ogram As Y ou Wa t c h I t 1. If you conn ected the VCR’s AUDIO/VIDEO OUT jacks t o a TV /mon itor ’s audio/video input jacks, set the TV[...]

36 Note: The QTR information appears on the TV screen f or 10 second s, then di sap- pears. If the i nformation disappears befo r e you fini sh entering all c hang es, simpl y press RECORD again. 3. T o chang e the d isplayed ta pe spee d, pres s T APE SPEED s o the desired SP or EP tape speed appea rs. Cautio n: Do not change the t ape’s speed d[...]

37 • Y our V CR can hold up to eigh t timer pro- grams, e ach with two t imer-setting scre ens. Set tin g t he Pr og ra m Time r 1. Insert a blank cas sette or one yo u want to record over in to the VC R. appears on the VCR’s display . 2. Press MENU t o disp lay the m ain me nu. TIME R appears highlight ed. 3. Press SET to highlight the timer m[...]

38 Notes: • If you pres s when SUN appea rs on the display , the display shows one d ay before today’s date. For example, if t oda y’ s da te i s 1/ 24, t he di sp l a y s how s 1/23 in the following year . • Y ou can also use the num ber but tons on the remote control to ent er t he d ate. For example, press 0 , 5 , 1 , and 8 to set May 18[...]

39 Automatic Timer Recordi ng Hints : • If a power f ailure occurs or the VCR is unplugged for more than about 1 hour , the VCR loses the c lock setting and al l timer settings. • If you set the timer and turn off the VCR without loading a tape, TI MER fl ashes on the VCR’s display . • If y o u insert a tape with it s record-protec- tion ta[...]

40 DUBBING (C OPYING) A T APE The proces s of recording from one audio/video de vice to another is called dub bing. Your dub bing sou rc e ca n be a no ther V CR , c amc orde r, sa te llite rec eiv er, or any ot her dev ice w it h A /V ou tpu ts . You can use your V CR to record from a d ubbing source. Simply conne ct the source’s audio/ video ou[...]

41 ADDITIONAL INF O RMA TION TROUBL ESHOOT ING If you fo llo w t he instructions in th is manual and still have t rouble operating your VCR, refer t o the following trouble shooting chart. PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE RECOMMENDA TION No power. The power cord is no t con nected. Plug t he power cord in to an AC outle t. Timer recording does not work. The [...]

42 No operation when you press any button, and flashes on VCR’s displ a y. MODE LOCK is on. Turn o ff MODE LOCK . Cannot see broad- cast TV programs us- ing the V CR’s tuner. TV/ CA T V is not set correctl y . Set TV/CA TV correctly in the chan- nel pr es et m enu . Audio/video connec tions are in- co rr e c t . Reche ck all connections. INP UT[...]

43 CARE AND MAI NTENANCE Your Optim us Model 109 4 -Head HQ VHS VC R is an examp le or superior desig n and craftsman- ship. The following suggestions will help you care for the VCR so y ou can enjoy it f or years. Keep the VCR dry. If it gets wet, wipe it dry imm ediately. Liquids might cont ain min- erals that c a n corrode the electronic circuit[...]

44 Clea ning the V ideo He ads Your VCR’s vi deo h eads wi ll require cl eaning after long u se. Dirty video hea ds c an cause the playback picture to becom e blurred even though the audio signal is clear. VCR head cleaning kits (Such as Cat . No. 44-1203) a re available through your l ocal RadioShack store. Clean the heads only when th e picture[...]

45 SPE CIFICA TIONS T elevision Sy stem ........... ....... ....... ....... .......... ....... ....... .. ............ ..... ....... ....... ...NT SC St andard Colo r Signal Recordi ng Sy stem . .......... ....... .. .......... ....... ....... .. .......... ....... .. ..... F our–He ad Do uble A zimuth T ape Wi dth ... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ...[...]

46 Audio S/N Ratio: SP.... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .... ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .. ..... .... ... ..... .... ..... ..... .... . .. .. ... 4 3 dB EP.... .... ..... ... .... ... .... ... ..... .... ... .... ... .... ... ..... .... ... .... ... .... ... ..... .... ... .... ... ..... .. ..... .... ... ..[...]

47 NOTES 16- 54 6. fm P a ge 4 7 Tue s da y , J uly 2 0, 19 99 4: 2 5 PM[...]

Ra di oSh ac k A Divisi on of T andy Corporation Fort Worth, T exa s 76102 TINS –2860 AJZZ 6A6 Pri n ted in M ala y sia RadioShack Li m ited Wa rrant y T hi s pr o d u ct i s w a r ra n ted a g ainst defects for 90 da y s from date of p urchas e from Rad ioShack compan y -owned stores and au thorized RadioShac k franchisees and de alers. Within t[...]