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FORMAT: Betamax | |||||
DATE: 1982 PRICE: £400 [2005: £940] 46x39x17cm 14.5kg |
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| The C6 came out a year after the C5 and C7, and internally shared many of the same components and assemblies.
But it is very different from the user's point of view, being the first front-loading VCR. (The first-front loading
VHS and V2000 machines - Sharp VC-8300H, Grundig 2x4 super - are also
1982 vintage, but as far as we can discover the C6 was the first.)
The loading system is activated when a cassette is pushed into the slot, through two spring-loaded doors. Motorised rollers draw the cassette into the carriage, which then descends to lower the tape into the mechanism. In fact the tape transport is the same as a top-loader, the loading carriage merely automates the insert and push down action. One neat feature is a little banner which pops into the loading slot, to tell you that a cassette is inside - there is of course now no way to read the cassette's label once it is inserted. |
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| The new-fangled front loading approach meant that all the controls could be moved to the front of the machine,
giving a much more conventional look to the C6. The machine could be slid onto a shelf or under a TV, though because
the mechanism is still really a top-loader inside, it's pretty tall. The breeze-block VCR was still alive and well!
The only odd feature is the sliding record switch - only one switch is required to start recording, like the C5/C7, but a slider is less likely to be accidentally activated than a pushbutton. |
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One nice feature is that the AV connection sockets are on the front of the machine, not hidden away at the back of
the deck. Obviously useful for use with a camera, though I wonder how many people who went for the budget C6 would have
used them! It's only recently that these connections have begun to appear on the front of VCRs again, as camcorders
continue to drop in price.
The controls & sockets. Note the combined Stop/Eject |
| The thin, silver metal case gives it a rather cheap and nasty feel, which is accentuated by the fact that it's mostly
empty -- the upper half of the machine is only there to give the loading carriage room to work.
These machines were rented widely, and around a year later a MkII version was released with an updated and modernised front fascia, and a darker gunmetal-grey case. Internally the two were effectively identical. The C6-II |
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